The 2012 Paul Schockemohle Stallion Show in Vechta, Germany, was a busy day for 26-year old Matthias Rath who had to present three PS stallions: Bretton Woods, Furst Romancier and Totilas. World Champion Totilas made his return to the ring totally recovered from the minor injury he sustained in December 2011, but the stallion was not on the same wavelength with his rider.
With only 20 minutes of warm up time given before their entry into the arena, Rath and Totilas were not yet on the same wavelength for their demo. After their entry in passage the horse would not make a transition to canter. He became tight in the neck, jumped around when there was applause and threw his tongue over the bit. Rath tried to fix it by making a transition to walk and doing two walk pirouettes but then decided to leave the arena.
After a couple of minutes the combination came back into the show and got publicly coached by Rath's father Klaus Martin. The original plan was for Matthias to ride a freestyle during the show, but it became an instruction round as Rath's confidence was clearly rattled. Fortunately Totilas did improve in that second part of his demonstration and spectators thought it was quite informative to see the father coach his son on such a gifted horse.
"He is a very sensitive horse," Klaus Martin Rath commented.
The Paul Schockemohle stallion show had several highlights and there was much public acclaim for the presentations of Don Frederic (by Don Frederico x Wolkentanz I) and Furstenball (by Furst Heinrich x Donnerhall), while Foundation (by Fidertanz x De Vito) stood out with his spectacular gaits but did not convince with his rideability (very strong in the hand).
Photos © Hastmagazinet - Maria Burczyk
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