“I just feed her a bunch of watermelons,” Jan Ebeling, the equestrian who rides Rafalca, said about the flight in a recent telephone interview. “It’s not enough for a horse forever, but it’s good for the road.”

The United States Equestrian Federation and the United States Olympic Committee have refused to make those working with Rafalca available for interviews in the days leading up to the Games and prohibited the news media from even seeing the horse. Through a spokeswoman, Ann Romney declined to be interviewed.

With a milk chocolate coat, raven tail and white socks above three of her hooves, Rafalca will next be seen in the dressage ring on Aug. 2, performing in a sport sometimes referred to as horse ballet in which a horse and rider, typically clad in a top hat, tails and riding boots, perform a series of complex movements, often to music. Her pedigree is supreme.

Rafalca is an Oldenburg, which are often branded with an “O” on their legs and have been bred for centuries as everything from carriage horses to artillery horses to farm horses. As leisure time increased, Oldenburgs were increasingly bred for show jumping and dressage, favored for their long legs and strong gaits.

Rafalca’s grandfather (dam sire, the father of her mother) was Rubinstein, who has been called the stallion of the century by German breeders.

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