Champion Dutch warmblood stallion Totilas.

Totilas turns 20

By Equestrian Life

Champion Dutch warmblood stallion Totilas (Gribaldi x Lominka x Glendale) has celebrated his 20th birthday (born 23 May 2000).

Nicknamed Toto, the 17.1 hand dressage star was considered one of the greatest in the sport, and was the first to break the 90% score barrier; in fact, he was a world record holder for a number of years before Valegro came along.

Bred by Jan K. Schuil and Anna Schuil-Visser in Broeksterwâld in the Netherlands, he was first competed by Jiska van den Akker. In 2005, Edward Gal was offered the ride, and in 2006 Gal’s sponsors Cees and Tosca Visser purchased Totilas; he took on the name of their investment company, Moorland BV, and became Moorlands Totilas.

Totilas and Edward Gal.

Together Gal and Toto won Team and Freestyle gold and Special silver at the 2009 European Championships in Windsor; and Team, Special and Freestyle gold at the 2010 WEG in Kentucky. The pair broke Anky van Grunsven’s Freestyle world record, and then proceeded to break their own record twice — their best score being 92.3% at London Olympia in 2009.

The stallion was sold to Paul Schockemöhle and Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff in late 2010 after the WEG, and Matthias Rath took over the ride. Together the combination achieved Team silver at the 2011 European Championships in Rotterdam and Team bronze at the 2015 European Championships at Aachen.

Totilas and Matthias Rath.

Aachen was the horse’s final event, with many believing the horse was lame in the Grand Prix. Totilas was retired in August 2015, after MRI results showed bone inflammation in the left hind hoof.

He remains at Schockemöhle Stud, and has been seen in light ridden work over the past few years.

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