
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
2023 CDIO Aachen
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.
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"
"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."
Photos © Astrid Appels
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