It all started with Licorice, a black pony with four white socks who tactfully could best be described as “a brat.”
But he provided quite a legacy for Alice Tarjan, who figured out how to ride him well enough so he would do what she wanted, rather than grabbing the bit and running out of the ring during Pony Club lessons. It’s not only what the Oldwick resident learned from coping with him that started her on the path to success in the dressage world; apparently, he also imprinted her, since his coloring is closely replicated in eight of her current horses.
Alice as a child with the infamous Licorice, who set the color palette for many of her horses. (Photo courtesy of Alice Tarjan)
“My favorite is black with white socks, no question,” she conceded. “It’s pretty.
The 41-year-old amateur rider generally buys her future mounts off videos; she has the ability to see potential in youngsters, then is able to bring out their best with dedicated effort and training. Three of them were stars as the Adequan Global Dressage Festival closed its run in Wellington, Fla., today. In addition to happiness, the emotions Alice felt included “huge relief” at the end of a long weekend as she saw her work pay off.
Candescent, black with four white socks, gave Alice her first Big Tour FEI victory with a 72.702 percent mark in Friday’s 3-star Grand Prix Special. The 11-year-old Hanoverian mare was last year’s Developing Grand Prix Champion.
“It’s been fun bringing her along, but the horse is a bit of a monster,” Alice said after her victory.
“She’s super cool and a lot of fun, but she is funny, because she’s hot and cold all at once, so it’s been a bit of a challenge to get her trained to this level and then to get it to be a bit more harmonious.”
Today, Alice won the Lövsta Future Challenge Grand Prix with the 8-year-old Hanoverian mare Serenade (two white socks and an anklet) on an impressive 76.008 percent, with a bevy of 9s for passage. Serenade was the national 4-year-old champion early in her career. While most of Alice’s horses were foaled abroad, Serenade, purchased by Alice as a foal, was bred in North Carolina by Maryanna Haymon.
During Saturday’s warm-up, Serenade was second to stablemate Harvest (a 9-year-old Hanoverian stallion with similar markings) who got a 10 for his final halt that day and a score of 76.911. Harvest, who is on the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Developing list like four other of Alice’s horses, was second today and second last year in the national Developing Grand Prix championship. Alice trains with another New Jersey rider, Marcus Orlob of Annandale, who had his own victory today in the Future Challenge/Young Horse Prix St. Georges Final aboard Spirit of Joy, a 7-year-old Westphalen gelding he owns with Jeannette Pinard.
Alice Tarjan and Serenade MF. (Photo by Susan J. Stickle)
“It was certainly a good weekend, we’re happy,” Alice said after collecting her ribbons and accolades, but typical of her usual businesslike push toward perfection, she noted, “We have a lot of homework to do.”
A big plus this weekend involved riding before panels of international judges, after years competing in national shows in front of one national judge.
“You don’t know what the CDI judges are going to give you,” Alice observed, “so it’s very exciting to get those kinds of scores. Now the real push is to try to ride a better test. You learn where the holes are and you try to improve them and try to ride better.”
Noting that European shows have been shut down through April 11 because of an EHV-1 problem that spread among horses after starting in Spain during the winter, she said, “We’re very lucky to be able to be here and have a show every day.”
Like the other riders at Florida shows, she is just grateful to be able to compete, even with Covid pandemic restrictions of mask-wearing and having temperatures taken on entering the grounds, along with mandatory social distancing. Her last show in Florida will be at the new World Equestrian Center in Ocala later this month before heading home.
She’s trying to qualify seven horses for the USEF national championships in Illinois, but realistically thinks six would be her limit to show comfortably. It’s always good to have a spare, of course, since things can go wrong. At the moment, Serenade is qualified for the Developing Grand Prix, she hopes Harvest can do it as well and Candescent is being pointed for the regular Grand Prix there. After that, she’s thinking of Dressage at Devon and the November U.S. Dressage Federation championships in Kentucky
When I was in Florida last month, we got six of Alice’s black horses to pose for a picture I had long wanted to take to show Licorice’s legacy.. We just didn’t have enough hands at the farm in Loxahatchee where Alice spends the winters to get all eight in, but it’s still an impressive shot.
The color-coordinated lineup. (Photo © 2021 by Nancy Jaffer)
From the left, that’s stable manager Desiree Attland holding Donatella and Serenade. Alice is holding Ierland’s Eden and Jane, while Allison Nemeth has Summersby II and Niki Serge, a trainer based in Stockton who was working for Alice during the winter, is with Sliepner.
So here’s who they are: Donatella (she’s out of uniform, missing the white socks) won the Developing Grand Prix at the USEF championships last year and also took the 2020 Lövsta Future Challenge Grand Prix. The 10-year-old Oldenburg mare was bred in Maryland by Marnie Martin-Tucker; Alice bought her as a 4-year-old and she is now on the USEF’s Developing Horse list. Serenade was explained earlier in this story.
Eden is a 4-year-old Danish bred who showed in March at Loxahatchee’s White Fences, where she got an 87 in Materiale. Alice actually saw her “in person” when she bought her as a 2-year-old because she was visiting a breeder friend in Denmark. (She also bought a chestnut at that time; there are a few horses in her barn that don’t follow the Licorice model.) Jane was third in hand in the Dutch championships as a 3-year-old.
Summersby, bought from Germany as a foal, is now six. She was 3-year-old Materiale Horse of the Year and second in the national championships as both a 4- and 5-year old.
Sliepner is a 5-year-old purchased from Holland as a 3-year-old and doesn’t have anything on her resume yet. Candescent and Glory Day, who is ridden by Marcus, didn’t make the photo shoot.
Alice, who only buys mares and stallions, says her goal “has been to be able to have a barn full of solid Grand Prix horses. I like training them and giving them an education. I like to figure out how to ride a Grand Prix test a little better. The majority of these horses will be sold at some point and they can share their knowledge with somebody else. It will be nice to watch somebody else compete them and do well with them. I don’t have to be the one doing it.”
