Steffen Peters & Suppenkasper With 4 Horses New to Competition With American Riders Top USA “Short” List for Paris Olympic Selection

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Adrienne Lyle on Helix at Ocala World Equestrian Festival. © 2024 Ken Braddick/DRESSAGE-NEWS.com

April 15, 2024

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

Steffen Peters, campaigning to take Suppenkasper to the the horse’s second Olympics, and four other horses new to competition with American riders top the United States rankings for the “short” list to go to Europe to vie for one of three places on the team for the Paris Olympics.

Steffen of San Diego, California and “Mopsie,” as the 16-year-old KWPN is nicknamed, has an overall average of 73.620% of both the Grand Prix and the Special in qualifying the the squad of up to eight rider and horse combinations to be named in early May for the European tour ahead of Olympic dressage beginning in Paris at the end of July. Steffen is a veteran of five Olympics, including silver at the Tokyo Games and the 2018 World Equestrian Games on Suppenkasper owned by Akiko Yamazaki.

The latest rankings were posted Monday by the U.S. Federation following last weekend’s CDI qualifying competitions at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Florida and Del Mar, California.

Adrienne Lyle, teammate with Salvino at both Tokyo and Tryon, is ranked second with 72.655% on Helix, 12-year-old KWPN gelding that is one of two horses bought at the turn of the year for her to ride. Helix needs only to compete in a Freestyle that Adrienne, based in Wellington, is scheduled to perform at TerraNova the first week of May though the score won’t count for qualifying.

Adrienne and Lars van de Hoenderheide, 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding that arrived at the same time as Helix, stands in the third spot with an average of 72.259%. The pair need only another Grand Prix result to complete qualification.

Endel Ots, also based in Wellington, on Zen Elite’s Bohemian, 14-year-old Westfalen gelding, is ranked fourth on 71.764%. Endel also only needs a Freestyle to round out qualification on the horse that Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour competed for Denmark at the Tokyo Olympics and the 2021 European Championships.

The two horses competed by Adrienne and Bohemian were all bought by Heidi Humphries and her Zen Elite Equestrian Center of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Fiontini competed by Anna Buffini of San Diego is fifth ranked on 71.494%. Anna began competing the 14-year-old Danish Warmblood mare in February and has met qualifying requirements.

Other prospects ranked in the top 10 include: 6. Anna Marek of Dunnellon, Florida on Fire Fly; 7. Katherine Bateson-Chandler of Wellington, on Haute Couture; 8. Marcus Orlob of Loxahatchee, Florida on Jane; 9. Kasey Perry-Glass of Wellington on Heartbeat W.P., and Jan Ebeling of Wellington on Jubi’s Tenacity.

Kevin Kohmann of Wellington on Dünensee and Anna Marek on Fayvel are competing at the World Cup Final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The final two qualifying competitions are at Temecula, California and TerraNova, Florida the first week of May.

Steffen has said he does not plan to compete in Temecula and Anna has yet to decide. The three Zen Elite horses will likely ride at TerraNova though the qualification requirements have been eased somewhat because of the tight schedule.