As the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Festival of Champions drew to a close, Alice Tarjan of Oldwick ended her stellar cavalry charge at Lamplight Farm in Illinois with titles in two more divisions.
She took the Grand Prix tri-color on Candescent, the mare with which she was shortlisted for the Olympic team and whose next stop is Aachen in September. Candescent claimed a mark of 77.165 percent in the freestyle that wrapped up the division, blowing away her stablemate, Donatella M., who was still ahead of everyone else on 72.549 percent. Candescent’s average for the show was 73.434.
“I was really pleased,” Alice said about her freestyle.
“I thought it was clean and that I stayed with the music, so that was a good thing. I lost a lot of the self-carriage I think. It’s hard; you prep these horses for so many tests, and they’re all different lines.
“And I guess in a perfect world, the horse follows your aids and doesn’t matter what line you ride it on, and maybe it messes me up mentally, and I don’t know if it messes her up, but to try to keep the self-carriage through the whole test with different lines is still a challenge.”
Serenade MF won the Developing Horse Grand Prix on 75.833 under Alice’s guidance, with her Harvest fourth in the class on 71.083.
In the Six-Year-Old Final Test, her Summersby II tied for second with Michelle Gibson’s ride San Raphaelle LS on 8.040, behind David Blake, the winner with Delilah (8.120) . Summersby moved up to third in the overall standings for the division.
On Saturday, Alice had picked up yet another win, taking the USEF Four-Year-Old test on the Oldenburg Ierland’s Eden with a score of 8.800. The mare is by Ierland out of a Krack C dam. She finished in the class just ahead of Fontenay (8.640) a Hanoverian by Furst Jazz ridden by Katryna Evans, based at Cesar Parra’s stable in Readington.
But with a fourth-place behind winner Fontenay in the division’s opening class Thursday, Alice missed out on the overall championship, winding up as reserve on 8.57. Fontenay took the title with an overall average of 8.79
Earlier this summer, Cesar said of Fontenay, “I think this is the best horse I have had in my life so far. This is like the horse with a dream, the best I could find in the world last year.” The Olympic veteran owns Fontenay with Gina Raful.
After her ride, Katryna said, “I am used to riding and starting young horses, and I’ve never had a four-year-old that was this rideable and manageable, and this fun.
“I think that this has been a very good learning experience for me, even just watching the other riders. We’re surrounded by a really good, competitive group, and I think that the judges did a really good job of judging fairly and offering some very constructive comments.”
Alice has been on quite a streak at Lamplight Equestrian Center, previously taking first and second place with her horses in three classes at the show. Of her reserve champion, who she got as a two-year-old from a friend in Denmark, she said, “We broke her last year. She was actually quite difficult to break, I didn’t think we were going to get the job done, Kasey Perry-Glass’s husband, Dana Glass, broke her, and it took a couple of months. She has turned into a really reliable horse.
“It’s funny, people will tell you ‘Oh, 30 days under saddle, they look so easy!’ and I don’t know. I think you need at least six months to really know. I think that it’s going to be a good grand prix horse; she just needs a little time. Right now, she actually is super easy, and very reliable. I was really happy with my scores. I really believe in the horse and I think she’s going to be a really good grand prix horse.”
Meanwhile, Marcus Orlob of Annandale rode Alice’s stallion, Glory Day, to first in the FEI Five-Year-Old Final test, earning three 10s and winding up with an astronomical score of 9.770 after one error when he lost his place in the test. The Danish warmblood is by Grand Galaxy Win, as is Gjenganger, the mare Alice rode to third place in the class with a score of 8.980.
The hot, humid weather didn’t put a dent in Glory Day.
“He is never tired. He is very energetic, and he loves to work, coming out every day at 100 percent,” said Marcus.
“He was a little fresh in the warm-up, and then when they were clapping, he was more tense, but after a few minutes he settled in nicely and I knew that I would have a good ride if I didn’t mess up. I did mess up, so I’m mad at myself, but stuff happens. I’m glad that I have a good horse that makes up for my mistakes.
“He has such a natural talent for self-carriage, the lightness, the power. I think that this will be a good grand prix horse.”
Second was Hope Beerling and Vianne (by Vitalis), bred by another New Jerseyan, Catherine Haddad-Staller. The mare was marked at 9.260.