A veteran of some 35 yrs, Markus won his first medal at the junior European Championship in 1970. Despite a clutch of senior team bronze medals at championships between 1987 and 1994, individual honors eluded him. Everything changed in 1998 with the arrival at Stall Ahorn of Tinka’s Boy, purchased by Isolde Lieberr from Britain’s Nick Skelton. The new combination had quite a rocky start on their glorious route to success, however, as the stallion was so homesick he was unrideable for months. In fact the situation was so tense for months that he nearly gave up on the horse. “If he hadn’t been so expensive, I probably would have!”

By the summer of 1999, the tide had turned in their favor as they went on to scoop individual and team silver medals at the Hickstead Europeans. A team silver at the 2000 Olympic Games followed as did the 2001 World Cup.