Usage.java

// on global layout
@Rule
public final ActivityTestRule<AwesomeActivity> activityTestRule = new ActivityTestRule<CartActivity>(AwesomeActivity.class, true, false) {

    @Override
    protected void afterActivityLaunched() {
        hideProgressBarAnimation(getActivity());
    }

};

// When progressBar is added later

onView(isAssignableFrom(ProgressBar.class)).perform(removeProgressBarAnimation())

ViewActions.class

package de.posterxxl.test.util;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.graphics.drawable.Drawable;
import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
import android.support.test.espresso.UiController;
import android.support.test.espresso.ViewAction;
import android.support.test.espresso.core.deps.guava.collect.Iterables;
import android.support.test.espresso.util.TreeIterables;
import android.support.v4.content.ContextCompat;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.ProgressBar;

import org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers;
import org.hamcrest.Matcher;

public class ViewActions {

    private ViewActions() {
        // hidden constructor
    }

    @NonNull
    public static RemoveProgressBarAnimation removeProgressBarAnimation() {
        return new RemoveProgressBarAnimation();
    }

    public static void hideProgressBarAnimation(final Activity activity) {
        View root = activity.findViewById(android.R.id.content);

        for (ProgressBar progressBar : Iterables.filter(TreeIterables.breadthFirstViewTraversal(root), ProgressBar.class)) {
            removeAnimation(progressBar);
        }

    }

    private static class RemoveProgressBarAnimation implements ViewAction {
        @Override
        public Matcher<View> getConstraints() {
            return CoreMatchers.instanceOf(ProgressBar.class);
        }

        @Override
        public String getDescription() {
            return null;
        }

        @Override
        public void perform(UiController uiController, View view) {
            if (view instanceof ProgressBar) {
                removeAnimation((ProgressBar) view);
            }
        }
    }

    private static void removeAnimation(ProgressBar progressBar) {
        Drawable nullDrawable = ContextCompat.getDrawable(progressBar.getContext(), android.R.color.black);
        progressBar.setIndeterminateDrawable(nullDrawable);
    }

}