Dressage News Aachen & Totilas!

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Courtesy of DressageDirect.com:



The organisers of the annual World Equestrian Festival, CHIO Aachen, are considering the organisation of the European Equestrian Championships 2015. They plan to present an innovative concept to the International Equestrian Federation (FEI).
"We feel obliged to constantly develop new ideas here in Aachen, this of course also includes the organisation of major championships", stated Carl Meulenbergh, President of the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein (ALRV), to substantiate the current considerations.
"With championships in five disciplines, all carried out at one venue, we want to advance the European Championships to European Equestrian Games, and to live up to the outstanding atmosphere that we had here during the FEI World Equestrian Games in 2006", said Michael Mronz, General Manager of the Aachener Reitturnier GmbH.


"We have the ideal infrastructure for organising several championships at one venue", affirmed Frank Kemperman, Chairman of the Managing Board of the ALRV. Up to now, there have never been European Championships with five disciplines that were organised at the same place. Aachen would be the venue for the European Championships in the disciplines jumping, dressage, eventing, vaulting and four-in-hand driving. "We will now finalize this concept and present it to the FEI and the FN", said Kemperman.
Formally, the German Equestrian Federation (FN) has to make the bid for the European Championships with Aachen as the venue. In the spring of 2012 the FEI will decide about the allocation of the event.

Edward Gal invited by Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff to visit Totilas
Edward Gal is delighted about the invitation from Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff.
No other dressage horse has made headlines like the stunning black Totilas, who in future will be ridden by the German dressage rider, Matthias Alexander Rath.
Edward Gal, who among others won three World Championship titles and the Deutsche Bank Prize at the CHIO Aachen 2010 with Totilas, spoke with the "CHIO Aachen Magazine" for the first time after the sale of the horse.

Mr. Gal announced that he intends to accept an invitation to visit Totilas at his new stables. He received the invitation from Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff, the new co-owner of Totilas. "I think it is very nice," commented Mr. Gal, "because it would have been very difficult if my first encounter with Totilas again had been at a show somewhere."
He has had no direct contact with Matthias Alexander Rath yet, but he advised the German rider to be very sensitive and patient with the stallion: "When everything is going well, I hardly had to do anything at all, Totilas just did everything all by himself - an unbelievable feeling." But it was a long path before reaching that stage, "Matthias will have to have a lot of patience before he and Totilas become a team. And he must understand that coming second with Totilas will always be considered to be a defeat in the public's eyes."
So, Edward Gal advises Mr. Rath to take a laid back approach and to train hard, since it is always difficult to take over a Grand Prix horse from someone else, especially with the immense public pressure weighing down on the duo.
The sale of Totilas hit Edward Gal hard, "but when so much money is involved, of course I understand the decision. This is just part and parcel of our sport." Nevertheless, in a certain sense the sale also relieves the strain off Edward Gal: "I am no longer under the huge pressure of having to win. And everything is much quieter. As soon as we opened the lorry up at a show, we were surrounded by crowds of people. And I am not very good in the pop star role somehow."