Peter Gray

When you think of Bermuda, horses might not be the first thing that springs to mind, but it is the home country of Olympic eventer and dressage judge Peter Gray! Peter grew up on the island, starting his riding career on crossbred horses, and competing in a variety of disciplines at local shows, from western pleasure to driving. He was also an active member of his local Pony Club, which helped give Peter a strong and well-rounded early education.

Peter went on to study animal science at the University of Guelph in Ontario, where he was introduced to the more competitive side of eventing. He bought his first horse, a Standardbred-Thoroughbred schoolmaster, and took him all the way up to the 1980 Alternate Olympics in France. At the young age of 21, Peter became the first Bermudian event rider to compete at the Olympics.

Peter then went on to take Count’s Best, a 15.3-hand Appendix Quarter Horse, to the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. In 1987, he won individual bronze at the Pan American Games on the Trakehner stallion Amiego, and then in 1988, he went to the Seoul Olympics on Somers, an English-bred Connemara-Thoroughbred that Peter also competed to the CCI5* level.

Peter was also able to spend time training in England with Lucinda Green and Mark Todd, as well as show jumper Dick Stillwell. While in Europe, he competed at Burghley, Badminton, Le Lion, and Luhmühlen.

Based out of Canada in the summer, Peter was the Canadian team coach from 1996 until 2000, switching nationalities in 2004 to ride for Canada. He’s served on the Canadian High Performance Committee and the U.S. Eventing Association Board of Governors, as well as worked as a Canadian team selector, as a Canadian U-25 coach, and the FEI Eventing Committee.

After setting his sights on dressage, Peter earned his USEF ‘S’ judging license and his FEI level 3 eventing license, which allows him to judge through the five-star level. Peter’s calm and methodical approach to riding and training have made him an extremely popular Ride iQ coach, particularly when it comes to dressage tests!