Suppenkasper

Photo courtesy of Shannon Brinkman
(2008 – )
Owned by Four Winds Farm and Akiko Yamazaki
Inducted: 2022

Photos

Photo courtesy of Shannon Brinkman
When Akiko Yamazaki and Four Winds Farm purchased Suppenkasper, the goal was to provide a mount for decorated American rider Steffen Peters, with the hope that he would qualify for both the World Equestrian Games in 2018 and 2020 Olympic Games teams. The 2008 KWPN gelding known as "Mopsie" played a vital role in making that goal attainable, and the partnership between Peters and Mopsie has proven to be a formidable force in the dressage arena.

Peters and Mopsie began their journey in 2017. In 2018, they had multiple CDI3* and CDI-W wins on the West Coast circuit before spending the summer in Europe, where they collected a third-place finish in the CDI3* FEI Grand Prix at CHIO Rotterdam, won the CDI4* FEI Grand Prix and the FEI Grand Prix Special at CDI Leudelange, and added two top-five finishes in the CDI4* FEI Grand Prix and FEI Grand Prix Special at CHIO Aachen. The duo concluded their year with an impressive team silver medal at the FEI World Equestrian Games™ Tryon.

The pair continued their winning ways in 2019, with multiple West Coast circuit CDI3* and CDI-W victories. A second trip to Europe brought two second-place finishes in the CDI4* FEI Grand Prix and FEI Grand Prix Special at CDI Leudelange. They also won the team bronze medal in the FEI Dressage Nations Cup™ Germany at CHIO Aachen.

The following year saw more success for Peters and Mopsie - they were undefeated at both the Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) in Wellington, Florida and Desert Dressage in Thermal, California and clinched the team and individual gold medals at the FEI Dressage Nations Cup USA.

During the 2021 winter season, Mopsie and Peters were undefeated, winning the FEI Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special CDI4* at the AGDF week three, and the FEI Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle CDI5* at AGDF week seven. That same year, Mopsie was also crowned United States Dressage Federation Grand Prix Horse of the Year for the third consecutive year.

Undoubtedly, Mopsie's standout performance came during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (which was postponed until 2021 due to safety concerns surrounding Covid-19), where he and Peters delivered an electric Grand Prix Freestyle to a techno-sounding score that was crafted by musical artist Taylor Kade.

Their unique freestyle made global waves and drew a host of new fans to the sport of dressage, who collectively dubbed the talented gelding "Rave Horse." But social and news media weren't the only platforms upon which the pair found recognition in Tokyo - they had top-ten finishes in both the Grand Prix Special and the Grand Prix Freestyle and helped to bring home a United States team silver medal in dressage for the first time in 70 years.

Owner Akiko Yamazaki said that the 18.2 hand gelding is really just a humble, gentle giant who doesn't know how special he is. She highlighted Mopsie's honest, hard-working nature and the partnership that he has developed with Peters as the keys to his success in the dressage arena.

"He never quits," she said. "And he takes his job very seriously. He always gives 120% of himself."