38 SIDELINESMAY 2014
FORHORSEPEOPLE • ABOUTHORSEPEOPLE
Continued on page40
ByKimMacMillan
W
hen
Sidelines
last caught up with show jumper
Marilyn Little, it was spring 2011. She had renewed
her childhood interest in eventing and was placing
well in Intermediate level with her jumper mare Udonna, while
still competing several other horses in the jumper ring. Since
then things have really heated up on the eventing scene for the
31-year-oldFrederick, Maryland, native.
While still verymuch a part of the show jumpingworld, Marilyn
has turneda largepart of her focus toFEI-level eventingover the
last three years. In fall 2012, just 24months after her successful
start in international eventing, shewas named toU.S. Eventing’s
High Performance World-Class Talent list — for combinations
that currently possess the talent to be competitive anywhere in
theworld—with two horses. Thosemounts wereRaylyn Farms’
Oldenburg mare RF Demeter (Rubin-Royal – Kanudos) and
RaylynFarms’ andPhoebeandMichaelMander’sWürttemburger
geldingRFSmokeOnTheWater (Samos–Rapaulo).Shegained
a spot on theWorldClass list again in 2013withDemeter.
Marilyn and her string of event horses placed well in two- and
three-star competitions in the U.S. and Canada in 2012 and
2013. She and “Demi” placed ninth at their four-star debut at
the 2012 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event. Then, in 2013, they
took seventh and 18th respectively at the four-star events at
Luhmühlen in Germany and Pau in France. Marilyn took several
e
of her top horses on European tours in 2012 and 2013, winning
a Land Rover competition grant to take “Smoke” to the Saumur
HorseTrials inFrance inMay 2013.
While on the 2013 European trip, Marilyn also put together a
syndicate to purchase the top-level German Trakehner gelding
Tabasco TSF (now RF Tabasco) from Ingrid Klimke’s barn in
Germany. Last fall she and Tabascowon the BredaCIC2* event
in theNetherlands and took 12th in their first outing at theCIC3*
level at SchenefeldHorseTrials inGermany.
Sidelines
correspondent KimMacMillan talked with Marilyn in
early 2014and askedher 10questions.
Yourparentsareequestrians, butwhatmadeyoudecideona
career inequestriansport?
I was very fortunate that my parents strongly encouraged
me to pursue higher education at the college and graduate
level, because those have been some of my most rewarding
life experiences. I graduated fromWake Forest University with
a major in communication and a focus in rhetoric, and a double
minor in graphic arts and theology. I was all over themap! I then
moved to South Beach to teach and pursue a doctoral degree in
rhetoric at the University of Miami. I was planning for a future in
academia, both in research and in teaching at the graduate level.
I never got far away from the horse. Meanwhile, I was still riding
and teaching professionally out of a stable in Ft. Lauderdale. It
Marilyn
Little’s
Big
Talent
Marilyn andRFDemeter
Photo byAllenMacMillan/MacMillanPhotography
