Rumors surrounded the World Equestrian Games about the sale of Totilas. They were strongly denied at the time, but apparently they were true. Moorlands Totilas, the dressage horse that has captured the imagination of riders worldwide and made dressage famous, has been sold to Paul Schockemohle, who runs a highly successful successful breeding/showing/selling operations. He has some of the top stallions in the breeding world, both dressage and jumping.

According to an article on Eurodressage.com, Totilas’ owner, Cees Visser is quoted as saying:

“It is with mixed emotions that we launch this news. We wanted to wait until the deal about the sale was fully done, but today the buyer came out with the news himself and we didn’t want to lag behind,” said Visser. “The past two years we’ve been living a dream and we enjoyed every moment with Edward and Totilas. After Kentucky it was impossible for us to refuse the offers on Totilas. We have now come to the point that we decided, in good agreement with all parties, to let him go.”

In his statement Visser continued to explain his decision. “The World Equestrian Games in Kentucky were the absolute apex on an emotional and competitive level. It was not an easy decision, but with all his competitive highlights and three gold medals in Kentucky one shouldn’t challenge fate. We believe that it was the right moment to sell.”

Sadly, this will end the remarkable partnership between Totilas and his rider Edward Gal. They are a combination that has excited a huge number of people about dressage. The World Equestrian Games was, perhaps, a fitting culmination of their efforts. Their scores were phenomenal: 85.708 in the Grand Prix Special and 91.80% in the Freestyle.

Whether Totilas will continue to compete is undecided. His value in the breeding shed may outweigh the risks associated with competing him.

There is a glimmer of hope though, for another extraordinary horse.  Totilas has a full sister, Uusminka, that is still owned by Moorlands.

And now, for a performance that speaks volumes more than words. Here’s Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas at the World Equestrian games for their last competition together.

Grand Prix

Freestyle