Mindy Peters Arabians

The Splendor of Worn Ribbon The Personal Side of Mindy Peters Arabians

by Evie Tubbs Sweeney

“I do not wish any reward but to know I have done the right thing, the thing which I was created for.” -- Mark Twain

When one thinks of the truly pivotal Arabian horse breeders of all time – people like Dan Gainey Sr, Sigi Siller, Homer Davenport, the state studs of Europe, Sheila Varian, Sheikh Hamid bin Ali al Thani, Judith Forbis, Lady Ann Blunt – it is important to recognize a handful of common denominators amongst the group. They were each fueled by a guttural passion for the Arabian horse from their very first experience… so deep that it fused into the fiber of their beings, never to be separated again. It became a part of their soul. They were bold visionaries who saw opportunities against the odds and ultimately forged new paths for the eternal betterment and preservation of the breed. But most of all, they were lovers of the journey, not the reward.

Tall, soft grasses swayed in a sleepy corner of Iowa as a grandfather slowly walked his four-year-old granddaughter through a field dotted with white Arabian mares. One mare silently walked up to the girl, lowered her head, looked at the young girl with her liquid black eyes, and gently blew her breath onto the girl’s face. That moment, the feeling of the mare’s breath caressing her skin, marked the beginning of a journey for Mindy Peters. It was in that moment that the Arabian horse began to color the young girl’s life with vibrant hues, never to look back again.

THE BEGINNING OF A CALLING

In this world of quick opinions, it is tempting for some to mistakenly subjugate Mindy Peters to a certain box. Her life picture is, in all appearances, a striking one, and includes an alluring splash of Hollywood with a healthy dose of impressive travel, along with two beautiful children all pointing to a blessed life that seems to carry with it a certain amount of envious ease.

Like most great stories, her journey has been far from easy. On the contrary, it is a story that has required tremendous amounts of fortitude, fearlessness, determination, focus, and a daring level of commitment to one’s calling. Each of these elements has been beautifully threaded together by the Arabian horse over many years, like a sacred royal ribbon, taking her (and her family) on an adventure like none other. To her core, Mindy remains a farm girl from Iowa. Her character, her family (they now represent four generations of Arabian breeders), her Hollywood associations, her cultural awareness, her groundedness, and her appetite for life… it all comes back in glorious testimony to the power of the Arabian horse.

It began in the cornfields of Hartley, Iowa. Mindy’s grandfather, Ed Brinkert, was a self-made entrepreneur with no formal education who made his start launching a highly successful feed company after studying feed formulas in the evenings. Like many entrepreneur’s, when Ed was passionate about something, he did it big, and with the gentle prodding of his middle daughter, Shelley, Arabian horses became his

greatest passion. A first breeding in 1957 turned into a lifelong family affair.

By the 1980s, their program, MaRoSh (short for each of his daughters, Margo, Roxie and Shelley) Arabians was one of the largest, most active breeding farms in the state of Iowa. The program was launched on the popular Azraff/Ferzon bloodlines of Dan Gainey Sr, while also sprinkling in other great blood along the way when one caught his trained eye, such as Bey Shah, Ansata Ibn Sudan, GG Jabask and Fame VF+. Ed Brinkert’s bloodlines can still be traced to many champions around the world today.

Shelley stayed active throughout her teenage and adult years keeping the farm going and tending to every need of the horses. It wasn’t until her niece, Mindy, was an early teenager and delved into the family farm that she finally had a true sidekick. The two formed a close bond as they worked the family farm, traveled to horse shows and divided up every equine-related chore known to man. At the same time, Mindy poured herself into absorbing pedigrees alongside Shelley and her grandfather. It was the next step in Mindy’s journey alongside the Arabian horse that would serve as a stepping stone for bigger things that were just around the corner.

Shelley Brinkert-Hjelm and Mindy Peters

A CALLING ANSWERED

Just before she began her junior year at Iowa State University, Mindy stumbled on to an advertisement in the latest issue of the Arabian Horse Times promoting a seminar to be held in Santa Ynez, California. That clinic was designed for professionals to impart education to amateurs on working with horses. She couldn’t peel her eyes away from that ad; it was as if something clicked inside that she couldn’t turn off. She was going to Santa Ynez, and nothing was going to stop her.

The nineteen-year-old who had barely traveled outside the borders of Iowa secretly booked a flight and flew to California to the complete unknowing of her family. Mindy deplaned in Santa Barbara and the winds of change were in the air. The California sun was warm (a far cry from the harsh winter she’d left in Iowa secretly that morning), palm trees swayed, the sweet smell of Hibiscus flowers dusted the breeze, and she was awashed in the sight of the Pacific Ocean for the very first time. This is me, she thought. This is where I belong.

However, fate wasn’t finished with the truth it was dispensing to her yet.

Mindy met Sheila Varian at the clinic, a lifelong idol who patiently listened while Mindy talked about her passion for and adventures with her family-owned Arabian horse program back in Iowa. At the end of the conversation, Sheila offered Mindy a job at Varian Arabians… the opportunity of a lifetime.

Mindy returned home to Iowa just long enough to pack her very old car, much to the dismay of her crying mother and pacing father, and she began her crosscountry trip to California, on a hope and prayer that her car would make it, but in full confidence that this was the correct next step for her life.

Her experience at Varian Arabians didn’t disappoint. Sheila, the masterful teacher that she was, gave Mindy her start after she recognized the young girl’s determination, giftedness with horses, and soft handedness while riding.

A FLOURISHING ENTERPRISE

Since that time, Mindy has stayed actively involved in every aspect of Arabian horses throughout her life’s adventurous journey, taking her to Santa Ynez, Hollywood, virtually around the world, to Santa Barbara and now back to Santa Ynez, her true home. Along the journey, this year, Mindy is adding a new element to her Arabian horse endeavors as a licensed Arabian horse judge.

Mindy’s true breeding program began in 2006 with the acquisition El Capitan Ranch, a 150-acre ranch overlooking the ocean just north of Santa Barbara that was originally part of a 1769 land grant from King Charles III of Spain.

Mindy began crafting a program that was a true ode to the collection of experiences she had gathered in her current lifetime. She travelled the world looking for certain bloodlines including two mares from Brazil: Petronella SRA (Bey Shah x Royal World Class) and Bell Song HVP (Magnums Psyche x Padrons Love Song), while also incorporating some of the lines her grandfather cherished so much along with a sprinkling of Egyptian as well.

Through her travels, she befriended the incomparable breeder Sigi Siller, who became a beloved friend and mentor. Mindy acquired two Sanadik El Shaklan daughters (Om El Elegance x Om El Jameelah) and one daughter of Om El Shahmaan (Om El Belinda Estopa) who to this day have become some of her program’s paramount producers, contributing to some of her highest successes in the show ring and in sales. Sigi was captivated by Mindy’s passion and desire to learn and passed on wisdom to Mindy in both horses and life, demonstrated

by Sigi’s fierce and determined fighter instinct to never quit until you reach your goals. They had soul connection.

Mindy’s quest for broodmares and fusion of knowledge has developed into a program that is respected the world over. She has acquired one of the globe’s most arresting broodmare bands boasting rare, classic blood of powerful genetic potency that outcross perfectly to today’s modern breeding stallions and typeladen look. With these few select mares, she has procured championships from their offspring both in the U.S. and abroad. The Mindy Peters Arabians program is of incontestable success that is garnering worldwide veneration.

A SACRED RIBBON

But as we touched on earlier, the secret to her success is something that cannot be bred, purchased, won, or sold. The secret lays in a passion that goes so deep it has become layered into the very fiber of your being. It is the heartbeat of the story. The colors of the mosaic. The ribbon that connects every dot. It is a family heirloom that is passed down as a torch from generation to generation.

Ed passed this precious heirloom to Shelley. Shelley passed it to Mindy. Mindy has passed this heirloom to her children. Kendyl, who is cut from the same fabric as her mother… raised in Beverly Hills, but a farm girl at heart with a love of both performance and halter, and now beginning her own journey as a breeder… at just 20 years old, nearly the exact same age as when her mother took off to California.

With a childhood that was integrated closely to Hollywood – a career she is now pursuing alongside her father, film producer, Jon Peters – Kendyl is keenly aware of how the horses safely guided her in pivotal moments of her youth while she watched many friends succumb to the pounding pressures of Hollywood.

Instead of seeking fame, horses taught her to seek unconditional love. Instead of pursuing status, horses taught her to stay true to herself. Instead of conforming, horses taught her to embrace her uniqueness with confidence. Rather than take shortcuts, horses taught her that true success comes only from hard work, focus, and commitment even when things got rough.

Many will remember the unforgettable moment seeing Kendyl and Davinci Reflection WA, aka “Bailey”, performing an unforgettable victory pass to a coliseum of people on their feet and moved to tears after being named 2018 U.S. National Champion Half-Arabian English Pleasure AOTR… a moment that many have heralded as being one of the most electrifying, emotional and poignant moments in the history of the U.S. National show. The two have a bond that is evident to all who see them and there are reasons for that bond, a passion, a commitment.

Just as every young person experiences, Kendyl struggled with selfconfidence. In fact, she didn’t realize how shy she was. Horses helped her work through it, but Kendyl credits Bailey for being the horse – or perhaps the trusted friend? - to help her start believing in herself more every day.

Kendyl is the official fourth generation horse owner/breeder in her family, as she quietly is dabbling in breeding small numbers of both halter and performance horses. It appears that her passion for Arabian horses equals that of her mother’s… a lifelong passion, a ribbon, that will continue threading through her own life.

Jordan, Kendyl’s older brother and Mindy’s son, was truly born into the Arabian horse industry. He is quick to say that his father, respected halter trainer Steve Heathcott, is the most talented person ever to touch an Arabian horse.

His mother is the kindest, most passionate and intelligent woman he’s ever known, and without a breath continues by saying that her undying love for the Arabian horse is unparalleled. While Jordan rises in ranks with a budding career in acting and film directing, the horses never seem far away from his life either, as he can be regularly seen helping his father during busy seasons, showing his own string of horses to tremendous success (in five shows last summer, Jordan took home 4 championships and 1 reserve), and developing plans for a small breeding program of his own in the near future… a dream borne from a young colt, bred by his mother, Mindy that seized his heart and changed his life while helping his father at Heathcott Arabians.

Jordan chuckles a little when he says that the Arabian horse is, in many ways, the glue that holds their family together. In fact, every February, Mindy’s family ascends on Scottsdale – Mindy, Shelley, her parents, kids, sister – sometimes for a month at a time, as they fuse their love for the Arabian horse and each other as one family all over again, while cheering on the family’s horses competing that year.

The story’s banner is Mindy Peters Arabians, but the sacred pulse of the story is one of intention, passion, fearlessness, and trusting the notion that if you stay true to what you were created for, the adventure will unfold before your eyes.

For Mindy, the Arabian horse is the beautifully tattered sacred ribbon that bind the story and weaves through every precious chapter of her journey, defining herself and her family. As that worn ribbon continues to extend over time and generations, it radiates its dazzling splendor all the more.

Because the satisfaction lies not in the reward, but in the courage itself to answer the calling.

This is the story of Mindy Peters Arabians.

Bettina MP

Machiavelli MP

(WH Justice x Om El Belinda Estopa)

(Marwan Al Shaqab x Om El Belinda Estopa)

OM EL BELINDA ESTOPA (Om El Shahmaan x Om El Beneera)

Sweira Al Jassimya out of Baraka MP Unanimous Menton Gold Champion Filly

BARAKA MP (Alfabia Ajib x Om El Belinda Estopa)

VERUSCHKA MP

(Marwan Al Shaqab x Veronica GA)

VONIA ROSE MP (Marwan Al Shaqab x Veronica GA)

Om El Elegance

ELIHANDRO MP (EKS Alihandro x Om El Elegance)

Photo by Kelly Campbell

Belle Song HVP

SOUTHERN BELLE MP (Eden C x Belle Song HVP)

AL AYANNA MP (Al Ayal AA x Om El Elegance)

Photo by April Visel

ANASTASIA MP (Al Ayal AA x Pietra MP by El Shaklan) owned by Ahmed Linjawi

APHRODITE MP (Al Ayal AA x TF Psynderella) owned by Monte Stone

OM EL SORAYA (Om El Bellissimo x Om El Sariyana) owned by Al Shiraa Arabians

PHEODOSIA ALJASSIMYA

(SMA Magic One x Om El Soraya) owned by Mansour Saeed Hamad Azzan Almazrouei

OM EL SARIYANA (Al Lahab x Om El Saari) owned by Mindy Peters

DA CAMBODIA

(Massai ibn Marenga x DA Cervia)

TWO STRAIGHT RUSSIAN MARES RECENTLY ACQUIRED FROM DARIUS ARABIANS FOR MINDY PETERS BREEDING PROGRAM

DA(Massai MAGNIFICA ibn Marenga x Madeira)

Multi International Champion 2nd generation mare of Mindy Peters breeding program.

SATEENA LNJ

(ZT Marwteyn x Sateen Larouge MP)

2019 | Designed and Published by Nate White | natewhiteproductions@gmail.com | 563.663.7383

you r vi s i o n w i ll b e c om e c le ar o n ly wh en yo u lo o k i n t o yo u r he ar t. . . w ho l ooks o u tsi de, drea ms, wh o l o o k s i nsi d e, awake ns ~ carl gustav jung

celeb ra t i n g f o u r ge n e ra t i o ns of b re e d e r s

Mindy Peters Arabians 310-351-4799 mindypeters7@gmail.com