Dressage-News

Totilas, who will turn 13 years of age less tha six weeks from now, will not compete in stallion shows in the spring and plans to seek a start at the World Cup Final in 2013 are undecided, according to Paul Schockemöhle, a part owner of the black stallion.

The remarks by Paul were in response to a barrage of questions at a news conference at the Schafhof, the home and equestrian center of Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff who shares ownership of Totilas. She is also the stepmother of Matthias Alexander Rath who took over the ride on Totilas from the Netherlands’ Edward Gal when the horse was sold to Germany at the end of 2010.

At that time, the Dutch combination held all three world records for highest scores at Grand Prix, Special and Freestyle and had swept both team and individual gold medals at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky as well as the World Cup title the saem year and leading Holland to team gold and capturing the Freestyle gold at the European Championships in 2009.

Appearances at stallion shows have not gone well and added to criticism of the training and preparation by Klaus Martin Rath, Matthias’ father.

Coupled with an inconsistent competition record and Matthias reporting that a viral infecton of mononucleosis prevented him from pursuing a berth on the German Olympic team this summer, former Dutch national coach Sjef Janssen took over the training.

Matthias and the KWPN stallion (Gribaldi x Lominka x Glendale) last showed at the German championships, but the last international event for the pair was at Hagen, Germany that is organized by Performance Sales International, owned by Paul and Ullrich Kasselmann. At the same show, Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin roder Valegro to a new world record for the Special.

“It’s all gone wrong, what could go wrong,” Paul said bluntly of past stallion show appearances.

But he did not go into details.

He also said the situation was “not hopeless.”

Paul said he planned to stop by the training center of Sjef Janssen and his wife, Anky van Grunsven, at Erp, Netherlands, where Totilas is in training.

Matthias had told a German newspaper in the summer that he planned seek to qualify for World Cup to be held in Gothenburg, Sweden at the end of April.

And he reportedly has submitted to the German Federation for approval entries for World Cup events in Amsterdam in January, Neumünster, Germany in February and ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands in March.

Three German combinations who competed at the Olympics in London this summer have begun campaigning for the World Cup Final, the sole annual global championship in dressage. They are Helen Langehanenberg and Damon Hill NRW, Kristina Sprehe and Desperados FRH and Anabel Balkenhol and Dablino FRH.

By the start of 2013 only three of eight competitions will remain in the World Cup Western European League.