When he won the 2021 six-year-old title at the World Breeding Championships, Kjento became the dressage stallion of the moment, so no-one was surprised when he went on to claim the seven-year-old title as well. Polly Bryan discovers why he is so special...
Kjento dressage stallion fact file
Year of birth: 2015
Colour: black
Height: 17hh
Breeding: by Negro, out of Poriana, by Jazz
Studbook: KWPN
Approved by: KWPN, Oldenburg, Westfalian/RPSI
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“Kjento is something special, and for a horse you expect a lot of to win something like that is a real confirmation, a fantastic feeling,” says Gertjan.
Bred by the Van Os family, close to Gertjan and his wife Anne’s Van Olst Horses operation in the Netherlands, Kjento caught Gertjan’s eye from the start, and not just for the similarities he bore to his sire, the Van Olsts’ legendary stallion Negro – sire to the great Valegro, among many other top horses.
“I liked Kjento very much, but in the beginning the breeders didn’t want to sell him. They agreed I could buy half of him when he was two, just before the stallion show that year,” remembers Gertjan, explaining that while Kjento sailed through the first round of KWPN assessments, he was in fact sent home from the second.
“But then they put a saddle on him, and from the first moment under saddle Kjento was unbelievable.”
Kjento went on to win his stallion performance test with a score of 90 out of 100 – “everyone was crazy about him from that point” – and Gertjan swiftly purchased the second half of him.
In the years since, Kjento has become one of the most popular dressage stallions in the Netherlands, and further afield, with 670 offspring by the time he turned seven. For Gertjan, the most exciting thing about him is the legacy he represents, as a son of the Van Olst stud’s flagship stallion.
“From when he turned two, he had so much movement and his mechanics were super – all the qualities Negro had. Of course, Negro was getting older and I thought, ‘Here was a son of Negro with his potential – I need him’,” says Gertjan.
At home, Kjento lives next door to his now 27-year-old father, and they are strikingly similar to look at, with the same friendly temperament.
“Kjento loves cuddles,” says Lottie. “He’s the cutest thing in the stable, not like a stallion at all, but more like a Labrador – until you get on board.”
For Gertjan, Kjento embodies everything that made Negro so special, but in a decidedly modern package, with long legs and an elegant outlook thanks to his dam, the elite mare Zoriana, by other eminent Dutch stallion, Jazz.
‘The most amazing feeling in the world’
In British Olympian Lottie Fry, Kjento looks to have the perfect sporting partner. Already a world breeding title-holder, having won the seven-year-old final in 2018 with Glamourdale, Lottie eased Kjento through rain-soaked performances at the 2021 World Breeding Championships with the ultimate composure. It wasn’t until the scores landed that the emotion broke through – the final total was an unprecedented 96%, with 10s for trot, canter, submission and perspective, and it was a euphoric moment for all Kjento’s connections.
“I don’t even know how to describe this horse: the most amazing feeling in the world. I think if you look up the word ‘power’, then he is the definition,” said Lottie afterwards.
“Kjento finds everything so easy, which is quite unusual when a horse has such big paces,” she explains. “He finds extension easy, collection easy; whatever he does, he does well. He’s just incredible, and only getting better.”
Kjento is now training the prix st georges movements at home, while the breeding season promises to be equally busy for him.
“He is a very uncomplicated stallion, who finds it very easy to combine breeding and sport – and that is not always the case with stallions,” says Gertjan, reporting that while his superb stallion performance test results meant Kjento was immediately popular with Dutch breeders, for those in the UK and Germany he remained somewhat in the shadow of his famous sire, and the Van Olsts’ other star stallions, Glamourdale and Everdale – until now.
“The great thing about Kjento is that he will be a good fit for a lot of mares, probably 80% of mares. He’s big, beautiful and he has everything: character, soundness, type. Kjento is a very complete horse, one of the most complete I’ve ever had,” says Gertjan.
With Kjento’s first crop of foals now turning two, and showing “power in the movement and a nice connection through the back”, Gertjan admits he has his eye on several of them. Kjento may be young, but he is already producing the sort of youngsters that are getting the Van Olsts as excited as they were about him five years ago.
Trendy stallions come and go, but with Lottie on board, and a flourishing breeding record setting him up well to follow in the great Negro’s hoofprints, Kjento is one you can expect to hear a lot more about in coming years.
“Negro has been unbelievable and he means so much to us, so to have Kjento to carry on his legacy is just perfect,” says Gertjan. “We think he is the next Negro.”
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