Two weeks ago, a press presentation of Totilas and his new partner Matthias Rath was canceled because the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games champion had a hoof abscess and inflammation in his leg. That’s now healed, and the 11-year-old stallion has worked in walk and trot since the Easter holidays.
But because of the medication he received, he’s been scratched from his first show appearance with his new rider at the CDI Hagen (Germany), May 6-8.
“Before the injury we had a super feeling, and the preparation and the development so far has been much better than expected,” said Rath, 26.
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Rath, a team bronze medal winner for Germany from the 2010 WEG, and his father and trainer, Klaus-Martin Rath, are now rescheduling show plans for Totilas. German team coach Holger Schmezer confirmed, “They promised to tell me their updated plans this upcoming weekend.”
Rath and Totilas need two scores above 64 percent from two CDIs from two non-German ‘O’ judges to have the FEI qualification for the European Championships, Aug. 18-21 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. They would need at least one CDI before the Aachen CHIO (Germany), since the deadline for the ECH entries is one day after Aachen, July 12–17.
