Spencer Brittan finds a needle in the haystack

This Fall Spencer Brittan found what he was looking for. “Acquiring it is like finding a needle in a haystack,” he said of the search for a Grand Prix horse. And he managed it with the acquisition of Unestar D’ysenbeck Z. ”Everyone is always looking,” he said.

Spencer is taking his time to get to know Unestar at her new Wellington home. Photo: Sierra Buerkley Photography.

Spencer and his twin brother Jackson have a syndicate group that they have put together to seek out such horses. But buying also means selling sometimes, and they did just that with FSS Outlaw – their most recent Grand Prix horse – after showing the 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse Gelding in the five-star and four-star shows in the Hamptons and Saugerties, New York.

Spencer already had his eye on a replacement. “I’ve been watching the horse since last year,” he said of Unestar, a 10-year-old Zangersheide mare who was being shown last winter by Rebecca Conway at the Winter Equestrian Festival [WEF] and at the World Equestrian Center [WEC] in Ocala, Florida. “Finally we were able to work something out,” he said, with the grey mare standing behind him in the cross ties in her new Wellington home.

Getting some prep done in the International Ring at Wellington International. Photo: Sierra Buerkley Photography

She had all the attributes Spencer was seeking. “I always look for scope, first of all, that they can jump a really big wide oxer – you need that at WEF especially under the lights. She definitely has that,” he said. “She also is brave and has a good heart, you know, so they have to want to go to the jump and want to take you to the jump. She has that as well. And just careful – and wants to keep the jumps up. I think she is in the middle of those three things.”

The validation was instant when Spencer first sat on Unestar a matter of weeks ago. “I normally know within a few jumps, if I’m going to like the horse or not, and within a few jumps she gave me a good feeling,” he said. “It’s always tough to tell until you’re doing it, but she definitely feels scopey, maybe even scopier than some that I have had. I hope to put her in the Five-Star Grands Prix this WEF, because not many horses in the world can jump a five-star grand prix – the width of the oxers is too much, and the technicality. I think she can do that.”

Preparing for the spotlight! Spencer and Unestar are warming up at the ESP shows in Wellington. Photo: Sierra Buerkley Photography.

Getting to know a mare, Spencer says, is a little more complicated than bonding with a gelding.

“I always find with mares, you have to build a relationship. I normally have geldings, which are kind of always happy no matter what you do. But I’m trying to keep her happy so I’ve been taking her out every afternoon to walk and graze and build a friendship. That’s why I’m here at the barn this afternoon.”

Like the first Formula One Grand Prix of the season when drivers eye up the competition on the grid, the beginning of the season at WEF brings a degree of attention to new horse-rider combinations.

“You’re definitely in the spotlight, especially with a horse that’s already jumped big before,” said Spencer. “It’s not coming out of left field, so people will definitely have eyes on it to see how it goes with a new rider, and how it compares to before. And so there’s always a bit of pressure. With the market and the industry and the prices, it is so hard to find a horse that can jump a meter 60, and that’s a good age, sound, no stops. People are always looking for them now, and that’s why when you have a horse like that, you have even more of a duty to look after it and make sure it goes well.”

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