After much speculation, Kees and Tosca Visser, owners of the dressage sensation and European Dressage Champion Moorlands Totilas, have had a change of heart and decided that the stallion will now be available to breeders for the 2010 season.

The owners had said previously that the horse would be used solely for competition until after the Olympics, which is their goal for him.

However, they have now changed their minds and the black stallion will be available to a select book of mares, on a first come first served basis. Only frozen semen will be available and the stud fee is likely to be somewhere in the region of €5000 to €5500. Compare this to the current top priced dressage stallion, the late Donnerhall - a proven producer of world class horses - whose stud fee is €4000. The stud fee for Totilas is the highest ever seen in the dressage world.

With Edward Gal, Totilas set and then broke his own Grand Prix Kür world record three times in 2009, the latest mark being 92.3% at the London International Horse Show at Olympia.

Mr Visser said: "We don't want to prevent breeders using Totilas' genes, so we decided to put him up for stud," Moorland agent Semira Norman said. "We've been contacted by so many breeders and have decided to comply with their wishes."

Totilas' semen is currently being analysed at the Universitary Clinic in Utrecht. The number of covers offered this season will depend on the quality of the semen.

At the moment the plan is to distribute Totilas' semen via three stallion stations in The Netherlands. Mare owners who wish to use Totilas must apply and be assesed, as only high quality mares will be selected to be matched with Totilas.

Semira Norma, agent for Moorland Stables, told dressage news website Eurodressage that "those interested in breeding to Totilas will have to fill out a form to show their intent. Each form will be carefully analysed and will be handled on a first come, first served basis."

Totilas' Breeding

Totilas, who turns ten this year, is by the Keur Trakehner stallion Gribaldi who was the 1995 champion of the stallion selections and 1996 champion of his stallion performance test. Gribaldi's sire Kostolany has been responsible for hundreds of graded mares and many licensed stallions.

Totilas' dam is the elite KWPN mare Lominka, a daughter of Glendale, a KWPN son of the legendary Nimmerdor. His third sire is Akteur, a son of the foundation sire Amor (damsire to the Gribaldi daughter Edward Gal rode in his demonstration at Olympia 2009 - see right).

Totilas' pedigree is peppered with elite and ster mares. To see his full five generation pedigree, click the link below.

Totilas for sale?

The family has turned down some chunky offers to buy him, including some that were made before the European Championships in Windsor England in August where Totilas set world records in both the Grand Prix and the musical freestyle.

“You can’t say he’s not for sale, you never know. It would be ridiculous to say that,” said Mr Visser. While he said he did not know at what price Totilas might be for sale, in response to the figure €12 to €15 million that had been bandied about in Europe, he commented: "then maybe €20 to €25 million would be the price.”