Chelsea Brittner and Avery Glynn Get USHJA National Hunter Derby Wins at Desert Circuit 1
The first USHJA National Hunter Derby wins of Desert Circuit 2026 went home with Chelsea Brittner and Avery Glynn on Friday, January 9, at Desert International Horse Park in Thermal, Calif.
Brittner piloted Yellowstone to victory in the $5,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby – Open, sponsored by Renaissance, while Glynn and Davina RW earned the top call in the $5,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby – Junior/Amateur, sponsored by Voltaire Design.
Both winning horses share in the fact that they are more frequently ridden by Hope Glynn, but this week, Brittner and Avery Glynn stepped into the irons.
“Hope is unfortunately injured, so it’s a bit of a newer ride for me,” said Brittner of Yellowstone, owned by Talia Parks. “Thankfully, I did ride him for one week at [Desert] Holiday, so I knew him a little bit better than the other horse that I did, but he’s still very new. This is my second horse show with him. I’m super excited. He’s so lovely.”
Brittner led the 31-horse class from beginning to end, as she and the 9-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding took over the first-round lead with a score of 92. With the top 12 returning for the second, handy round, Brittner and Yellowstone impressively only improved on their previous performance. They secured a score of 93 to ultimately clinch the win with an overall total score of 185.
“The first round was a very nice, inviting course, especially in the beginning,” said Brittner. “It gave you a few single jumps just to kind of get going which I like because, again, he’s a bit newer for me. I could kind of feel out his energy and what his thought process might be…He was just on task today.”
Brittner continued, “Coming back for the handy, I was a little nervous since I don’t know him very well, and there were some really good, tight turns in there…As soon as I jumped jump one and turned back to jump two, I was like, ‘Okay, I can take a deep breath and just focus on riding and not worry about anything!’ He’s just really straightforward. He’s got this nice, big gallop. He’s very scopey; so, you can kind of go slow, but for how big and slow his step is, he’s very handy. He’s very easy to turn – light in the mouth and light off the leg.”
With Yellowstone earning the win, second place on a score of 183 (91+92) went to Jenny Karazissis and Anacapa, owned by Jennifer Geisler. Simon Schroeder and Conway Hill Farms LLC’s Santino took home third place with a score of 180.5 (89.5+91). For full results, click here.
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