Flushed with the triumph of his FEI World Equestrian Games performances, Steffen Peters announced after his freestyle in Aachen, Germany, that he had a “secret weapon” on the way from Europe, but he would give no further details.

Well that top-secret equine arrived in the United States, and his name is Ravel. Formerly owned by Tim Coomans and campaigned by Edward Gal of the Netherlands, Ravel, or TC Ravel as he was called, is an 8-year-old, Dutch Warmblood stallion (Contango—Hautain, Democraat). Gal showed Ravel in the small tour and taught him the movements for Grand Prix.

“Ravel is a really super horse,” said Peters. “He has three outstanding gaits. His extended canter is out of this world. Not a single horse in Aachen had an extended canter like his.”

Long-time supporter Akiko Yamazaki, who also owns Lombardi, offered to help Peters find another international horse, as his current Grand Prix mount, Floriano, is already 16 years old.

So he traveled long and far looking for just the right horse. “In Europe I drove 7,000 miles this year,” he said with a laugh. “I think I looked at every single young Grand Prix horse on the market.”

But when he saw a DVD of Ravel shortly after the selection trials in Gladstone, N.J. in June, he knew he was interested.

“The owner, Tim Coomans, said that nobody would see the horse until I got there,” said Peters. “I was the first and the last person to see him.”

Ravel arrived in Los Angeles on Sept. 20 and will remain in quarantine for 30 days.

“Edward did a wonderful job teaching him all the Grand Prix movements,” said Peters. “I\’ll probably start him in a few small Grand Prix tests next year and then the goal is to do the international ones the year after that. I\’m very fortunate to have enormously generous sponsors, and I will never take that for granted.”