USA Dressage Team Horses Arrive Safely in Rio de Janeiro for Olympic Games

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USA dressage team horses arriving in Rio de Janeiro for the Olympic Games after flying from Europe. Photo courtesy of © 2016 Eddie Garcia who flew with the horses.
USA dressage team horses arriving in Rio de Janeiro for the Olympic Games after flying from Europe. Photo courtesy of © 2016 Eddie Garcia who flew with the horses.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 1, 2016–United States team dressage horses arrived here safely Monday night after a trans-Atantic flight from Belgium.

Eddie Garcia, the groom for Steffen Peters, accompanied the American horses on the Boeing 777 flight. Only one groom per team was allowed.

The horses for several teams that were on the flight were taken from Rio’s international airport to the Olympic equestrian venue in Deodoro about an hour away.

Dressage horses in containers ready to be unloaded in Rio de Janeiro for the Olympic Games after the flight from Europe. Photo courtesy © 2016 Eddie Garcia
Dressage horses in containers ready to be unloaded in Rio de Janeiro for the Olympic Games after the flight from Europe. Photo courtesy © 2016 Eddie Garcia

The USA team:

Steffen Peters, 51, of San Diego, California, and Legolas, a 14-year-old Westfalen gelding owned by Four Winds Farm and ranked No. 7 in the world;

Allison Brock, 36, of Wellington, Florida and Rosevelt, 14-year-old Hanoverian stallion owned by Claudine and Fritz Kundrun, ranked 33rd in the world.

Laura Graves, 28, of Geneva, Florida and her Verdades, 14-year-old KWPN gelding, ranked 11th in the world, and

Kasey Perry Glass, also 28 years old but youngest team member and her mother’s Dublet, 13-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding ranked 21st in the world.

Reserve also in Rio: Shelly Francis, 57, of Loxahatchee, Florida and Doktor, 13-year-old Oldenbur gelding owned by Patricia Stempel.