Steffen Peters and Ravel Head Up US Olympic Dressage Team
July 21, 2008
Steffen Peters is headed to the 2008 Olympic equestrian games at the top of the US dressage team. Originally from Germany, Steffen became a US citizen in 1992. Shortly thereafter, he won a team bronze with the US dressage team at the Atlanta games in 1996, and was an alternate for the team in 2004. This year he’s headed to Hong Kong with two horses, going up against dressage greats from around the world including Anky van Grunsven who has captured the last two consecutive individual gold medals in the event.
The dressage rider has the number one spot on the 2008 US Olympic dressage team with Ravel, a 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding. He will also be taking Lombardi II, a 17-year-old Holsteiner gelding, who placed highly in the Olympic trials and will travel to Hong Kong as an alternate ride.
Steffen Peters Background
Steffen was introduced to horses by his sister, and his new-found passion was well supported by his parents. He met several riders from San Diego at a clinic in Germany and took them up on an invitation to visit their hometown in 1984. After returning to Germany to fulfill his brief military requirements, he returned to the US for good. Steffen was born in Germany, moved to the US in 1985 and earned his citizenship in 1992. He and his wife of four years, Shannon Barnes, who is also a noted dressage rider operate a training facility in the San Diego area.
Career
Steffen’s partnership with the chestnut Westphalien gelding Floriano catapulted him into the international spotlight. In 2006, the pair swept all three phases at the 2006 Collecting Gaits/USEF National Grand Prix Dressage Competition, which landed them the anchor spot on the 2006 World Equestrian Games team. There, Steffen and Floriano were integral in capturing the team bronze for the US. Even two years ago, dressage fans were gearing up to see these two in the 2008 Olympics. Then, Steffen decided to resign as Floriano’s rider because he had commitments to other clients and couldn’t exclusively show Floriano as his owners wished. The decision was a hard one for the rising star, who said, “Without Floriano, I wouldn’t be where I am. I wouldn’t have had the opportunities I’ve had to compete internationally. I appreciate every opportunity that the Brownings and Floriano gave me.”
Other highlights of Steffen’s career to date include winning team bronze in the 1996 Olympics aboard Udon, taking team silver at CDIO Aachen in 2003 with Grandeur, and winning every outing with Ravel so far this year.
A few of Peters’ accomplishments:
1993 riding Udon - Miller’s USET National Reserve Champion Grand Prix
1994 riding Akeena - Individual and Team Gold Olympic Festival St. Louis
1995 riding Udon - Miller’s USET Natioan Champion Grand Prix
1996 riding Udon - Bronze Medal Atlanta
1999 riding Grandeur - Millers USET Reserve Champion
2002 riding Grandeur - Winner of the US League Finals
2002 riding Grandeur - Finished in 8th place at the World Cup
2003 riding Grandeur -Team Silver Metal in Aachen Germany
2004 5 Grand Prix Wins at CDI Burbank April
2004 riding Floriano – an alternate rider for the Olympic team in Athens Greece
2006 riding Floriano – Winner USEF Grand Prix at USET Foundation Dressage Festival of Champions
2006 riding Floraino – Winner of team bronze at World Equestrian Games
Steffen and Shannon are sponsored by Mushroom Matrix, organic health products made from mushrooms for people, horses, and other pets.
Videos
Steffen Peters and Ravel Freestyle Clinches 2008 Olympic Dressage Team spot
Steffen Peters and Ravel Grand Prix Dressage Test at Final Olympic Trials
Steffen Peters and Lombardi II Dressage Test at 2008 Olympic Trials
- Read Olympic equestrian rider profiles, overviews of events and Hong Kong facilities, and other Olympic equestrian news on RegardingHorses.com. Complete coverage of 2008 Olympic Equestrian events.
Posted in 2008 Olympics, Dressage
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:34 am
I cannot wait for your post on Courtyney King-Dye! I was at the 2006 national championships and Steffan deserved to win, no question. He is a nice guy, approacable but a bit…uppity I guess would be the way to describe it. My friend approached him about doing a clinic at her barn…his response? “I only come to the east coast to compete, you can feel free to bring your horse to my barn in Cali and I would be happy to work with you out there for a week or two.” Now I know he has since come back and done stuff on the east coast because my trainer rode with him last fall…she was hoping he would get on her horse…he never did.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:01 pm
OnTheBit - I knew you’d be waiting for that one! Actually, you probably know more about her than I do or could find online. If you want to share some info, or if you’d like to help write it, drop me an email! Otherwise I’ll be going through all of my old PH magazines looking for the one with a profile of her.
Sorry to hear that about Steffen Peters. I’m sure all these top riders are pretty pressed for time and can only take so many people and make excuses from time. I wonder if he was doing a clinic that your trainer rode in; from what I read it sounded like he does a lot of clinics all over the country.
July 24th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
As someone who has worked closely with Steffen and Shannon for several years (and Courtney), I believe “onthebit” has unfortunately totally mis-characterized Steffen. In my opinion, shared by many others, he is one of the finest horsemen in the world: just watching him and his relationships with his horses is pure magic.
Like many excellent horsemen, Steffen is much happier communing with horses than with humans! Also, English is not his primary language. He is shy, and is not a showman, plus they do have a 29-horse barn to take care of. Americans have it in their nature to self-promote: Steffen was brought up in a world where this is regarded as anti-social and it’s just not in his character.
So, please give him a break. He’s not “uppity”: he’s a focused, responsible genius on a horse and needs to be lauded for that.
John Hall
July 24th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
John,
Thanks for taking the time to share some insight into Steffen’s background and personality. It’s really exciting to hear from someone who knows him personally. I always like to hear good things about the talented people who are representing our country, so I’m glad you took some time out to applaud him.
August 8th, 2008 at 6:11 am
Thanks so much for sharing that with me i feel so confident again about riding in big shows like that,i just lost my award winning horse hazza bombazza and am very sad but now am able to show that i can teach another horse how to do things,
cheers,
Ashleigh
August 26th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
For Steffen and Shannon (his second wife - he was married to Janet for about 17 years) it’s all about the money, although he is a magician with horses.