Before coming to the United States in 1984, Jan Ebeling worked as an apprentice under late German master Herbert Rehbein and earned his “bereiter”, a German license to train horses. In 1984, he moved to the United States to work alongside US Olympian Robert Dover while Dover was preparing for the 1984 Olympics.

Jan began competing as a United States citizen in 1998. That year, aboard Gucci, Jan finished as Reserve Champion at the Intermaediare I Championship held in Gladstone NJ as part of the Bayer/USET Festival of Champions.

In 2000, Jan found his way back to the winner’s circle in Gladstone. This time aboard Ricardo, Jan topped the field to win the Intermediare 1Championship. In 2002, he again earned Reserve Championship honors aboard the grey gelding Liberte, owned by Ann Romney.

Jan achieved success again in 2003 at the Gladstone Championships and posted third and fourth place finishes aboard Feleciano and Liberte respectively. Jan’s 2003 finishes in Gladstone earned him the right to represent the United States at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic. While in Santo Domino, Jan was the highest ranked US rider and clinched the Team Gold for the USA team. He finished 5th overall individually with the stallion, Feleciano.

In 2006 Rafalca, a 1997 Oldenburg mare was purchased for Jan to ride and compete.

That year, Jan found himself with two mares, Rafalca and Sandrina, and a young stallion Louis Ferdinand, all promising partners. Competing again at Gladstone for the Intermediare Championships, Jan and Rafalca achieved third place. In 2007, Jan and Rafalca made their debut in the Grand Prix arena during the World Cup in Las Vegas where he had been asked to demonstrate the Grand Prix test for a full house before the actual competition began, and d, after a standing ovation, realized that Rafalca had the talent to become an international Grand Prix horse.

In the fall of 2007, Jan was awarded a USET training grant and made the decision to return to Germany, taking all three horses. Subsequent competition success proved to the wisdom of the decision to make the trip, Ebeling and Rafalca returned to Las Vegas for World Cup 2009, this time representing the USA.

Ebeling once again went to Germany to work with Wolfram Wittig, and competed with Rafalca at the prestigious CDI*** Oldenburg and CDI***** Stuttgart.

In late 2010, Jan and Rafalca were selected as alternates for the USA World Equestrian Games team. Staying on the East Coast after the trials, Jan won the 2010 CDI W in Saugerties in September, both the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Freestyle. Returning to home base, Jan and Rafalca went on to win the Grand Prix and Freestyle at CDI-W Burbank, and thus won the right to represent the U.S. at 2011 World Cup Final in Leipzig, Germany, where they were awarded a 72.589 in the Freestyle and were the highest ranked of the USA riders.

Barely one week later, Jan and Rafalca went to Hagen, in Germany, one of the biggest fields of top sport competition all year, 54 Grand Prix horses. Jan was 5th with a 70.872 in the Grand Prix and earned a 73.8 in the kur. Again, the judges complimented him on the mare’s new power and balance. The following week, Jan again rode up centerline at Austria’s Achleiten CDI***, where he was 4th in the Grand Prix and 5th in the Grand Prix Special.

After these three rigorous shows, Jan and Rafalca returned home to Moorpark, CA; Rafalca was rewarded with some relaxing time and Jan started preparing his younger horses for show season when USEF Technical Advisor Anne Gribbons announced that Jan was to be part of the US dressage team at Aachen. Jan’s achievements for 2011 had exceeded his goals, it was a wonderful time. During the 2011 season, Jan and Rafalca had been ranked 27th on the FEI World Ranking list.

One of the few riders to qualify two horses for the National Intermediaire Championships, Jan and two younger mares, Sandrina and Rosenzauber, made their way to Gladstone .

2012 will be a big year for The Acres, as Jan will bring out the farm’s new stallion, Breitan. This amazing young horse combines the blood of sire Breitling and Cavan.

In addition to competition, Jan always gives back to his sport; he accepted a spot on the Dressage Active Athlete High Performance Committee, a post that he will hold through 2012. Also, he is one of the clinicians with USDF for the Young Rider series, sponsored by USDF and held in different regions throughout the country, and will be the Adult Amateur clinician for California Dressage in 2012.

Jan and his wife, Amy, operate their own training and sales facility, The Acres, in Moorpark, CA. Jan is an active clinician, traveling countrywide and internationally teaching classical dressage and competitive riding. In the little spare time that Jan can find away from the horses, he enjoys playing soccer, biking, and spending time with his son, Ben.