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 forms can become chronic. The cause of this disease is the infliction of slight injury to the bone membrane, and the presence of an actual wound is not necessary.

The website dressage-international.com reports Paul Schockemohle, Totilas’ co-owner, stating that the stallion will keep being used for breeding, but with smaller frequency than before.

After this update, let’s all hope that this much-loved stallion recovers fast.