If any of you keep up to date with dressage news you will most certainly know of Moorlands Totilas one of the world’s greatest dressage horses. For those of you that haven’t heard of him he is a Dutch Warmblood, nicknamed Toto, with a host of gold medals and many world records, here is a link to Moorlands Totilas’s Wikipedia page for more info.
Totilas experienced his great success along side dressage rider Edward Gal, together they made a truly stunning team, and here is a video of them.
As you can see for yourself they were very good at what they did, and you can see how happy Totilas is with himself after the performance.
Sadly Totilas’s owners sold him to the Germans, and the riding rights were handed over to German rider Matthias Alexander Rath. (read wikipedia page for further info on sale and ownership) here is a video of Totilas and his new rider Matthias Rath, please feel free to stop watching after a bit, you’ll probably want to.
I think it’s very sad to see this performance.
Oh Edward. You're right. I had to turn the 2nd one off. That is just so sad - the connection between the rider and horse just isn't there. They seemed like a confused mess compared to the 1st video.
ReplyDeleteYes Edward, it is very sad to see the last performance. Most riders who have a great partnership and success with their horses never sell them. This shows what can happen when they do.
ReplyDeleteRegards, Abby
The difference is remarkable. Toto is such an unhappy horse in the second video. =( Very sad.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments everyone.
ReplyDeleteDeanna and Jeni, yes I agree with you both, it really is just horrible to see Totilas go from the top to this, what a mess.
Abby, one of the reason this is so sad is because Edward Gal was not the owner only the rider, so it was not his decision to sell Totilas, one news source quoted Edward Gal as stating ""I'm absolutely devastated...It's like I'm struck by lightning.” I think being with this new rider is such a waste of Totilas’s talents.