Titus van de Marren (Rindert 406 x Barteld 292) is the first Friesian who has acquired the Sport Elite predicate in Italy. Titus is active in dressage sports under Claudia Montanari. ‘He was the first Friesian horse ever to appear in the dressage ring in Italy. It took a while for the Jury to get used to that.’
Well-mannered Stallion
The 13-year-old Star stallion Titus is a half brother of the recently deceased Maiko 373 (Tsjerk 328) and comes from pedigree 143. ‘I´ve had him under saddle for eight years now’, Claudia tells us. ‘He is a really special horse with an excellent character and very good manners on top of that.’ In the beginning things weren´t easy, his rider remembers. ‘Since he was the first Friesian in the country the Jury initially found it hard to adjust. They had never seen a Friesian horse before.’ The scores for their dressage tests kept going up however and in the end the air managed to become Italy´s Light Tour Champion. ‘I think Titus will be a fantastic schoolmaster for a junior rider in the future.’
Lude van de Marren Italian Champion too
Titus is not Claudia´s only trump card. There´s also Lude fan de Marren (Maurus 441 x Beart 411), an 8-year-old stallion from pedigree 38, so not related to Titus. At the end of September Claudia again won the Title of Italian Light Tour Dressage Champion. This time with Lude and a score of 70,5%. ‘Already the second time for a Friesian to secure this title! I´ve been riding Lude for five years now and he had even qualified for the World Championships Young Dressage Horses, but because of the absurd regulations Friesians are not entitled to take part’, she says. ‘But just like Titus, Lude also has it in him to become Sport Elite.’
