WIFE OF NOTED HORSEMAN

Press, Volume C, Issue 29518, 20 May 1961, Page 2

WIFE OF NOTED HORSEMAN

‘Back-Seat Driver In Riding

"I’m like a back-seat driver when it comes to riding; I know what should be done, but I dare net give a word of advice because I h,v * never been on a horse, says Mrs Franz Mairinger, whose husband is conducting a school of dressoKe and jumping in Christchurch this

week. Married for 22 years to an eminent Austrian horseman —a former instructor at the famous Spanish Riding School in Upper AustriaMrs Mairinger has seen more top-flight riding in Europe and Australia than most women. “As a girl in Vienna I did not have the opportunity to learn to ride. I married young, had both my two children in Austria during World War 11, and now it is too late to begin riding,” she said regretfully. After the war Mr Mairinger decided to go to Australia. A year later, in 1953. his wife and children followed. New their home is at Bowral, a country town 83 miles from Sydney. Mr Mairinger trained the Australian equestrian teams for the Olympic Games in 1956 and in 1960.

His horse, the well-known Australian jumper, Coronation. would probably visit New Zealand next year with an Australian jumping team, Mrs Mairinger said. At home in Bowral, Mrs Mairinger is kept fully occupied looking after her family. As soon as her household chores are done she goes out into her garden. In Austria she could not even have a flower bed. But this was an opportunity, missed in her native land, she grasped as a new settler in Australia. “I love pottering round the garden experimenting with plants,” she said. Her present visit to New Zealand is Mrs Mairinger’s first holiday outside Australia.

“I am very happy in Australia and I have no ambition to go back to Austria.” she said.