Everyone loves an underdog story, and The Gentleman Pirate and Kelsey Briggs certainly proved that it doesn’t necessarily cost a lot of money to win big.

“I got him off the track about 21⁄2 years ago up in Ohio,” said Briggs. “I paid $600. It’s turned out to be quite a steal!

He was sort of a big gangly young horse when I took him home, but he’s really grown into himself quite nicely. He has tremendous heart, and he’s really made me love the sport again.”

Briggs and “Pirate,” a 6-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, won the training three-day title at the Florida Festival Of The Horse, April 16-19, in Ocala, by finishing on their dressage score of 29. It was the pair’s first attempt at the long format, and Briggs looks forward to moving Pirate up the levels.

“He ran training most of last year and just moved up to preliminary,” she said. “He ran prelim at The Fork and was a really good boy. I made some silly mistakes myself, but he did a great job and proved how bold he is going to be and that he has the ability to get us out of trouble.”

Briggs and Pirate had a solid dressage test, which settled them into the second spot, just behind Elliot Blackmon and Prince Caspian II. Their confident and bold cross-country performance kept them right in contention.

“Going out on the roads and tracks, he was in this huge strong trot and I opted not to pick a fight with him,” she said. “He was fast on the steeplechase, but in a good way. He wasn’t running away with me but up into my hand. By the end of it, he was just galloping up and over like it was nothing.”

 Briggs said they weren’t perfect over every jump on cross-country, but she liked the overall feeling.

“I thought he was brilliant at the second water. We had to jump up the bank, and I think for most horses it was a stride and a shuffle, but we just jumped up, one big stride and jumped down really confidently,” she said. “He’s so young, and he’s got plenty of time to figure this out, but he felt like a much older horse this week. I think he grew up a lot.”

As confident as their cross-country ride was, Briggs felt some butterflies before show jumping. Pirate seemed to know it was his time to shine, however, and he snapped his knees up over every fence.

“I was so pleased with Pirate, that I would have been just as happy with second place or third or whatever,” said Briggs. “I really, really felt for Elliot. When I saw those rails my heart fell for her because I’ve been there too.”

Briggs, Pineville, N.C., runs a small teaching and training barn just across the border in South Carolina and is primarily self-taught.

“I haven’t ridden in a lesson in a year,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t get to go and train very much. I’ve been riding a lot of young green horses over the last couple of years. From an early age I kind of had to keep the barn running and teach a little bit, and the lesson program grew and I kept getting training horses in. It’s just hard to get away when you’re trying to run a business.”