2004 Olympic Games - Dressage

Some Said it Couldn't Be Done - But They Said It Could

Text and Photos by Diana DeRosa for Horsesdaily.com

August 20, 2004 – Athens Greece – Twelve years ago when Spain hosted a team for the first time at an Olympic Games everyone looked at the horses they were riding: Andalusians. In Spain these horses are trained to do Airs Above the Ground at the famous Spanish Riding School in Jerez . Many of the other riders and those in the crowd were not used to their movement and didn’t think there was much hope for the Andalusian. While their piaffes and passages were beyond compare, many of their other movements lacked what was needed to be at the top in dressage.

One of those riders was Rafael Soto on a horse named Invasor. In their first Olympic Games they scored 61%. Invasor was 7 years old then. They came back in the Sydney Olympic Games having improved over the four years but still not having what it would take to medal. But today after half of the Team Dressage riders have gone, Rafael and Invasor are the leaders of the pack and it was a score of 72.792% that put them there. There are those that are surprised that the Andalusian was able to overcome what they considered insurmountable obstables. But to Rafael it was all in a day’s work.

He explained that in his mind a horse is a horse. “They have four feet and a tail. Some are good and some are not so good.”

In his heart he had one of the good ones and he along with his teammates and his country set out to overcome any obstacles standing in their way. So, they went to the mother country of dressage – Germany – and worked on what needed improving.

“People can say this is not a good horse for dressage so you work hard and you fight to go. For a horse to make three Olympic Games is not easy. For him and me to go this far is very nice.”