Day at the races

Ostermontag (Easter Monday) is a big holiday here, and J and I celebrated with a day at the ippodromo (race track). In Meran, Ostermontag is celebrated (quite appropriately, I think) with a major equestrian event: haflinger races. Haflinger horses (large ponies, really) originated just up the hill from Meran--we can see the mountain town of Hafling from our window. Haflingers are mountain horses--small, surefooted, sturdy, and safe. They also seem to love a parade and a good race. The festival started with haflingers parading around the altstadt (old part of Meran), with a couple of traditional marching bands and lots of people in traditional Sudtirolean dress.

We then walked (about a thousand miles) to the race track to see several "galloping" races of haflingers (i.e., no steeplechase, which is the usual style here). The best part was that the jockeys were mostly teenage girls and they looked as happy as I would have been at their age to ride like the wind in a horse race. I have to say that the ponies were faster than I expected!

Between the races were other traditional events, such as a haflinger dressage exhibition, traditional dancers, and three guys with very large whips (cracking them to music!).

As you can see in the last picture, the view from the ippdromo is incredible. See that little beige thing to the right of center? That's the big castle up the hill from us. Yes,the little guy and I walked a thousand miles to see a horse race, and it was worth it.

More horsey things next week--against my better judgment, we decided to go to Vienna (where I'm going to stand in line to get a ticket to see the Spanish Riding School's morning exercises).