Versailles, France—July 31

Three years after the U.S. Dressage Team broke the country’s Olympic medal drought by winning silver in Tokyo, it will not advance a team or individual rider out of the qualifying Grand Prix.

The U.S. was knocked out of the Olympic dressage competition today, after Steffen Peters, the final American rider, struggled through a difficult test that scored an uncharacteristically low 66.49%.

Neither he nor teammate Adrienne Lyle, who are competing as individuals after their teammate Marcus Orlob was eliminated yesterday, scored high enough to qualify for the individual final. The Grand Prix serves as the qualifier for both the team and individual finals. Riders are sorted into six groups, and from each of those groups, the top two scorers earn automatic entry to the individual final. The six top-scoring riders, after those finishing first and second in each group, also earn berths to the freestyle. Lyle’s Wednesday score of 72.59% put her third in her group and was not high enough to earn one of the six additional slots.

Peters said he sat “almost in a two-point [position], but even that was not working today” in an effort to diffuse his 2021 Tokyo Olympic partner Suppenkasper. The horse’s tension came to a head with trouble in the final piaffe-passage down centerline, where “Mopsie” stopped piaffing and resisted through the passage. He didn’t demonstrate immobility in the halt.

“It was tough,” Peters said. “[He was] a little too much on fire. He’s been in places like this before, and I thought right after the walk I had him, and he got more and more excited, and even on the last extension he was drifting a little right. He saw something on the short side, and [it] gave him from behind so much energy for that last passage, and I knew that could be trouble for the last piaffe.”

The final results did not match the team spirit this year’s riders—Peters, Orlob, Lyle and alternate Endel Ots—had coming into the Games, Peters noted.

“It’s too bad because we came with such a great atmosphere from the training camp here,” he said. “We had a fantastic training camp, great camaraderie; there was so much humor. I’m not used to being on the team with three guys. This was incredible. We really had a good time. And then the opening ceremonies—I went with Endel—just absolutely fantastic. 

“So the emotions and the feeling that you wanted for the Olympic Games were clearly created before,” he continued. “I think if you want to talk about the Olympic spirit, that was clearly there. Unfortunately, the Olympic spirit was not on my side today.”

Team Chef d’Equipe Christine Traurig said the team vets looked at Mopsie after the uncharacteristic performance, and that the gelding is resting comfortably tonight.

“I deeply share Steffen’s disappointment with his ride today, especially taking into consideration what this combination has done for this sport, our country, and worldwide, bringing so much positive engagement to our sport over the past few years,” she said in a written statement about the pair better known outside the horse world as “Rave Horse.” “It became obvious to me during their test, Mopsie was not himself. After returning to the stabling, he was taken care of by his team and our team USEF veterinarian, and he is starting to feel more himself, which is the most important thing.”