Mike Matson
Aug. 30, 2009, 05:39 PM
http://www.horse-canada.com/?p=2702
It seemed impossible that the record-breaking week at the European FEI Jumping and Dressage Championships at Windsor, Great Britain, could get any better, but for The Netherlands’ Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas the impossible is just all in a days work. Tonight, before a packed house and with Windsor Castle standing proudly as a backdrop, the most extraordinary horse-and-rider combination ever seen in the sport of dressage smashed the world record they established in Hickstead just a few short weeks ago when scoring 90.70% to win the Freestyle gold medal.
The excitement in the aftermath was palpable. All across the showgrounds equestrian fans, officials, supporters and competitors were saying the same thing - “this horse is something so special, we may never see his like again”.
Grand Prix Special winners Adelinde Cornelissen and Parzival had to settle for silver this time around while Anky Van Grunsven and Salinero truly rose the occasion with a vastly improved performance to take bronze. This week the bar has been raised so high however that somehow Gal’s words after his opening appearance with the black stallion on Wednesday afternoon don’t seem altogether fantastic any more.
That day he half-joked that this horse, which is only a nine year old, has even more room for improvement and that he would like to keep riding Totilas until he earned a score of 100.000%. Anyone who witnessed tonight’s exhibition of controlled power and exuberance could see that perfection is only a short step away and that somehow 100.000% may be not be quite enough….
“I don’t know what to say anymore” said an almost speechless Gal after breaking another world record again tonight having racked up an unbelievable 29 perfect-10 scores. He speaks as if he is humbled by the creature who is taking everyone’s breath away. “He feels so good you cannot describe it, you have to feel it but you cannot put it into words”.
And asked how he felt when he came out of the ring and discovered what he had done he said “I started to cry”.
It seemed impossible that the record-breaking week at the European FEI Jumping and Dressage Championships at Windsor, Great Britain, could get any better, but for The Netherlands’ Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas the impossible is just all in a days work. Tonight, before a packed house and with Windsor Castle standing proudly as a backdrop, the most extraordinary horse-and-rider combination ever seen in the sport of dressage smashed the world record they established in Hickstead just a few short weeks ago when scoring 90.70% to win the Freestyle gold medal.
The excitement in the aftermath was palpable. All across the showgrounds equestrian fans, officials, supporters and competitors were saying the same thing - “this horse is something so special, we may never see his like again”.
Grand Prix Special winners Adelinde Cornelissen and Parzival had to settle for silver this time around while Anky Van Grunsven and Salinero truly rose the occasion with a vastly improved performance to take bronze. This week the bar has been raised so high however that somehow Gal’s words after his opening appearance with the black stallion on Wednesday afternoon don’t seem altogether fantastic any more.
That day he half-joked that this horse, which is only a nine year old, has even more room for improvement and that he would like to keep riding Totilas until he earned a score of 100.000%. Anyone who witnessed tonight’s exhibition of controlled power and exuberance could see that perfection is only a short step away and that somehow 100.000% may be not be quite enough….
“I don’t know what to say anymore” said an almost speechless Gal after breaking another world record again tonight having racked up an unbelievable 29 perfect-10 scores. He speaks as if he is humbled by the creature who is taking everyone’s breath away. “He feels so good you cannot describe it, you have to feel it but you cannot put it into words”.
And asked how he felt when he came out of the ring and discovered what he had done he said “I started to cry”.