The next time you hear from Kate she will have her very own EN author account and all of the power and responsibility that comes from such fine credentials. In what can only be proof that she deserves such a responsibility, Kate has complied with true EN tradition by writing a post that has mostly nothing to do with eventing. For more from Kate, check out her website. Welcome Kate and thank you for reading.
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From Kate Samuels:
We all have our types, whether it is for dating or for riding a horse. Clearly for both, choosing the right type can make a big difference in how nice the experience is for both parties. Some of the best advice I have ever imparted to friends is this: just because that is a beautiful/athletic/successful/amazing horse, does not mean it is the horse for YOU. More important than the dazzling floaty trot of that chestnut is the fact that you might not be comfortable with that much movement and power. It’s wonderful to buy a horse that can jump the moon and tends to overjump by about three feet every time, but can you stay on it? For any horse enthusiast knows, the one that matches you perfectly in style and tact will always be more successful with you in the tack than anything else. It is positively no fun to ride a horse that has opposing values to your riding style.
Having said that, here’s my disclaimer. I am choosing a rather controversial video to share with you today, because I think it is really interesting from a scientific standpoint. I am not trying to pick sides, or comment on one rider being “better” than the other, but I find it extremely intriguing to watch the technical breakdown of riding styles and the effect upon their mounts. I hope that you can view this as a learning experience, and not one that will seem unfair or biased.
This video, “The Taming of Totilas”, somehow popped into my internet browser a few weeks ago. It is quite long (~1 hour), but I’ve slowly chipped away and watched the whole thing. These two gentlemen have collected many videos of both Edward Gal and Mattias Rath, and show them in a way that reveals some of the more subtle characteristics of both riders. After seeing Totilas at the WEG 2010 myself, I was about as hooked as one could possibly be about a dressage horse. The amazing quality about this horse was his ability to capture the awe of riders across disciplines, and obviously his phenomenal performances at a relatively young age. After the WEG, Edward Gal lost the ride to a younger and less experienced Matthias Rath, through a highly publicized, enormously pricey sale to sport horse breeder Paul Schockemole. Since then, the horse world has seen less and less of Totilas, and this has left many of us wondering, where is he? What happened to Totilas?
This video helps to answer your questions by revealing some of the struggles that Rath has experienced with attempting to continue with the career of this phenomenal athlete. Although I admire Totilas tremendously, I am not sure that I would want to be saddled with the responsibility of maintaining the reputation of such a rock star of the horse world.
Hopefully, as you watch this, you will start to see the delicate variations that define one rider from another. I found myself analyzing fellow riders at shows more carefully, trying to find out what made each “good” rider different from the next “good” rider. I hope this starts a positive and beneficial conversation about technical qualities of both horse and rider, and how they can be combined for brilliance, or slightly miss each other by way of differing styles. Enjoy!
