Peters bio

Peter was born on 30.07.1965 in Boston as the son of retired investment banker John Wylde and his wife Seddon Ryan Wylde who has been a downhill ski racer for Canada until the age of 19. 
When he was a little boy of just 7 years he started riding on a friend`s pony. His first own pony called Kismet was bought by his parents. Even at that time Peter already showed great talent for training and schooling horses. Kismet got such a good jumper that she could be sold with profit. Unfortunately Kismet died peacefully on a beautiful fall afternoon last year at Beaver Brooke Farm in Holliston, MA. She is buried on the farm in her favorite sunny spot.
Peters talent for riding was not only recognized within the equestrian circus. When he was eleven years old he almost got the role as Alec in "The black stallion". Unfortunately he was a big too tall for that character, otherwise he maybe would have also become a Hollywood star, who knows.
But instead of this his riding carreer developed even better. As a junior rider, meanwhile a student of the famous equestrian trainers Fran and Joe Dotoli,  he won the 1981 New England Medal Final, a top competition for riders in New England under the age of 18. In 1982 he even was the winner of the ASPCA Maclay Finals at Madison Square Garden, the top competition for young riders in the US.
Despite the fact that horses are his real passion he decided to study history at Tufts University. In this time Peter does not compete during the school year. Instead he met and spent "time with interesting people whom I knew I would not be as likely to meet after school when I went back to riding full time." During this time he competed on the Tufts Intercollegiate Team.
After graduating in 1988 he opened his fist stable Bondurant Inc. in Medfield. Bondurant was his grandfathers middle name and the name of his house in Canada. For the next 6 years he trained junior and adult rider and also competed in grand prix classes.
Peter made the tough decision to shut the doors of Bondurant and went to Switzerland for a year to work in the stable of the top swiss trainer Gerhard Etter.
Back in the states he was offered a prestigious position at Chestnut Ridge Farm of Dan Lufkin who gave him the great opportunity to compete on world class grand prix horses. This collaboration was highlighted by his win of the individual silver medal at the Pan-Am games in 1999.
Only one year later he decided to return to Europe again and set up a stable in the Netherlands where he trained with Henk Nooren.  With this stable he had the advantage of etablishing consistency and comfort at the European shows. And the sacrifices he made with his decision to set his main place of recidence to Europe and to live for the sports payed off soon. Already in his first year in Europe Peter won two World Cup Qualifiers in a row against all top riders and thereby was able to establish himself in the top of show jumping. He definetly benefited from the genorosity of Dan Lufkin providing his horses for Peter also in Europe. From then on Peters carreer went straight to the top. He got the ride on the wonderful mare Fein Cera who would influence himself and his carreer like no other horse. This pair definitely was made for each other! The win of the individual bronze medal and Fein Ceras titel as world champion of the horses at the WEG in Jerez 2002 as well as the olympic team gold medal at the OS in Athens 2004 just were the highlights of an marvellous symbiosis. 2004 also was the year when Peter moved his stable to the lovely facility of the Lenhsens in Germany. In 2007 Peter and Turnabout Farm made the decision to retire Fein Cera. Definitely that was not easy for Peter! But life goes on and he impressively shows that he also can persist in  the top of show jumping with other horses and still captivates the audience with his riding.

 Information are taken from www.fei.org