The magnificent Horse Pond was designed and built in 1693 by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach in the course of building the facade for the royal stables. The central group, the "Horse Tamer" by Michael Bernhard Mandl, once stood in an oval basin axial to the portal of the royal stables. A separate palace façade with horse frescoes was located behind the portal.
The Horse Pond was restored in 1732 under Archbishop Firmian. The statue of the "Horse Tamer" was rotated 90 degrees and placed on a new base, a balustrade was placed around the basin. Josef Ebner painted horse frescoes on the rear wall modeled on Stradanus' engraving "Equite seu speculum equorum...".