Jessica von Bredow-Werndl Welcomes Times Kismet

Dressage

Great Britain

Reigning Olympic champion Jessica von Bredow-Werndl has welcomed Peter Belshaw's Times Kismet into her stable in Aubenhausen, Germany.

Times Kismet is a 9-year old KWPN mare by Ampere x Lord Leatherdale x Jazz x Metall.

"It was Fate"

Peter Belshaw, owner of Times Dressage Horses, bred the 2015 born Kismet out of his Dutch warmblood mare Evita Vienna.

"I bought Evita to be a broodmare in The Netherlands, but my wife Caroline fell in love with her at first sight and convinced me to bring her home to the U.K so she could be ridden by her. I agreed, albeit with the deal we could do future embryo transfers. Evita’s first embryo was so poor that the vet’s advice was not to implant into the recipient mare, but in breeding you have to be optimistic, it’s the only way, so I told her just to go for it and the result was Kismet being born."

Peter added, "it was meant to be, it was fate and the reason I named her Kismet. She was special from the day she was born and always carried an aura that drew the eye, no matter how hard you tried not to.”

Undefeated

Winning the small tour at the
2023 CDIO Aachen

The bay mare was born in The Netherlands and started her ridden work there. She was then brought back to the UK and slowly produced up the levels under Charlotte Dujardin.

The pair had their show debut at the CDN Hartpury in March 2020 and is undefeated, winning every single class entered. Kismet became the 2021 British Winter Dressage Champion as well as the Advanced Medium Champion of the 2022 British Winter and Summer Championships. In 2023 she premiered at small tour level and added the British Small Tour champion's title to her tally.

Her CDI debut was a winning one at Wellington Heckfield in June 2023, after which Times Kismet headed to the CDIO Aachen in Germany, where she aced the Prix St Georges with 77.588% and the Intermediaire I with 78.294%.

In Aachen Times Kismet got recognized as one of the most promising, rising stars in international dressage sport.

Fulfilling her Destiny

Kismet is Arabic for fate. Her destiny and path will continue with reigning Olympian Jessica von Bredow-Werndl.

"I love this horse more than any other," said Belshaw. "This definitely wasn’t plan A but with the recent uncertainty, I started to think if there needed to be a plan B. Normally, the hardest decisions are the right decisions and after several sleepless nights and discussions with trusted people, I made the decision to explore the options without any real ideas what that may be. All I felt is that I had a responsibility towards Kismet to make sure she had a future I thought she deserved."

Belshaw added, "I would have only considered two or three riders in the world for Kismet and Jessie is one of them. The discussions I had with Jessie and Benjamin all revolved around Kismet’s future, that was my only major concern. We have agreed that Kismet will stay with them and for me that was the most important part of the whole situation."

"Call It Kismet"

Kismet has been secured by partners of the Werndls with the help of Bret Willson. Belshaw will closely collaborate with both families in order to stay involved in the life of his heart horse.

"I have no intentions of losing touch with Kismet. She has been an important ten years of mine and my wife Caroline’s life, but it feels right for her now and I will look forward to continuing and being part of Kismet's journey in the future," said Peter. "I have very mixed emotions right now, I still have her younger brothers to look forward to but I feel this was meant to be; call it kismet.”

Jessica stated that ""it is with great excitement and gratitude that we welcome Times Kismet to Aubenhausen. We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to have such a wonderful horse in our care. We want to thank our partners and Kismet’s breeder Peter Belshaw for collaborating with us."