The
Gentleman Pirate The Unlikely Return of
By Amber Heintzberger
When veterinarians advised Kelsey Briggs to put her upper-level event horse down in January 2013, she was devastated. Kelsey grew up eventing on a budget and had purchased “Pirate” off the track when she was 18 years old. They came up the levels together, with the horse’s bravery and honesty often making up for Kelsey’s lack of experience.
time, energy and finances to the barn. Her first horse was an Arabian named Aladdin, and together they reached Prelimi- nary level. “I learned at a young age to work hard or not have horses,”
K
she says. “My family has been incredibly supportive – they just couldn’t be financially supportive. When I made it to prelim I felt like I’d hit the big-time!” she says. Kelsey purchased her first horse off the track when she
was 17 years old, but he started to get backed off by the demands of prelim, so she sold him. The following year she went to River Downs in Cincinnati, Ohio and bought Pirate
elsey grew up near Charlotte, North Carolina, work- ing hard to support her equine habit, becoming a professional at a young age and devoting all her
(by Covered Wagon) for $600. She also bought his stable- mate, which a student purchased and then put in training with her—which paid for Pirate and the trip to Ohio. She remembers that Pirate wasn’t the easiest horse to
ride, but says that she has always felt he had upper-level potential. Pirate moved up to Intermediate level in 2010 as a seven-year-old, had a very successful year at that level, then spent a year off with a strained suspensory. It wasn’t a major injury, but Kelsey wanted to give it plenty of time to heal.
Above: Kelsey and Pirate competed at Jersey Fresh last May and won the Thoroughbred Incentive Program award for being the highest placed OTTB at the event.
Warmbloods Today 37
Shannon Brinkman
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