We’ve not seen him in the dressage arena since summer 2012, but Totilas is due to make his return to competition tomorrow (22 May).
The return
The famous black stallion, who captured the dressage world’s attentions with his record-breaking scores and extravagant movement, is due to compete at the CDI3* show at Kapellen in Belgium.
The show made the announcement on their website, with a statement saying: “Germany [has] confirmed the participation of Matthias Alexander Rath who will bring his top stallion Totilas. Rath and Totilas will compete in the Grand Prix on Thursday afternoon.”
Pressure
The eyes of the entire dressage community will once again be focused on Rath and Totilas, wondering if the stallion, who is now 14, can still produce the same level of marks that made him a phenomenon of the sport.
With former rider Edward Gal, Totilas won European and World gold medals, and they were the first combination to ever break the 90% barrier in dressage.
The stallion was sold to PaulSchockemöhle and Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff in March 2011, and the ride was given to Germany’s Matthias Rath.
Brilliance
But the partnership did not enjoy the same sort of success that Totilas had under his former rider, and they failed to win an individual medal at the 2011 European championships.
They headed the Grand Prix and Freestyle at the 2012 Horses and Dreams show in Hagen, Germany, but were not eligible for Olympic selection after Matthias fell ill that summer.
An injury then ruled Totilas out of competition for the 2013 season, so he has been absent from international competition for nearly two years.
Totilas v Valegro?
After Totilas and Edward Gal set new dressage records during their reign of brilliance, Britain’s own Charlotte Dujardin has since systematically broken them all with the Olympic champion Valegro.
When they met at the FEI European Championships in 2011, Valegro was still very new to Grand Prix. Although he and Dujardin were part of the gold-medal winning British team that year, they did not finish ahead of Totilas and Rath in any of the tests.
But that was then, and Valegro is now the undisputed king of the dressage arena. In Totilas’ time, he stood head and shoulders above the others – but now there are several horses capable of scoring in the 80s.
Charlotte is not competing in Kapellen, so there’s no sign of the two dressage stars meeting again any time soon. However, with Totilas back in action, and with his former team-mate and rival Jerich Parzival due to return to the arena soon after an absence of several months, it seems dressage is about to get even more interesting.