Matthias Alexander Rath, German dressage rider
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Matthias Alexander Rath is a successful German dressage rider, who currently has the ride on the exceptional horse, Totilas.
Born in 1984, Matthias’s life and family have long been centred on horses; he sat on his first pony when he was just a year old. His father is the famous trainer and instructor Klaus Martin Rath; his stepmother, Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff, and his uncle, Karsten Huck, were dressage bronze medallists at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.
Matthias was a successful under-21s rider – in 2005 he won team gold at the young rider Europeans in Barzago on Cantelli. Soon after, he started making an impact at grand prix, and in 2006, won the Piaff grand prix final in Stuttgart on Renior-UNICEF, repeating the feat the following year on the same horse.
In 2008, he won the German National Championships grand prix title on his horse Sterntaler-UNICEF. The pair then helped Germany win team bronze at the 2009 European Championships in Windsor.
The following year Matthias came eighth in the World Cup final on Triviant-UNICEF, and picked up team bronze at the World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Kentucky with Sterntaler-UNICEF.
But after 40 years of dressage domination, the German team was unimpressed with their team bronze at WEG. Then the Dutch owner of Totilas, Cees Vissler, made the shock decision to sell the stallion, who was ridden by Edward Gal.
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Seeing the breeding potential, and the chance to put Germany back on the dressage world map, breeder and dealer Paul Schockem ¶hle bought Totilas. Ann Karin Linsenhoff subsequently bought a percentage of the horse – including the riding rights – seeing the chance to propel Matthias into dressage superstardom.
Matthias made his competition debut with Totilas at CDI Munich in Germany on 2 June 2011. They won on a score of 76.787% in front of a packed crowd.
Matthias missed the London 2012 Olympic Games with Totilas due to an attack of glandular fever.
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