Edward Gal (born 4 March 1970 in Rheden) is a Dutch dressage rider. He and the stallion Totilas (nicknamed "Toto"), were triple gold medalists at the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games, becoming the first horse-rider partnership ever to sweep the three available dressage gold medals at a single FEI World Games. Going into the 2010 Games, they had amassed multiple world-record scores in international competition, leading one American journalist to call them "rock stars in the horse world". After the World Equestrian Games, Totilas was sold to German trainer Paul Schockemöhle. Gal continues to be successful, training and competing dressage horses at the international level. Despite the success, he has been criticised to be a harsh trainer who creates stressed and fearful horses.
Career Gal began his equestrian career as a jumper at age 14, beginning with ponies and graduating to larger horses at age 20. However, when he discovered his horse did not like jumping, he switched to dressage. While enjoying solid success in national and international competition, he did not become a truly dominant rider until he began competing with Totilas in 2008. Gal would later say that he and his team understood that Totilas was a special horse after their first Grand Prix competition.
At the time, Gal replaced his countrywoman Anky van Grunsven as the dominant rider on the world dressage circuit. In July 2009, Gal and Totilas broke van Grunsven's world record score in Grand Prix Freestyle Search fields: Competitor = Gal, Administering NF (National Federation) = NED (Netherlands), Gender=Male with an 89.50% mark at Hickstead, England, and shortly thereafter followed it up with another record score of 90.75% in the same discipline at that year's European Championships. In December 2009, at the fourth leg of the 2009–10 FEI World Cup Dressage series at Olympia in London, they extended their record in GP Freestyle to 92.30%, more than 10 points above the second-place finisher. While not setting a world record, they easily won that season's FEI World Cup final in GP Freestyle at home in the Netherlands, winning by more than 7 points with a score better than their first world record. The pair also had a world-record score in the Grand Prix Special discipline to their credit, having recorded 86.460% at Aachen in July 2010.
Gal and Totilas were installed as the overwhelming favorites in the 2010 FEI World Games in Lexington, Kentucky, their first competition outside Europe. Klaus Röser, head of the German dressage team that has long dominated the discipline, said about Gal, "That we can beat Edward; I don't think so, I don't believe so. We have to be realistic." Röser's assessment proved correct, with Gal and Toto first leading the Dutch team to gold in the team competition, and then easily winning gold in Grand Prix Special and Grand Prix Freestyle.
In a piece in The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky that ran before the 2010 Games, dressage trainer Susan Posner pointed out that Totilas was only in his second year in grand prix dressage despite being 10 years old, and said that his success illustrated how capable Gal was as a rider.
He also competed at the 2015 European Dressage Championships in Aachen where he won a gold medal in team dressage. The Dutch national dressage coach Wim Ernes died on 1 November 2016 due to a brain tumor. Gal, together with the other gold medal winners Patrick van der Meer, Hans Peter Minderhoud and Diederik van Silfhout, carried his coffin during the funeral on 5 November 2016. He is known to use rollkur on his horses
International Championship results Results Year Event HorseScore PlacingNotes 2003 European Championships Lingh29thIndividual 2004 World Cup FinalLingh2005World Cup FinalLingh 2005 European Championships LinghTeam4thIndividual2006World Cup FinalLingh4th 2006 World Equestrian Games Lingh Team12thIndividual2007World Cup FinalGribaldi64.900%11th2009European ChampionshipsTotilas84.085%Team83.042%Individual Special90.750%Individual Freestyle2010World Cup FinalTotilas89.800%2010World Equestrian GamesTotilas84.043%Team85.708%Individual Special91.800%Individual Freestyle2011World Cup FinalSisther du Jeu77.393%4th2011European ChampionshipsSisther du Jeu70.517%Team69.211%18thIndividual Special2012Olympic GamesGlock's Undercover75.395%Team80.267%9thIndividual2013World Cup FinalGlock's Undercover84.446%2013European ChampionshipsGlock's Undercover81.763%Team79.479%4thIndividual Special84.911%4thIndividual Freestyle2014World Cup FinalGlock's Undercover83.696%2014World Equestrian GamesGlock's Voice72.414%Team70.392%25thIndividual Special2015World Cup FinalGlock's Undercover84.696%2015European ChampionshipsGlock's Undercover82.229%TeamEL29thIndividual Special2016Olympic GamesGlock's Voice75.271%4thTeam73.655%20thIndividual2017World Cup FinalGlock's Voice78.921%6th2017European ChampionshipsGlock's Voice72.457%5thTeam69.468%24thIndividual Special2018World Cup FinalGlock's Zonik79.654%8th2018World Equestrian GamesGlock's Zonik77.189%5thTeam77.751%7thIndividual Special2019European ChampionshipsGlock's Zonik78.758%Team77.994%8thIndividual Special84.271%6thIndividual Freestyle
Notable horses Lingh - 1993 Bay Dutch Warmblood Stallion (Flemmingh x Columbus) 2003 European Championships - Individual 29th Place 2004 FEI World Cup Final - Silver Medal 2005 FEI World Cup Final - Silver Medal 2005 European Championships - Team Silver Medal, Individual Fourth Place 2006 FEI World Cup Final - Fourth Place 2006 World Equestrian Games - Team Silver Medal, Individual 11th Place, Individual 12th Place Freestyle IPS Gribaldi - 1993 Black Trakehner Stallion (Kostolany x Ibikus) 2007 FEI World Cup Final - 11th Place Totilas - 2000 Black Dutch Warmblood Stallion (Gribaldi x Glendale) 2009 European Championships - Team Gold Medal, Individual Silver Medal, Individual Gold Medal Freestyle 2010 FEI World Cup Final - Gold Medal 2010 World Equestrian Games - Team Gold Medal, Individual Gold Medal, Individual Gold Medal Freestyle Sisther de Jeu - 1999 Bay Dutch Warmblood Mare (Gribaldi x Amor) 2011 FEI World Cup Final - Fourth Place 2011 European Championships - Team Bronze Medal, Individual 18th Place Glock's Undercover - 2001 Black Dutch Warmblood Gelding (Ferro x Donnerhall) 2012 London Olympics - Team Bronze Medal, Individual Ninth Place 2013 FEI World Cup Final - Bronze Medal 2013 European Championships - Team Silver Medal, Individual Fourth Place, Individual Fourth Place Freestyle 2014 FEI World Cup Final - Bronze Medal 2015 FEI World Cup Final - Silver Medal 2015 European Championships - Team Gold Medal, Individual 29th Place Glock's Voice - 2002 Black Dutch Warmblood Stallion (De Niro x Rhodiamant) 2014 World Equestrian Games - Team Bronze Medal, Individual 25th Place 2016 Rio Olympics - Team Fourth Place, Individual 20th Place 2017 FEI World Cup Final - Sixth Place Glock's Zonik NOP - 2008 Dark Bay Danish Warmblood Stallion (Blue Hors Zack x Romanov) 2018 FEI World Cup Final - Eighth Place
Personal life Gal is in a long-term relationship with teammate Hans Peter Minderhoud. Gal has been interviewed in several Dutch media outlets about his relationship with Minderhoud.
References
External links