By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
WELLINGTON, Florida, Mar. 27, 2025–Marcus Orlob rode Jane, his Paris Olympic partner, to victory in the Global Dressage Festival CDI4* Grand Prix Thursday, the third win in three starts in the final month of the Wellington winter circuit.
Marcus, based in neighboring Loxahatchee, was a “little disappointed” with the performance on the 11-year-old black mare that earned the pair 70.630% and first place by all five judges.
Jane reared when she entered the arena before the start of the test, an issue that Marcus and owner Alice Tarjan have sought to deal with by taking the mare to different locations including the Winter Equestrian Festival grounds that are much busier with numerous arenas for jumpers and hunters and streams of golf carts.
“I was actually disappointed a little bit,” he said. “But again, somehow proud of her because if you now again compare the entrance to the performance, it was not that bad. You know, again, once she’s in the ring, she usually starts to settle.
“I have to keep going. I think the good horses are a challenge.”
As the second ranked combination behind Adrienne Lyle on Helix on the list of six to compete in Europe over the summer he hopes to have an opportunity to talk to German superstar Isabell Werth who dealt with spooking issues on her 2008 Olympic team gold and individual silver medal mount, Satchmo.
He said he will compete in the Grand Prix Special over the weekend as he doesn’t want to overwhelm Jane with lights and a big crowd creating too much atmosphere.
“With that many people,” he said, “I think it’s too early for her brain. So I just wanted to take it a little bit more easy on her. I have to be careful that I don’t completely scare her. Because you see how she acts up around the ring. It goes from zero to hero quite aggressively, that she’s afraid and stands up. I didn’t want to give a complete rodeo show here to the people.”
While he wants to do well at the major events at Hagen and Aachen in Germany a goal will also be national shows to learn to go in the ring and feel calm and that the horse keeps breathing.
“I think she will be always sensitive,” Marcus said, “but I have to say, the more I showed her before Paris, she was actually doing good. I think Aachen spooked her a little bit. Of course, it’s the biggest venue. But before this, she really did well. So I hope that she will calm down.”
Results:
| Rank | Competitor | Score | E | H | C | M | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |
Marcus Orlob (USA)
Jane
|
70.630% | 71.413 | 70.543 | 70.435 | 69.348 | 71.413 |
| 2. |
Kasey Perry-Glass (USA)
Heartbeat W.P.
|
68.022% | 65.652 | 68.478 | 68.478 | 68.043 | 69.457 |
| 3. |
Katherine Bateson Chandler (USA)
Haute Couture
|
67.957% | 68.587 | 69.674 | 65.870 | 67.065 | 68.587 |
| 4. |
Camille Carier Bergeron (CAN)
Finnländerin
|
67.326% | 69.565 | 66.630 | 66.304 | 67.283 | 66.848 |
| 5. |
Naïma Moreira Laliberté (CAN)
Statesman
|
67.304% | 66.848 | 69.022 | 66.739 | 65.978 | 67.935 |
| 6. |
Jan Ebeling (USA)
Jubi’s Tenacity
|
67.282% | 64.891 | 68.804 | 68.478 | 68.261 | 65.978 |
| 7. |
Ashley Holzer (USA)
Hawtins San Floriana
|
67.261% | 69.348 | 65.761 | 65.870 | 66.957 | 68.370 |
| 8. |
Karen Lipp (USA)
Infinity
|
66.913% | 66.739 | 66.522 | 68.370 | 65.435 | 67.500 |
| 9. |
Susan Dutta (USA)
Don Design DC
|
66.761% | 66.196 | 67.174 | 65.109 | 67.935 | 67.391 |
| 10. |
Chris von Martels (CAN)
Londoncrown
|
64.152% | 62.717 | 65.217 | 63.696 | 64.022 | 65.109 |
| 11. |
Jemma Heran (AUS)
Total Recall
|
63.370% | 62.609 | 63.261 | 61.848 | 63.913 | 65.217 |
| 12. |
Ava MacCoubrey (CAN)
Don Camillo-S
|
63.217% | 63.696 | 63.043 | 62.500 | 63.804 | 63.043 |
| 13. |
Evelyn Eger (GER)
Dancing Darkness 4
|
61.239% | 63.152 | 60.761 | 59.130 | 60.652 | 62.500 |
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