Katherine Bateson's 2010 WEG Team Horse Nartan Passed Away

Dressage

U.S.A.

Nartan, the Dutch warmblood gelding that took American dressage rider Katherine Bateson-Chandler to the 2010 World Equestrian Games, has passed away on 29 December 2020. He was 25 years old.

Nartan was a 1995 born KWPN gelding by Jazz out of Tanja (by Le Faquin). He was bred by W. van Looveren.

Haazen's Small Tour Champion

Nartan was trained from novice level to Grand Prix by the petite Dutch rider Jeannette Haazen.

Their first claim to fame came in 2000 when they were ninth in the Pavo Cup Finals. In 2001 they showed in the 6-year old division at the World Young Horse Championships in Verden, Germany, where they were 26th in the second round with a 6.8 score.

The pair moved to small tour level in the mid 2000s, but a severe injury in 2005 short-circuited his career. The horse got kicked by stable mate Rockefeller van de Zelm during a hack and needed a long time off to recover.

The gelding made a surprising full recovery, won the 2006 Dutch Small Tour Championships.

Team Dream Dashed

Jeannette and Nartan at the 2010 CDI Den Bosch

The pair worked their way up to become a Dutch A-squad listed horse. They were fourth at the 2008 Dutch Indoor Grand Prix Championship

Their highlight period was 2009 - 2010. In 2009 the finished seventh at the World Cup Finals in Las Vegas. They were sixth at the 2009 Dutch Grand Prix Championship. They won the 2010 Dutch Indoor Championship in February 2010 and won the Grand Prix Kur to Music at the 2010 CDI Hagen, the first international outdoor show of the season.

The Belgian based Haazen always dreamt of returning on the Dutch team for a major continental Championships after having represented Holland at the 1993 European Championships in Lipica on the grey gelding Windsor.

After consistently having been the number five in Holland for a few years, so decided to sell Nartan if the right offer came along

WEG Team Horse

In May 2010, American sponsor Jane Forbes Clark bought Nartan as a WEG team hopeful for Katherine Bateson, whose Grand Prix career got started on Robert Dover's former rides Rainier and FBW Kennedy.

Bateson and Nartan were very successful from the get go, finishing third at the 2010 U.S. Dressage Championships and obtaining a spot on the WEG team. At the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky they were 19th in the Grand Prix Special. The U.S. team finished fourth.

Nartan and Bateson's 2011 show season in Florida was interrupted when an injury sidelined the then 16-year old gelding. The pair returned to the show ring in the spring of 2012 and qualified for the 2012 National Championships. In Gladstone, Bateson and Nartan finished 12th in the Grand Prix (67.362%) and 14th in the Special (66.556%).

Katherine decided to retire Nartan after the first weekend of competition at the 2012 Festival of Champions and not withdrawn from the London Olympic race.

Retirement

Nartan spent his retirement in the field at Gunnar Quist's Tatetuck Farm in Washington, CT.

"He was a horse that changed my life in so many more ways than just taking me to an international championship," Bateson reflected on her partnership with Nartan. "I always thought it felt a bit like cheating as in 5 short months we went from never meeting to competing at a World Equestrian Games! I tried him in April and we decided it was worth a try!"

Bateson thanked Jeannette Haazen's unparallelled support and training of Nartan.

"I have never felt such support, love and enthusiasm from anyone (those who know them understand!) they could have been bitter about “selling” their family member but it wasn’t that way. We all became a family unit. How special is that," she said. "They personally drove us all over Europe in their converted bus ams we chased the dream together. When I think back their selflessness was unmatched! We got the job done and Jeanette even came to New Jersey to the (U.S.) championships to make sure we were good enough to make the team."

Reminiscing on her 2010 WEG experience, Bateson said, "Kentucky was a dream come true for all of us as a group. I will never forget riding around the outside of the arena in my home adopted country and they announced us and the crowd cheered before we had even done anything!!!!!! That amazing horse carried me around and I can never thank him enough!!!! He changed all of our lives."