San Diegan rides away with silver in dressage

Steffen Peters and the United States dressage team did something that had not been done in more than 70 years.

Peters, a 56-year-old Carmel Valley resident, joined with Adrienne Lyle and Sabine Schut-Kery to finish second behind Germany, which won gold for the ninth time in the past 10 Olympics. It was the first silver medal for the U.S. in the event since the 1948 London Games.

“This is exactly what I wanted for my team,” said Peters, who posted a personal-best score with his 13-year-old gelding Suppenkasper. “It’s one thing to ride individually, but when you pull a good score for your team it’s an incredible feeling. When we came out of the arena, I gave Mopsie a big hug and thanked him from the bottom of my heart. We were seriously in the zone. When we were out there about to go in the ring, I said, ‘Mopsie, please just do what we just did out here in warmup,’ and we had a good schooling this morning. He did that for me when it counted and it’s an incredible feeling when a horse will fight for you like that in the arena.”

Peters previously represented the United States in the Olympics in 1996, 2008, 2012 and 2016, winning team bronze twice.