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Steffen Peters and Ravel win the FEI World Cup Grand Prix
Freestyle Final in Las Vegas on April 18, 2009.
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
Does it surprise you to know world renowned dressage star and two time Olympic competitor Steffen Peters is a clicker trainer?
US Olympic team rider Steffen Peters and Ravel, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Akiko Yamazaki, achieved victory with a score of 77.915% at the Rolex FEI World Cup Finals, defeating nine-time World Cup champion Anky Van Grunsven who came in second place, and two-time World Cup winner Isabell Werth who earned third. In an article in Holistic Horse magazine, Steffen said,
"He gave it all to me today, I didn't have to push him - he just gave me all the movements - I'm beside myself with excitement!
Steffen explains his training program,
"When I train, 75 percent of what I'm doing is really training the horse mentally. The other 25 percent - getting the horse fit and developing the muscles, really isn't that complicated.
With a technique like clicker training, we have a chance of rewarding the horse as soon as he does something right, because he associates the noise of clicker with a reward. Horses need to understand when they do something right - more than just a pat. It's so important to keep horses out of the gray area. It's got to be black and white, right and wrong."
Enjoy this beautiful 2007 performance of Steffen Peters and Floriano.
Here are some of Steffen Peters' career highlights:
- 2009 - Won Steffen Peters and Ravel win the 2009 Rolex FEI World Cup Final in Dressage.
- 2008 - Won freestyle event at Olympic Trials.
- 2007 - Took 3rd at Rolex FEI World Cup(TM) Dressage Final.
- 2006 - Placed 4th individually and won team bronze at World Equestrian Games.
- 2003 - Placed 2nd at Grand Prix – CDI***Burbank & Won Grand Prix Special, CDI*** Burbank.
- 2002 - Took 2nd at U.S. Freestyle Championship & Reached World Cup final.
- 2000 - Took 1st in Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special at Los Angeles Winter Dressage Show.
- 1998 - Won CDS Grand Prix Championship at CDS Horse of the Year Championship & Took 2nd at the USET Dressage Championship.
- 1997 - Took 2nd at USDF Grand Prix Horse of the Year Award & Won Grand Prix Special at California Dressage Classic.
- 1996 - Won Grand Prix Freestyle at Los Angeles Mid-Winter CDI-W & won the Bronze Medal in Athens Olympics.
- 1995 - Won USET Grand Prix Championship at USET Festival of Champions.
- 1994 - Won Prix St. Georges at CDS Horse of the Year & Won Intermediaire at CDS Horse of the Year.
- 1993 - Took 2nd in USET Grand Prix Championship at IBM/USET Festival of Champions.
- 1992 - Won Intermediaire II at Pebble Beach Dressage.
... you might also enjoy these:
- Interview: Sharon Foley - clicker trainer, dressage rider and author
- Pride and Prejudice in Equine Training
- How Does Clicker Training Work?
- Who Invented Clicker Training?
- Training Horses with Love and Respect
- The Attitude of a Clicker Trainer
- Clicker Training to Solve Problems with Horses
- Clicker Training is Safe Training
- Time and Observation - Two Important Training Tools
- Are You Your Horse's Alpha or Partner?
- Focus as a Form of Communication with Horses
- "The Soul of a Horse" Book Review
More Information
World Cup Las Vegas 2009
Holistic Horse - Natural Professionals
NBC Olympics - Biography of Steffen Peters
Sports Illustrated - Biography of Steffen Peters
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Comments
Very nice site!
Very nice site!
My colleague, Becky Holden and I have been training classical dressage horses with clicker for years. How lovely to read that Steffen Peters uses it to train his horses too. I have always had a lot of respect for him, and now, I have even more!
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