Peter began riding in Connecticut, where he took lessons from trainer/author Gincy Bucklin, who started beginners on horses wearing hackamores and bareback pads. “I didn't see a saddle for the first six months,” he said. Peter moved on to lessons at the Fairfield County Hunt Club before meeting jumping and event trainer Sarah Dalton-Morris at age 12. “Sarah has been my mentor ever since.”

Sarah gave Peter a foundation in all-around general horsemanship. During those years, he joined the Pony Club, evented and trail rode on his first horse, a half-Arabian. When he was 16, equitation trainer Judy Richter spotted him at a Pony Club rally. “I watched him jump and went up to him and said, ‘You should come ride at Coker Farm,’” she recalled. “He said, ‘I’d love to but I can’t afford it.’ And I said, ‘Well you come run the in-gate at my horse show and we’ll give you a couple of lessons.’”

The “couple of lessons” stretched into a years-long working-student position with Judy and her assistant trainers at the time, Andre Dignelli and Kate Stoffel-Oliver. “I mucked stalls and groomed as a Junior,” Peter said.

The hard work paid off: In 1991, he won the Rolex/ASPCA Maclay National Championship and the Rolex USET Show Jumping Talent Search-East Finals.

He went on to attend Yale University but continued to ride and teach lessons throughout his college years. Before his sophomore year, he spent a summer training professionally in Switzerland.

After graduating, Peter rode and showed sales horses for Sam Edelman at S&L Farms. He then started a new training and sales stable, Davenport Horse Sales and Training, with business partner Mary Manfredi. Since then, he's trained such top riders as Clementine Goutal and her sister, equitation star Brianne; Saer and Audrey Coulter; and Kelly Tropin.

Peter's show ring successes have included top performances nationally and internationally. As a trainer, Peter has coached his students to championship honors in the Hunters, Jumpers and Equitation divisions at the country's best shows, including Devon, The Hampton Classic and the East Coast fall indoor shows.   

Recent Competitive Highlights:

• 2018:
  • Fourth - $384,000 Fidelity Investments Grand Prix - Wellington, Florida
• 2017:
  • Silver Medal - Nations Cup Team at the CSIO 4* Coapexpan, Mexico
  • Second - Spruce Meadows 5* Pan American Grand Prix - Calgary, Alberta
  • Third - Spruce Meadows 5* Friends of the Meadows 1.50m Cup - Calgary, Alberta
  • Seventh - CSIO 4* Coapexpan Grand Prix - Mexico
• 2016:
  • First - $375,000 CP Grand Prix at Spruce Meadows - Calgary, Alberta
  • 19th - Longines FEI Show Jumping World Cup Final - Gothenburg, Sweden
  • Third - Gothenburg Horse Show 1.40m - Sweden
  • Third - Spruce Meadows 5* Continental Grand Prix - Calgary, Alberta
  • Fourth - Old Salem Farm Grand Prix - North Salem, New York
  • Fourth - Spruce Meadows 5* 1.50m - Calgary, Alberta
  • Sixth - Longines/FEI American Gold Cup Grand Prix - North Salem, New York 
• 2015:
  • First - $100,000 Longines/FEI World Cup Jumping Las Vegas
  • 3rd - $215,000 American Gold Cup CSI-W 4* Grand Prix - North Salem, New York