Patience and persistence paid off for Marcus Orlob with the temperamental Jane on Saturday, as they scored a personal best in the 5-star Grand Prix Special at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, Fla.
Exposing the mare to different showgrounds and circumstances has smoothed Jane’s nerves and tendency to spook, with a composed performance marked at 75.979 percent.
“I was really happy that she behaved and controlled her nerves (in Thursday’s Grand Prix where she was second), and again today she had a good performance,” said Marcus of his 2024 Olympic mount.
Marcus Orlob and Jane. (Photo ©Centre Line Media)
“I always talk about how she needs to relax, and finally, I think we’re getting there, and we can start to show what we can do. I started the test today a little conservative. Then, as it went on, she started to breathe and I let her go a bit more and the passage was really nice.”
The U.S. rider wants to see the mare, owned by Alice Tarjan “more relaxed in the one-tempis, but the pirouettes were super. At the end, she stood there while people clapped. I was very proud that she didn’t explode.”
As he noted, “I’m slowly finding her buttons, and she’s trusting me. It’s starting to turn into a relationship. All the traveling and the desensitizing is paying off; it just took time.”
Marcus wasn’t alone in achieving that personal best. Three other riders in the class did the same.
Canadian Olympian Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu’s second-placed mount Jaccardo (who, like Jane, is by Desperado) earned 74.575 percent. It was the first Special for the horse, who was just 1 percent away from the Canadian record in this test, set by Belinda Trussell and Anton in 2016. Geñay Vaughan came from California to ride Gino to a score of 71.68 percent for third place.
Fourth place Kevin Kohmann’s 69.915 percent also was a PB with Dünensee.
Click here for 5-star Grand Prix Special results
The winner of both the 5-star Grand Prix and the Friday night Freestyle was Susan Pape of Great Britain on Harmony’s Giulilanta. She scored a personal best in each class, earning a mark of 73.630 and 81.745 percent respectively with her 15-year-old mare.
Click here for 5-star Grand Prix Freestyle results