By Claartje van Andel dressagedirect
Dutch dressage probably has entered a new era. At the Dutch indoor championships Edward Gal and the black Gribaldi-son Moorland’s Totilas impressed to the most. “He made me remind Bonfire and Salinero in their first appearances, a true promise for the future”, Dutch Olympic judge Jan Peeters commented with a smile.
The weekend surely was both exhaustive and emotional for Edward Gal. On Friday he was reunited with the incredible Lingh in Sweden, on Saturday and Sunday he showed his future prospect 9 year old Moorlands Totilas in Ermelo in The Netherlands to his advantage. Judges Jan Peeters, Adriaan Hamoen and Els Mouw could only find the mark 10 for the incredible piaffe the pair showed. “I almost went emotional by the feeling of this horse and the music myself”, Edward commented afterwards. The half passes, the canterwork, nothing seems a problem for the pair. “No, nothing is a problem”, Edward agreed. “The only problem if you might say so is that we still need time to gain strength. I still won’t rush. No Indoor Brabant Horseshow for me and Totilas.”
Gal and Lingh reunited for once
Friday the 13th of March proved to be a fantastic night in Southern Sweden at Flyinge. In the cold spring weather walking through candlelight, the famous dressage stallion Lingh entered the main arena in Flyinge once again reunited with his former rider Edward Gal.
For Edward the moment was filled with emotions. After all, it is Lingh that was the horse for his high rise to the top of the world as a dressage rider. He trained the horse since 4 years old for a period over 10 years. Lingh looked absolutely gorgeous together again with Edward. The Dutch team of Edward’s could not hold the tears in their eyes when watching this majestic horse performing once again. A lot of people cried.
Owner and rider Karin Offield said: “Lingh looked like he had to rethink again how Dutch was spoken, after 2 and a half years of American English. Also more recently now all the Swedish spoken from his team in Flyinge. But very quickly he seemed relaxed and obviously very satisfied to realize he knew what was asked of him. All the tricks of GP dressage looked as easy as they could and Lingh showed his amazing qualities especially in his changes on every stride and his piaffe and passage. His pirouettes were spot-on!”
The dark evening, with all the stallions of Flyinge being warmed up and prepared for their performances in the main arena, was full of atmosphere and a little bit of magic. There is something very special about these imposing father animals when they are all together in a chilly arena and smelling the spring in the air. The nature obviously is letting them know that a new season is starting, but their modern life is still controlled by the stallion masters, riders and grooms. The Flyinge staff dressed up in19th century traditional clothing gave the stallion show the extra element of a theatre performance and a full hall of spectators could once again see what Flyinge has to offer for the breeding season of 2009.
The CEO of Flyinge, Johan Bredberg and the breeding director Karl Henrik-Heimdahl, both addressed Lingh in their speeches and are extremely happy to have gotten this world class stallion to Flyinge. Karin Reid Offield was also very happy to see how her decision to place Lingh into Sweden and Flyinge has proved to be very successful. Lingh is in fantastic condition and enjoying his Swedish life.
Edward said after his afternoon ride to prepare on Lingh that for him this was a strange feeling. He knows this horse so well and yet a period of time has gone and in some ways Lingh feels like a new horse. But in the show at night it incredibly suddenly felt like the old days! Edward genuinely thanked Karin Offield and the Swedish audience for surrounding him on this moment and he promised to be back in Sweden soon!
Edward Gal and Lingh happily reunited for the Flyinge Stallionshow Picturewww.fotokristerlindh.se
