Where is totilas

People are now gossiping and devaluing this horse cent by cent. All nonsense. Germany is a community of envy. In the same year the owners contacted Edward Gal and asked him to work with the horse and show him at competitions. Gal started training the horse in and his sponsors Cees and Tosca Visser bought the horse in the name of their investment company Moorland BV. Gal and Totilas started to compete at grand prix level in Rollkur is especially popular in the Netherlands, but high level riders of all nations train with it.

For written information, also about the health impacts for the horses, see here German, for English see here. Eight year-old Totilas at the stallion show at Van Uytert in If you read the comments you will notice that they are mainly positive, like most of the comments made during this time. It is said that Gal is such a talented rider, how he can make the horse dance like this. People admire the lightness and elegance and remark that Totilas looks just like his sire Gribaldi , also trained and successfully competed by Gal.

There are some critical comments, though. Do we see glimpses of rollkur-training? We do, if we pay attention. Totilas hollows his back instead of arching it, the movements of his forelegs are unnaturally exalted, whereas the hintquarters are almost left behind. Here they are in Rotterdam:. In they have their big break through, breaking one record after the other.

Gal rides him with a very short neck, very contracted. The nose-line is often behind the vertical now good to see when you stop the movie. Everyone agrees that this is perfection, this is the way riding should be. Totilas is just nine years of age, very young for a horse with this level of performance. Here the freestyle:. Try to watch without the compelling music. To me, it looks less in harmony, more tense. They make more mistakes and Totilas appears slightly disobedient and swishes his tail a lot more.

How can this horse breathe at all? But what do I know. A short summary. A horse that is obviously being trained with hyperflexion breaks all records and enchants judges and audience alike. Only a few voice some kind of criticism and mention that Totilas was not trained according to the directives of classical dressage. Gal already used Totilas for breeding since , already with Gal there was no paddock time for at least a few hours a day and with physical contact to other horses.

Gal already trained him hard and with debatable methods. Due to their success, however, and the sheer awe that this impressive animal inspired, the dressage scene is beside itself and celebrates its new glamour. And everybody cheers. Have a look at Rath performing at the German Championships in There are mixed reactions to the news that he will ride Totilas. Some doubt that these two will fit together, some would like to see Totilas get trained without rollkur.

Most people can only dream of these scores, and yet, Totilas seems tense and cannot perform as good as before. His movements appear a bit laboured, the problem with the uneven foreleg movement is more obvious now. The little mistakes that even the TV commentator realises can be corrected soon, for sure. These mistakes slowly become a problem though.

Especially, the flying changes seem to trouble them. At the European Championships in Rotterdam in August they are only ranked fifth:. At the height of their success, Gal already trained the horse for at least four years, and Rath had less then one year with him. A horse is not a tool you can just pass around and it will deliver the same performance. Every rider gives the aids a little differntly and a horse needs time to adjust.

The problem is that expectations are extremly high in this case. Then Totilas gets injured at a performance for a German TV show. The glamour is gone. When the victories stay away, public opinion flips very quickly. Now a German rider is expected to win this medal for Germany. My condolences to Matthias and all who had the chance to work or live with this exceptional stallion.

And my thoughts to all of you who loved him. Good bye my friend. I will miss you until we meet again. For 50 years, Horse Sport has been the voice of equestrian competition in Canada. Our readers are dedicated owners, competitors, trainers, and breeders who are highly involved in the equine marketplace. The record-breaking Dutch Warmblood stallion had a distinguished career before siring foals who will hopefully follow in his hoofsteps.

More from News:. Instead, Totilas appeared uneven in the Grand Prix, and many in the crowd made no secret of feeling the bell should have been rung and the black stallion disqualified. They were booed as they emerged from their huts. Related Posts. Read More.