Hometown: San Diego, Calif. Birthday: 9/18/1964 Sport/Disciplines: Dressage Olympic Years: 1996, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020
Born in Wesel, Germany, Steffen Peters came to the United States in 1984 to work for trainer Laurie Falvo in San Diego. Southern California was a good fit for Peters, and he made the decision to stay, and became a U.S. citizen in 1992. He has been one of the country’s top international dressage competitors ever since, having represented the U.S. at five Olympic Games, four FEI World Equestrian Games™, and two Pan American Games.
Peters rode his KWPN gelding, Udon, to team bronze in his first Olympic outing in the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. With Legolas 92, he won team and individual gold at the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games and team bronze at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics. With his longtime mount, Ravel, the KWPN gelding owned by Akiko Yamazaki, he won the FEI Dressage World Cup™ Final in 2009 and individual bronze at the 2010 WEG in Lexington. He has been recognized for his accomplishments with three USEF Equestrian of the Year titles, in 2008, 2009, and 2011.
Peters has built a phenomenal record with his current top horse, Suppenkasper, a KWPN gelding owned by Akiko Yamazaki and Four Winds Farm. In their first year together, they helped the U.S. team earn silver at the FEI World Equestrian Games™ Tryon 2018. They were undefeated in 2020 through the Adequan® Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, Fla., and the CDI3* at Desert Dressage in Thermal, Calif. The pair kicked off 2021 in the same fashion, winning the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special CDI4* at AGDF 3 and the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle CDI5* at AGDF 7.
Peters and Suppenkasper were part of the silver medal-winning U.S. Dressage Team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where they also placed in the top 10 in the Grand Prix Special and Grand Prix Freestyle to Music.
In 2022, Peters and Suppenkasper swept the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special CDI3* close to home in Thermal and Temecula, Calif., before traveling to compete in Europe for the summer. They represented the U.S. at the FEI Dressage Nations Cup Germany CDIO5* at CHIO Aachen, then went on to win the Kronberg CDI4* Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle in July. The pair again represented the U.S. at the ECCO FEI World Championships in Herning, Denmark. They closed out the year winning the Grand Prix and Freestyle CDI-W at Desert Dressage II and III.
Peters and Suppenkasper began 2023 by winning the Grand Prix and Freestyle CDI-W at Desert Dressage IV.
Peters and his wife Shannon, a U.S. Dressage Federation bronze, silver, and gold medalist and three-time National Championships competitor, operate SPeters Dressage out of Arroyo Del Mar in San Diego, Calif.