Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

WELLINGTON, Florida, Mar. 15, 2025–Marcus Orlob and Jane easily won the Global Dressage Festival CDI3* Grand Prix Special Saturday to complete the Olympic pair’s first American Big Tour double victory.

The win for Marcus and the 11-year-old black mare was with a score of 72.043% and two days after capturing the Grand Prix for the first error-free competitions since the pair showed at two German events before the Paris Games in mid-summer. His only previous double victory was at Kronberg, Germany last June.

Anna Marek of the Ocala area on the 15-year-old Fire Fly that she won gold at the 2023 Pan American Games, was runner-up on 68.085%.

Australia’s Jemma Heran on Total Recall placed third on 67.957%.

With regular walks around the nearby Winter Equestrian Festival grounds busy with 14 jumper and hunter competition arenas with water trucks and sand smoothing tractor rigs as well as several hundred golf carts and crowds the sensitive mare, he said, is gaining confidence.

“I’m happy with this one,” he said, “again, it was a confidence building round, I hope, for her, the last two shows.”

With help from owner Alice Tarjan and coaching from U.S. chef d’equipe Christine Traurig he has taken the time to pursue a process of confidence building so he doesn’t have to apply pressure while allowing Jane to relax and do her job. The compactness of the Wellington area and the option to visit different barns within minutes of each other has been helpful which he said he plans to continue until, he hopes, to be included in the group of six combinations to go to Europe.

The riders and horses will compete head-to-head at Horses & Dreams in Hagen, Germany June 5-8 to decide which four will make up the team for the prestigious Nations Cup at the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany and two in the CDI4* June 30-July 6.

“I love this horse,” he said. “She’s such a cute horse. I mean, it sounds a little girly, but you know, she’s so responsive.

“In the morning when I come to the stable to see Alice, the boss, Jane immediately kicks the door and whinnies like, “Hey, my person is here.’ And then she pushes her neck to the bars and I scratch her.

“I think Europe helped me a lot to build a relationship with her because I was alone there, grooming her, riding her, turning her out, doing everything. We had so many hours and just one horse, so it was great to build a bond with her.”