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Update on Totilas’ health
After the detailed examinations in the Belgian clinic which he was admitted last Friday, Totilas’ final diagnosis seems to be periostitis, according to the magazine dressage-news.com . Totilas will remain out of competition for at least 4-5 months, and his permanent retirement from shows still remains a possibility. According to the website horse-diseases.com, periostitis is a bone disease which makes the bone membrane swallow, and get thicker and redder than normal, thus making its stripping from the bone very easy. There are three sorts of periostitis: the simple/acute, the suppurative and the osteoplastic. The second and the third form can occur as a result of the first one and all three…
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End of road for Totilas’ career?
Last Thursday was a bad one for the German dressage team at the 2015 FEI European Championships in Aachen. From the first moment of the appearance of Totilas’ and his new rider, Matthias Rath in the arena, it appeared that there was something wrong with the welfare of the multi-million stallion. To the trained eyes, it was obvious that Totilas was lame and in agony throughout the test. His rear left leg appeared sore while Rath was saluting. Later, Totilas -now 15 years old- was taken to a clinic and was diagnosed with bone edema. Consequently, a long pause in sports duties has been advised, with the end of his…
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Video of Andalusian horses
I have spoiled my readers a bit; after a breed post, soon another will follow with videos of that breed. So, today I would like to show you an absolutely beautiful video of Andalusian horses being trained for dressage. OMG, OMG, I just loved it! So, here we go:
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Making music for dressage
Who follows this blog for some months now has probably concluded that I am quite interested in dressage. It’s the harmony, the elegance and the need for balance and precision that makes it appear so charming to me. Today I would like to show you a BBC video about composing music for freestyle dressage shows. Victor Kerkhof, who composes music for equestrianism meets BBC reporters to show the BBC audience and equestrianism lovers how he makes music for the performances of the well-known dressage rider Anky van Grunsven. Impressive!
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Equine world champion: Valegro
After reading about the 16,500-dollar bracelet made of hair from Valegro’s tail, as a beginner, I wanted to know who Valegro is. What a horse! Valegro -or Blueberry, which is his stable name- is a KWPN gelding foaled in 2002, with a spectacular career in dressage, under his British rider Charlotte Dujardin. In 2012, Valegro and Charlotte won two gold Olympic medals for Great Britain and the pair has remained unbeatable since that year. In 2014, the two won the Grand Prix Special and the Grand Prix Freestyle at the World Equestrian Games in 2014. In 2013, at Olympia, Valegro and Charlotte Dujardin proved on the ring that they could…
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A jewel for champions: the $16500 Valegro bracelet
A bracelet made of gold and plaited hair from the tail of the dressage champion Valegro had been sold on an auction for $16,500, according to the Horse & Hound website . In specific for this hefty price the buyer got a perfect plait of the champion’s tail hair, 9k yellow gold, sixty-four diamonds and the word Valegro. The profits have been donated to the CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury Trust, a charity founded in New Zealand by a group of friends , including the four-star eventer Catriona Williams, whose accident in 2002 forced her into a wheelchair. I don’t know about you, but I personally find this specific bracelet a…