  We investigate equatorial geodesics in the gravitational field of a rotating
and deformed source described by the approximate Hartle-Thorne metric. In the
case of massive particles, we derive within the same approximation analytic
expressions for the orbital angular velocity, the specific angular momentum and
energy, and the radii of marginally stable and marginally bound circular
orbits. Moreover, we calculate the orbital angular velocity and the radius of
lightlike circular geodesics. We study numerically the frame dragging effect
and the influence of the quadrupolar deformation of the source on the motion of
test particles. We show that the effects originating from the rotation can be
balanced by the effects due to the oblateness of the source.
