When Lillie Keenan packs for New York following her winter season in Florida, she’ll leave without her first grand prix partner Pumped Up Kicks. The 18-year-old rider announced the 12-year-old Brandenburg gelding (Levisto—Sanmodus, San Juan) was sold to amateur rider Jennifer Gates on April 7.

“I wish the best of luck to ‘Kix’ with his new owner, and I’m really excited about their partnership and how much he will be able to teach her and how much she will teach him. I think they’ll have a lot of success,” said Keenan.

“I’m super grateful that [Keenan’s] giving me the opportunity and knows that he’ll have a good home, and I feel really lucky to be able to ride him,” said Gates, 18.

Keenan’s Chansonette Farms purchased the gelding at the end of 2012 to be her junior jumper, however the pair moved swiftly up the levels, earning Keenan’s first grand prix win at the $125,000 Purina Animal Nutrition Grand Prix at HITS Saugerties (N.Y.) in 2013. Keenan, New York, and Kix later represented the United States as the anchors for the Nations Cup team in Bratislava, Slovakia, in August 2014.

“We had no plans of jumping 1.60-meter classes on him,” Keenan said. “He proved us all wrong. He’s a horse that has an immense amount of heart which is really what I think is the most important quality in a partner.”

Want to know more about Pumped Up Kicks? Go Behind The Stall Door with him.

Though Keenan didn’t have plans to sell the gelding, she knew Gates was looking for a horse that could bring her up to the levels as Kix had done with her. Since she’d ridden several of Gates’ prior mounts, she thought he might be a good fit for the teenager.

“I’m not only close friends with her, but I’ve also ridden a lot of horses that she’s had, and I’m familiar with her style and what she likes in a horse,” Keenan said. “We have similar tastes in that way. We also look for the same qualities in a partner, so I knew that he’d be a good match for her.” “

“He’s a lovely type,” said Gates. “He has a lot of blood, but he’s easy to control. He’s super brave. My best horse [Lord Levisto] actually just got hurt, so when that happened I was looking for a horse that I could go in the ring on and feel confident and help me feel comfortable at the bigger jumps. [Kix] is so easy, and I’m so lucky to get to ride him now.”

Gates, Kirkland, Wash., rode to junior team gold in the 2014 Adequan/FEI Junior and Young Rider Championships (Ky.) with Lord Levisto, who shares a sire with Kix. Gates rides as an amateur under the instruction of Hardin Towell and attends Stanford University (Calif.), so she’s going to get to know Kix before making their competition debut in May.

“I’d like to help build my confidence at the bigger jumps. Maybe we’ll jump some FEI World Cup qualifiers on the West Coast eventually, but we’ll just have to see,” she said. “I want to take it slow. He’s a great horse, but I have to develop a partnership with him as well. I think it will go well, but I want to take my time and just really enjoy riding him because he’s a spectacular horse regardless of what height [we’re jumping].”