Vienna  - After 436 years of its existence, the Spanish Riding School in Vienna is hiring women for the first time to ride its famous white Lippizaner horses.

Since 1572, male riders have trained and ridden stallions in the riding school, which is one of Vienna's most famous tourist attractions.

One Austrian and one British woman were selected this week for a probation month, Erwin Klissenbauer, the school's business director, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Friday, confirming Austrian media reports.

Recently, the Spanish Riding School decided to select women if they proved to be superior to male applicants, he said.

"There never was a ban to hire women," Klissenbauer said. But since the organization has its roots in military riding, "naturally there were no women."

The difficult jumps and movements the horses are trained for were originally developed for the battlefield.

Austrian media reported there was considerable opposition from male trainers and riders, as well as from the school's governing board to admit women.

"I am not happy about this decision," Elisabeth Max-Theurer, the female president of the governing board, was quoted by the daily Wiener Zeitung as saying.

"I stress that I am not against women - I am only concerned about tradition," said Max-Theurer, a former dressage rider who won gold for Austria in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Klissenbauer denied that staff members were not ready to work with female colleagues. "But we will see how it goes," he said.

Every year, around 250,000 people watch performances by the highly-trained horses at their home in Vienna's Hofburg Palace or during international tours. (dpa)