WELLINGTON, Fla.--Katherine Bateson Chandler on Haute Couture won the CDI3* FEI Grand Prix over a field of 33 horses in a class that took over four hours on Thursday, March 14.
Katherine Bateson Chandler on Haute Couture (Photo by Susan Stickle)Bateson Chandler’s 71.913% was a new high score in this test after a rocky start to their competitive career.
Geñay Vaughn, second on Gino, had a new personal best of 69.522%.
She has owned the black KWPN by Bretton Woods since he was 6, and this was the horse’s fourth CDI in his career.
Canada’s Ariana Chia on Guateque IV was third with 69.022%.
Chia broke up the American skein of winners, as all the other riders in the top seven were representing the USA.
Bateson Chandler acquired the ride on Haute Couture, who was reserve for the Netherlands Olympic team for Tokyo with Dinja van Liere, in December 2021, and the pair have had some bumps in the road, with their scores ranging from 61% to 71% over the past two years.
“WE'VE HAD our ups and downs, it’s been a really challenging season for me and I really needed this,” said the 49-year-old, referring to the fact that she and ‘Merrie’ were eliminated in their only two other CDI starts in 2024. “We really put in the time and work, me, my trainer Ashley Holzer and Jen her owner and Alex Garrett, her groom, it’s been a true group effort. We put in a lot of work to get Merrie to where she was today, and she felt amazing.”
Bateson Chandler trains with Holzer as well as Carl Hester, with whom she spends summers in the UK.
“This is a tough sport and it’s been emotionally a very difficult ride,” she said. “Haute Couture is a well known horse and I’m still getting to know her. We had a bit of a scare in Europe where she got spooked and we’ve been getting her confidence, and mine, back again. It’s been a journey, big time!"
“I hate to say it, but social media really played a bad role in this for me when I was having a hard time," she said. "I take things very personally and horsemanship has always been top of my priorities, and so I’ve had to stay away from some of that negativity online. It’s been a big learning curve not to take things too personally. I’m so lucky to have the support system that I have, because that really kept me grounded.”
“I love the on-the-ground stuff,” she said. “I spent two hours with Merrie on Monday just playing, and that helps build trust in your relationship, so that’s been a big part of it. Mentally she’s a very sharp horse and the groundwork has taught her to bring her brain to center and relax. When she gets a little worked up now I’ve got some tools to get her to come down, think and get her brain in the right place.
“I also take her to lots of different places and we warm up in one ring and we act like it’s a show. Here we’re really lucky that on Tuesdays we can school in the ring. We’ve put in the hours, but she’s really learning to trust me and I’m learning to trust her; that’s the biggest thing in this sport, trust.”
Bateson Chandler’s performance was boosted by the surprise appearance of her husband Carl Chandler, who had told her that he would not be able to make it, but when she was riding she spotted him ringside.
“Tomorrow is another day and who knows,” she said. “But I’ll take this result. When you do this sport you take it day by day, and when you have a good ride you celebrate. When you don’t, you regroup and pull yourself back up by the boot straps.”
Of the 15 in the CDI1* FEI Prix St. Georges, Kevin Kohmann on Five Star won with a score of 70.098%.
Kohmann added the blue ribbon to his third place finish the previous evening in the CDI5* Grand Prix on Dünensee at the rider’s first ever five-star show.
He has been riding Five Star internationally at small tour since 2020 and they have logged 17 CDI wins together, many of those at AGDF.
The Netherlands’ Luuk Mourits was second with a 69.608% on Harmony’s Sarotti OLD, and Spain’s Natalia Bacariza Danguillecourt on Dhannie Ymas was third with 68.775%.
