"I think there are so many people who would love to watch our sport," Nicole DelGiorno said earlier this year, shortly after being named president of Dressage at Devon. "But we have to figure out how to invite them in."
That is an unusual thing for the president of a half-century-old horse show to say out loud. Dressage at Devon has never lacked for an audience among people who already ride, judge, or breed. What it has lacked, by DelGiorno's own account, is a clear door for everyone else who has driven past the Devon Show Grounds a hundred times and never once walked in. This September, that door gets a little wider, and if you live anywhere near Dorset Road, it is worth knowing exactly how.
Two Shows, Same Grounds, Different Crowds
Devon's fall calendar this year runs in two distinct acts, both at the same address: 23 Dorset Road.
- Devon Fall Classic, September 10 through 13, an all-jumper competition now in its 13th year, run by the Devon Horse Show & Country Fair Foundation
- Kingsview Partners Dressage at Devon, September 22 through 27, run by a separate nonprofit organization that operates independently on the same grounds
If you only know Devon for the spring show, the one with the country fair and the carriages, that event and this fall stretch are related but not the same operation. The Foundation that puts on the May show and the Fall Classic is a different 501(c)(3) than the one running Dressage at Devon in late September. Same grounds, same blue grandstands around the Dixon Oval, two different boards writing two different checks. It is a small distinction, but it explains why the fall calendar can feel like it belongs to two different worlds even though you park in the same lot for both.
The Fall Classic is the quieter of the two, built around show jumping rather than the more formal, more televised discipline of dressage. It draws families from around the region for an afternoon of watching horses clear rails rather than perform tests. Dressage at Devon, by contrast, has been the marquee event since 1975 and carries a US Equestrian Heritage designation earned in 2013 for its longevity and community contribution. It is the show most non-riders have heard of, even if they have never quite understood why grandstands fill up for a sport that, to an outsider, can look like watching a horse walk in a very expensive circle.
The Day They Built for People Who've Never Been to a Horse Show
That is where DelGiorno's comment stops being a talking point and starts showing up on the actual schedule.
For the first time in the show's history, Dressage at Devon is running the Dressage4Kids Youth Challenge on Sunday, September 27, the final day of show week. Riders between 14 and 18 will compete for a $5,000 top prize plus additional awards down to eighth place, including gift certificates for boots and a custom helmet. It is being called the largest cash prize currently offered in U.S. youth dressage, and it was built specifically with Dressage4Kids, the nonprofit founded by Olympian Lendon Gray more than two decades ago to develop young riders around horsemanship rather than the size of the horse under them.
Lendon Gray put it plainly when the program was announced: the format exists so that riders who do not have the fanciest horse in the barn still get their chance to prove they understand horsemanship, not just show up with the best equipment. That framing matters if you are a Devon parent who has ever watched a friend's kid get priced out of competitive riding by the cost of a top horse. This is a class designed around the rider's skill on the ground and in the saddle, not the bloodline underneath them.
One of the hopefuls is Emelia Lewis, a young rider local to Devon who spoke about what the new class means for riders like her:
"For those who may not have the ability to compete in a CDI environment, it offers the chance to still experience that elevated level of competition and atmosphere. I also believe it is incredibly important to highlight a rider's ability to properly handle and present a horse from the ground."
The Youth Challenge did not appear in isolation. It slots into a Sunday that already had family programming built around it, including the Dressage Explorers Day, with its well-known stick horse ride down the centerline, face painting, and presentations from equine experts aimed at kids too young to compete but old enough to be curious. DelGiorno's stated goal, getting more young people excited about the sport at a younger age, is now visible as an actual sequence of events rather than a mission statement: stick horse ride today, Youth Challenge in a few years, Grand Prix under the lights of the Dixon Oval somewhere down the road if the sport takes.
For a Devon resident deciding which day of the six-day show to actually attend, that reshapes the calculus. The Friday and Saturday night Grand Prix classes remain the marquee events, when spectators are invited to score along with the judges and the atmosphere runs closest to a big sporting event. But Sunday is now the day built for someone who has never watched a dressage test in their life and does not plan to start owning riding boots. It closes the week with the Youth Challenge, the Explorers programming, and musical freestyles that read more as entertainment than technical judging.
What to Actually Plan Around
A few practical notes for anyone treating this as a real outing rather than a drive-by curiosity.
The Devon Show Grounds run rain or shine, and the schedule stretches through the day with a short evening break for dinner, so plan for a full afternoon if you are going for more than a quick look. Temperatures on the grounds swing more than you would expect for late September, warm in the afternoon sun and noticeably cooler once the evening classes start under the lights, so a layer you can add later is worth the trunk space. The Devon Horse Show and Fall Classic ticket terms are direct about one house rule that carries over to show week generally: dogs are welcome on leashes but not inside the grandstands or anywhere food is served, and off-leash dogs draw a fine, with the owner also responsible for any entry fees if the animal disrupts a horse's performance. It sounds strict until you remember these are prey animals working in a ring full of noise and motion, which is also why Dressage at Devon asks spectators to hold applause until a rider finishes and salutes rather than clapping mid-test.
Parking passes for Dressage at Devon are sold electronically and issued in mid-September, so if you are planning to go on a specific day, buying ahead saves a slower entry at the gate. The Fall Classic earlier in the month tends to be a smaller, easier crowd to navigate if a first visit with young kids feels less daunting on a smaller stage before the bigger show arrives.
None of this changes what Devon has always been in September: a town that quietly turns its attention to a set of grandstands on Dorset Road for a couple of weeks a year. What changed this year is who the show is trying to bring through the gate. DelGiorno's read on the opportunity, sitting at the intersection of three major metropolitan areas with an audience that has simply never been asked in, is the kind of statement that either stays a quote in a press release or actually shows up on a Sunday schedule. This year it shows up on the schedule.
If you have lived in Devon long enough to have opinions about parking near the show grounds in September, you already know the rhythm. If you are newer to the area and have been putting off a first visit because it seemed like a closed world for people who already own horses, this is the year that world built you a door.
Curious what else is shifting in Devon beyond the show calendar, from home values to what's actually selling on the streets around the grounds? Hernan Alvarado Jr keeps a close eye on both sides of this town. Let's Connect.
