Katherine Bateson-Chandler and Alcazar take home HORSE GYM USA® Top Equine Athlete Award

Wellington, FL (February 6, 2015)— It was even more than first-place in the Open FEI Grand Prix for Katherine Bateson-Chandler and Jane Clark’s Alcazar during week three of the largest CDI series in the world. The dressage duo also rode away with the first-ever HORSE GYM USA® Top Equine Athlete Award presented by HORSE GYM USA®’s founder and president, Henrik Gundersen.

HORSE GYM USA® has been a trusted named in equine treadmills and therapeutic equipment for a decade. To celebrate that landmark anniversary, Gundersen will be presenting HORSE GYM USA® Top Equine Athlete Awards throughout the CDI series of the Adequan® Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, Florida.

Bateson-Chandler, the first rider to accept the HORSE GYM USA® Top Equine Athlete Award, told Gundersen, “It’s exciting being in the Grand Prix. Alcazar is a young, green horse. I think he’s ready to step up to international competition and CDI’s, but there’s no rush.  He’ll do it when he’s ready, so we’ll see what he says.”

“I have to say this award is shared with Alcazar’s owner, Jane Clark, who has so kindly brought us along. She’s been an amazing supporter.” Bateson-Chandler, who took over the ride on the nine year-old dark bay KWPN (Contango x Polina/Ferro) gelding from Robert Dover after he retired from competition, recently piloted the horse to the 2015 Adequan USDF Dressage (Intermediate II) Horse of the Year Award. The United Kingdom-born rider divides her seasons between Wellington and summers ‘across The Pond’ with mentor and dressage Olympian, Carl Hester, with whom she delivered a series of educational events throughout England last October.

The secret to Alcazar’s fitness success, Bateson-Chandler told Gundersen, is in variety: “He’s in an arena only three days a week. I’m blessed with a big Grand Prix jumper field, flat track, and plenty of hacking trails so we can get out of the arena. We’ve also used Horse Gym quite a bit. It was a lifesaver for a horse we had that was difficult to walk in-hand. We put him on a Horse Gym treadmill every day and it really helped bring him back for another season.”

“The HORSE GYM USA® Top Equine Athlete Award is meant to go to the horse and rider pair whose animal exemplifies prime body condition and athletic ability, from the strong top line indicative of fitness, to the strength and endurance for the job at hand. Alcazar looks more than ready for more CDI’s,” Gundersen complimented her. The award included a commemorative ribbon and navy blue embroidered riding jacket from HORSE GYM USA®.

Among the exciting expanding product line to be showcased in Wellington, Florida at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center at the Winter Equestrian Festival by ring 6 are a dry treadmill model— the HORSE GYM USA® | WALK— that offers a generous trade-in for older model treadmills; the all-in-one HORSE GYM USA® | WATER, which can fill with water from just a few inches to a horse’s shoulder or be used dry; HORSE GYM USA® | SPA, a cold, saltwater solution to soaking, icing and bandaging legs whose bubbles create therapeutic, wave-like action; and a programmable vibration plate— the HORSE GYM USA® | RELAX— with separate solarium, SUN 15, to warm up, cool out, and offer zero-impact conditioning.

The Adequan ® Global Dressage Festival hosts three national and seven international weeks of competition through March 29, and features seven FEI Dressage events— including a 5* and the only FEI Nations’ Cup Series CDIO in the Western Hemisphere. Total prize money of more than $650,000 makes the 2015 show series the richest dressage circuit in the world.

Learn more about the trusted quality and reputation behind HORSE GYM USA® products by visiting www.horsegym.com or find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/horsegym.