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Steffen Peters wins National Dressage Championship

Jun 17, 2012

Four years ago, Steffen Peters and Ravel, then an inexperienced 10-year-old, won the 2008 Grand Prix National Dressage Championship at the Festival of Champions in California. That performance earned the pair a trip to the Olympic Games where they were fourth. Four years, an FEI World Cup title, a CHIO Aachen victory and two Bronze medals at the FEI World Equestrian Games later - Ravel was granted permission by the USEF selectors to not attend the 2012 USEF Dressage Festival of Champions which was also serving as the USEF Selection Trial for the 2012 Olympic Games. So Peters brought Four Winds Farm's Legolas 92 to the USET Foundation Headquarters instead. The result was the same. The 10-year-old Westphalian gelding, who was imported in December has won his first National Championship. It is Peters' sixth, tying the record previously set by Robert Dover. Their score of 77.956% was enough to give them a four day average of 77.653% and left them less than one point clear of the runners-up Tina Konyot and Calecto V. They had the ride of their lives in Friday's FEI Grand Prix but settled up second today and overall. Peters knew what he had to do to take the National title and he succeeded.

Small mistakes in the one-tempi changes showed up in earlier tests at these championships, but today those were clean on the centerline. Peters works patiently on the flying changes while the rest of the work continues to improve exponentially, especially the piaffe and passage.

While Legolas will be the back-up for Ravel for the Olympic Games, Peters knows that this horse's best is still yet to come.

Konyot was thrilled again with her 14-year-old Danish Warmblood stallion. A new found focus with the support of the USEF Technical Advisor, Anne Gribbons, has helped Konyot produce personal best scores throughout these Championships. Today's score of 77.889% brought their four-day total to 76.873%.

Jan Ebeling (Moorpark, CA) and Rafalca continued to up their game, and delivered again - this time with a 74.889% to bring their third place total to 73.169% over the four classes.

This competition was the culmination of a long road, one which which continues onto London for the Olympic Games. Adrienne Lyle had to outdo herself to keep her Olympic dreams alive and she did with a score of 73.558% - considerably her highest score of the competition. Their cumulative score of 74.588% cemented their fourth place finish. Lyle (Ketchum, ID) and the 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding Wizard train under the tutelage of two-time Olympian Debbie McDonald. They excelled today in what Peters referred to as a 'life-changing ride."

Source dressagedaily.com