Totilas To Compete at Wiesbaden CDI4* in Campaign for WEG Berth
11 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Totilas To Compete at Wiesbaden CDI4* in Campaign for WEG Berth
WIESBADEN, Germany, June 5, 2014–Totilas, who made a return to the competition arena two weeks ago ridden by Mattias Alexander Rath after an absence of two years, is showing again this weekend at the CDI4* in Wiesbaden where the 14 -year-old Gribaldi son will face some top combinations.
Olympians Isabell Werth and Dorothee Schneider have entered the competition where the horse inspection will be Friday afternoon.
The Grand Prix is scheduled to start Saturday at 1600 Central European Time (10 am US ET/1400GMT/0000 Aust. ET).
At the black’s stallion unheralded return to the show ring at Kapellen CDI3* in Belgium two weeks ago, the pair scored 78.680 per cent in the Grand Prix and 82.146 per cent in the Grand Prix Special.
The German federation has made it clear that Totilas will be considered for the team at the World Equestrian Games in Normandy, France at the end of August if the partnership produces results even though they missed the German championships held the week before Kapellen.
The spectacularly picturesque parkland at Wiesbaden that is converted to the Whtsun show has new footing this year after torrential downpours wshed away some of the surface in 2013 and forced cancellation of some classes. The arenas are temporary and are installed with close attention to not damaging grass and plants.
Totilas (Gribaldi x Glendale) was probably the most famous dressage horse in history when ridden by Edward Gal of the Netherlands. Their last appearance was almost exactly four years ago, at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky where the pair won all three gold medals available–team and two individual.
Totilas was then sold to Paul Schockemöhle and Ann-Katrin Linsenhof to be ridden by Matthias, Ann-Katrin’s stepson, for Germany.
The horse’s schedule was marred by injuries and Matthias struggled to achieve the same level of success enjoyed by Edward.
Matthias, who turns 30 years old in August, three weeks before the start of the Normandy WEG, rode Totilas in 12 CDI starts from June, 2011 to April, 2012, including one championship, the Europeans at Rotterdam in 2011.
Matthas and Totilas have been working with Sjef Janssen, the Dutch team coach during the time the horse was ridden by Edward.
