Two-Time Olympian Ravel & Michael Poulin to be Inducted into USDF Hall of Fame
12 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Two-Time Olympian Ravel & Michael Poulin to be Inducted into USDF Hall of Fame
Ravel, the horse that Steffen Peters rode in two Olympics and only the second World Cup winner for the United States, and Olympic team bronze medalist Michael Poulin will be inducted into the U.S. Dressage Federation Hall of Fame.
The induction ceremony will be held at the USDF annual convention in New Orleans Dec. 8.
Ravel, a 14-year-old KWPN gelding (Contango x Hautain x Democraat), was retired after this summer’s London Games to the California farm of owners Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang.
The horse was bought in 2006 for Steffen of San Diego, California, to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The pair finished fourth individually.
The following year, they won the World Cup Final in Las Vegas, only the second U.S. combination to do so, then went on to become the first American combination to sweep the World Equestrian Festival CDIO in Aachen, Germany. In 2010, Ravel and Seffen led the U.S. team that secured a berth at the London Olympics as well as collecting two individual bronze medals.
The pair led the U.S. team at the London Olympics in August and was the sole American combination to advance to the individual final, the Grand Prix Freestyle.
Of the 45 times Ravel entered a CDI arena from the start of their international competition career, he finished first on 31 occasions.
Michael Poulin is being honored for what the USDF described as “a lifelong commitment to furthering dressage and dressage education in the U.S.”
He has been a competitor, trainer, instructor and judge, riding Graf George on the U.S. bronze medal team at the 1992 Barceloa Olympics. He was instrumental in the founding of the USDF Instructor/Trainer Program, founded The Dressage Foundation’s “Advanced Young Rider Olympic Dream Program” and is an FEI 4*/I and USEF “S” Judge.
