Horses Are Made To Be Horses
FRANZ MAIRINGER was born in Vienna on 11 December 1915, the son of an engineer. He enlisted in the Austrian Cavalry in 1935 and was soon chosen to attend the highly regarded Cavalry School of Hanover where he spent two years receiving thorough training in jumping and three-day eventing. His skill so impressed the Director of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna that he was offered a position at the School, where he worked for more than twelve years with great success. In 1951, after a time as a private instructor in Switzerland, he left Europe to begin a new life in Australia with his family. His appointment as the first trainer of an Australian Olympic Equestrian team in 1955 was the beginning of an extraordinarily successful association. With his skilled guidance, the Australian team gained fourth place at the 1956 Stockholm Olympics (Equestrian) and followed this by winning a gold medal at the Rome Olympics in 1960. In all, Franz Mairinger trained six Australian teams for the Olympics and was preparing the seventh at the time of his death on 10 May 1978 — a tragic loss both to all Australian riders and to the international equestrian world.