Writer Karen Duve finds riding stables traumatic, and she doesn’t like horsewomen or kitsch girls. Are there better conditions to love horses or to deal with Sisi and the hunts at the Austrian imperial court?
from
Sonja Zekri
Whether it’s the cold or a day without exercise, the horses are cheerful. Very cheerful even. At the first gallop up a hill, Apolloh bucks in gentle leaps and Mr. Belstaff can just about be stopped. You don’t want to fall off your horse reporting, you don’t want to fall off your horse at all. Karen Duve doesn’t want that either. For Sisi, the fear of death was the best thing about hunting. And this is not even a hunt, but a research ride, a leisurely round in the Märkische Schweiz, for which Elisabeth, the incomparable one, would never have let herself be sewn into her riding dress. But who rides like Elisabeth?