February 5, 2022 
Berry de Maillet is a hunter wizard in training.
The former jumper competed up to the 1.45m CSI4* level in his previous life, showing internationally in Spain, Mexico, and France as recently in 2020 with Spain’s Alberto Marquez Galobardes in the stirrups. In August 2021, he made a career change, joining the ranks of Chestnut Hill LLC in Petaluma, CA with amateur owner Kaylin Faidi.
The transition has been nothing short of enchanting.
Affectionately dubbed “Berry Potter” in the barn (he has a small scar on his forehead), the 11 year old gelding has proven to be a motivated student—despite his often lackadaisical appearances.
“He’s funny. He’s a really chill dude in the stall. He’s very quiet. He sleeps nonstop. When you go to get him in the crossties, he’s sound asleep, eyes closed,” said Chestnut Hill rider Chelsea Brittner. “But then as soon as you go to work, he’s a workaholic. He loves his job. He’s all business when it comes to the ring.”
The Harry Potter similarities don’t end there either. When “Berry” made his foray into the hunter ring it was with a Marauder’s Map of his own making.
“He can be a little mischievous sometimes,” smiled Brittner.
“His first couple of times in the [hunter] ring, it wasn’t the jumps, but he did not love the plants beside the jumps. I think he couldn’t figure out why there are so many decorations and what all the fuss was about. So he was very suspicious of all of that, which caused a little consternation in the very beginning. But he’s become very comfortable in the hunter ring.”
Judges appear to agree.
Brittner and Berry de Maillet topped the $10,000 Valencia Saddlery USHJA National Hunter Derby – Open at Desert International Horse Park in Thermal, CA on Friday. Thirty-nine entries came forward for the Kevin Holowack designed course. Brittner and the Selle Francais gelding set the score to beat in the Classic Hunter Round, earning a total first round score of 93 with the horse’s flashy jump and impressive scope over all four high options.
The top 12 returned in reverse order for the handy round. And again Brittner came out on top, utilizing Berry’s jumper training to ride a bold pace and handily navigate inside turns to a top score of 90.25. Their overall total score of 183.25 clinched the win.
“My goal coming in last, and I knew a lot of people have some really nice rounds, so I wanted to be as bold and as forward as I could be and take some risks because that’s the only way that I was going to seal the deal,” said Brittner.
“He was a jumper in a previous life, so he’s very familiar, very comfortable with [jumping with pace]. I knew once I could get to the last three jumps and I could just loosen up and let it flow. So that was the best part there. It all worked in my favor.”
Watch their winning ride:
Hunter competition heats up next week at DIHP with the World Champion Hunter Week, featuring the $50,000 USHJA International Derby. Catch all the action on deserthorsepark.com
