There have been a number of last-minute horse/rider pairings at Grand Prix this season, the latest being Marcus Orlob and Jane, together only for eight weeks.
Last weekend, they won the 3-star Grand Prix Special with 71.894 percent at TerraNova Equestrian Center outside of Sarasota, Fla. Marcus, based in Annandale, N.J., and Jane are fourteenth in the standings for the three-member U.S. Olympic team that will go to Paris this summer. But first things first, and they will have to hustle even to make the top eight who fly to Europe for competition before final selection is made.
“We’re running out of time,” said Marcus, who is showing at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala this week. He finished second Thursday in the Grand Prix for Freestyle with a mark of 69.913. He was behind Olympic medalist Adrienne Lyle and Lars van de Hoenderheide, who won with 72 percent. Third, one point back of Marcus, was Ecuador’s Julio Mendoza Loor and Jewel’s Goldstrike with 68.913. They have already qualified for Paris by virtue of taking individual gold last fall in the Pan American Games.
On Friday night in the cavernous WEC stadium, the tables were turned, with Goldstrike topping an 11-horse field for the Freestyle on 77.55 percent. Experience counts for a lot when riding to music; Julio’s had a techno flair that his performance matched perfectly. He was particularly pleased with the way his horse handled the transition from the canter pirouette to the piaffe.
“I wanted him to stay with me and be with me during the entire test. He did it, and I am very pleased with that,” Julio said, while thanking his wife, Jessica, for her encouragement and support.
Adrienne was second on Lars, less than a point behind Julio, on 76.145 percent. She rode to music previously used by Wizard, her 2012 Olympic mount. It’s a bright medley that runs from “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” to the bouncy “Dancing on the Ceiling” and Lars handled it well despite their lack of time together.
Spain’s Pablo Gomes Molina with Ulises de Ymas finished third on 74.315, while Marcus and Jane’s first freestyle performance had some lovely moments to lush music that offered a serenade of strings. They wound up fourth on a respectable 73.890 percent. (For results of the freestyle, click here)
Marcus and Jane doing their freestyle in the stadium.
Marcus and Jane go to TerraNova again for the last qualifying competition at the beginning of May. They made their Grand Prix debut only at the final Wellington, Fla., show last month, but went from fourteenth in the Grand Prix to fourth in the Special over a two-day period there.
Jane had been shown successfully at Intermediate level by her owner, Alice Tarjan, who has been training the Dutchbred daughter of Desperado since she was three.
Together, they won 11 competitions since 2022, but Jane’s Special score with Marcus at TerraNova was the mare’s best percentage ever.
Jane’s personality changes when she gets in the arena. She becomes much stronger, and Alice was still searching for the way to handle that.
“She knows she has a fantastic horse, but she couldn’t connect with her in the show ring,” said Marcus, who is Alice’s trainer.
After a Grand Prix at White Fences near Wellington, Alice told Marcus, “I think at the moment, it’s too much horse for me.”
So Alice suggested that Marcus “put some mileage on her and get her to settle in the ring.”
He replied, “It’s a fantastic opportunity. I don’t say no to it. But I feel like there’s a lot of pressure on me now. It is a super horse. The quality is not even half there yet; there’s so much more in this horse.”
Marcus and Jane at TerraNova. (Photo © by Susan Stickle Photography)
He noted with a chuckle, “Basically, I got pushed right into the water. I wish in general I would have more time. We all know it’s a little bit short notice.”
And now the tables are turned. The student is assisting her trainer.
“I have Alice help me, because she knows the horse inside-out,” said Marcus, explaining she can aid with finding the right tempo and frame for Jane.
In the beginning, he tried to ride more forward to get greater expression in the movements.
“But then, she gets a little too strong and spooky,” Marcus observed.
The next tactic was doing the opposite, trying to “work on relaxation and a little bit more harmony. It seems for now to work better that way.”
He consulted with Christine Traurig, who will be the U.S. chef d’equipe in Paris, and she agreed the way to proceed was, as Marcus recalled her advice, to “go maybe more for a clean test and focus a little bit on the softness and the harmony.”
Once Jane gets in the ring, the power is evident.
“She’s almost like a self-starter,” Marcus observed.
But it “was too much power for Alice. She was basically waterskiing.”
Other new pairings this year, all courtesy of purchases by Zen Elite Equestrian, include Endel Ots with Bohemian and Adrienne not only with Lars, but also Helix. (Read about them at this link.)
But as Marcus pointed out, those horses had loads of international show ring experience and were kept in training by professionals before changing hands. Jane has more of a transition to make. The only Grands Prix she did before Marcus took over were at the National level.
Alice Tarjan and Jane at Dressage at Devon 2022. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
“That’s the dream, to make the cut (for Europe),” mused Marcus, 42.
Then he wants to “train at home and get to know each other better and focus a little more on expression and each individual movement. But I think at the moment, it’s a little too early. I’m just trying to figure out the changes, pirouettes, the piaffe/passage. She’s a very sensitive mare, which is good, but also very `looky.’ One noise — one person moving from the stands — she looks. So far, it’s quite the journey.”
An advantage he has over the petite Alice is that he is bigger in stature, with longer legs. That means he can use his seat more to get a response from the mare, rather than having to use his hands the way Alice did.
While time is not on his side, progress is being made.
“Each show, I learn something new about her,” he said.
A native of Germany, Marcus came to public attention in 2013 when he rode in the Global Dressage Forum in West Palm Beach, where perennial U.S. team member Steffen Peters (who also grew up in Germany) was working with him.
Steffen Peters and Marcus Orlob at the 2013 clinic in West Palm Beach. (Photo © 2013 by Nancy Jaffer)
“When do you get your U.S. citizenship,” Steffen asked him at the time.
“We really need you.”
Steffen, number two in the 2024 U.S. Olympic rankings, noted back in 2013, “It wouldn’t surprise me if I get to compete with him internationally.”
He may finally have his chance to do that, should Marcus manage to work things out with Jane and achieve his “lofty goal” of finding himself with a ticket to Europe.
