Spanish Riding School: Performance or Guided tour?

I’d definitely go to the performance. I hear it’s not to be missed. It takes years of training for the horses to perform levade, courbette, capriole & even passage and piaffe aren’t introduced in (US) dressage tests until FEI level. Almost all of us will never ride or train to that level.

Assuming the guided tour includes stables, I can see stables at home. I know all about horse care since my special needs horse lives in my backyard.

The guided tours ( there are two types) are as much about the buildings and architecture as the horses, although you do visit the stables.

http://www.srs.at/en_US/vorfuehrungen-en/

We really enjoyed an hour at Morning Exercise, which is only 10€ and provides an opportunity to see the training of young stallions if you go near the end of the two-hour period.

We were fortunate to see the performance, getting tickets that morning, and it was a highlight of the trip. Some advice -- we bought "bench" seats, which were about 1/2 the price of the seats in front of us, and they were the BEST! The rows of seats are not tiered, but on the bench we were elevated above the rows, so it was easy to see. We heard the bench is a favorite of many regular attendees and may sell out early. Go for the performance!

We could not afford the high cost of the tickets to a performance so we didn't have a choice. Instead we went to an open rehearsal/practice and loved every minute of it. We love horses so it was fascinating to see how the Lippizaner and rider were trained.

This recent PBS Nature documentary will enrich your experience with the horses - https://youtu.be/q61JiPhVAtw