Kassidy Keith and Havana are one of tbird’s most winning combinations.

Developed by Keith since age five, since age five, the now 13-year-old mare is lethal at the 1.40m height with the Langley local in the stirrups, jumping clear at a 59% clip in international competition (Jumpr stats). At the national level, they’ve won no fewer than six 1.40m Grands Prix at tbird since 2023, including back-to-back wins with the Langley Grand Prix at the 2025 West Coast Classic and the Odlum Brown Grand Prix at the Western Family.

Home-field advantage most certainly comes into play, as this pair is as local as they come. Havana lives at Keith’s Keepsake Farms in Langley and is a locally bred mare with ties that stretch across Western Canada, from Victoria to Edmonton.

“Havana was bred by Bruce and Sharon Telford [of Woodlawn Farms in Tofield, Alberta]. She’s Cardento x Judgment,” explained Keith. “[Edmonton-based trainer] Gareth Graves bought her from the Canadian Warmblood Fall Classic Breeders’ Sale auction as a two-year-old with [Victoria’s] Paula Leweke. They owned Havana together. We bought her as a five-year old when Gareth was jumping the age classes in Thermal, CA and started developing her more.”

At the time, Keith was riding with another local trainer, Richard Keller, who also trained Graves. “He said there’s this really lovely young horse and Karen Erickson also pressed my mom to try her—she was like, ‘Even if you don’t really have the money, find it.’ So a client bought Havana for us and then we ended up buying her from him probably four years later.

“We always thought she was going to be a Grand Prix horse. She showed a lot of scope and a lot people wanted to buy her as a young horse, but we just kept turning it down, kept turning down. In her six-year old year she had a baby, so that I would say put us like a little bit behind and then she stepped right back up. I started showing FEI and she’s been so consistent.”

Havana and Keith have jumped to 10 international podiums to date and are currently competing on show jumping’s biggest stage, 5* competition at the 1.60m height. It’s a local success story that continues to be written—and for which the next volume is already in production. With a little help from the locals, of course.

“I have one other baby out of her. He’s three and is getting started. He’s out of Fenelon WF and Havana. So the Telford’s bred both of them.”