Dressage at Devon, once a highlight of the competition season, has been facing challenges for years as the yearlong show calendar was rearranged to the disadvantage of its autumn date.
The Northeast no longer is a hub of high-level dressage. There was a time, however, when Devon, Pa., was a must-stop for both U.S. and Canadian riders.
The Saturday night freestyle always drew the likes of such memorable combinations as George Williams with the lop-eared crowd favorite Rocher, a three-time winner of the musical ride; Lars Petersen on Succes and Jacquie Brooks of Canada with D’Niro. Anne Gribbons, a Devon board member and former U.S. dressage technical advisor, won the freestyle in the 1980s with Amazonas, who had been victorious in the three-year-old stallion class during the show’s popular breeding division some years previously.
George Willliams with Rocher during her 2013 retirement at Dressage at Devon, where she was a freestyle star. (Photo © 2013 by Nancy Jaffer)
The New England Dressage Association show in Saugerties prior to Devon made for a nice little autumn CDI (international) circuit as horses headed from there to Pennsylvania, Tryon, N.C., and then Florida. That state has become the center of dressage during the winter in this country, and the World Equestrian Center Ocala now offers three CDIs from September to December as well, an incentive for people either leaving earlier for Florida or simply moving there.
There’s a new, small CDI in Pennsylvania during June and another CDI further south, in Virginia, during May. But when the NEDA show did not continue as a CDI (it is now a regional competition), Devon was left as the lone major international show in the Northeast.
So it is working hard to entice competitors and spectators to the storied Devon showgrounds. Creative thought and determination are highlights of a resolute effort to insure that the show keeps its place, both in history and the future.
The organization is fighting back with a series of initiatives. This year’s show (www.dressageatdevon.org), Sept. 26-Oct. 1 will feature an encore of the highly successful Master Class that debuted last year with U.S. Olympian Sabine Schut-Kery. The clinician this time for the NorCordia-sponsored evening Sept. 28 will be Danish world championships medalist Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour, known for her stylish performances with such wonderful horses as Bohemian and Vamos Amigos, both of whom have been sold.
Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour at the 2022 World Championships.
She will be teaching during the evening, and those benefiting from her wisdom will include not only the spectators, but also an interesting list of riders. Among those set to take part are eventer Boyd Martin, Canadian Lindsay Kellock and Australian Hope Beerling–who just finished 10th out of 40 in the world seven-year-old championships in the Netherlands with Vianne.
The NorCordia Master Class raffle is open with worldwide ticket at norcordia.com/raffle.The purchase of a $5 ticket could win one of the prizes including a memorabilia collection from Cathrine Laudrup DuFour, a Stübben custom saddle designed by Catherine Haddad, a limited edition Master Class shirt from Uniqcorn Exceptionnel and many more prizes. On Oct. 2, NorCordia will announce the winners, who will be notified via email.
New at the show for 2023 is a “dance-off” freestyle contest Sept. 29 with a live band. Catherine Haddad Staller, Lauren Sammis and Jim Kofford are among those scheduled to participate. On the final day, the schedule will be dominated by musical freestyles in various divisions.
As is the case with many boutique shows (not part of a series) in several disciplines, funding is a problem for D at D. In 2019, it put out a request for help with financial issues. It didn’t receive much of a response, and the advent of Covid in 2020 made the situation even tougher.
Gribbons, who competed at D at D “at least 25 times,” remembers the show as “the high point of the year, the place to be. The atmosphere in the Dixon Oval, especially at night, is the closest this country has to the atmosphere at Aachen. It gives you a very intimate feeling.”
The “Where Champions Meet” sign is as applicable to Dressage at Devon as it is to the spring hunter/jumper show. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
However, after the show found itself coping with difficult times, she recalled that the board took a vote in the wake of the pandemic as to whether it should even continue. It was decided to go ahead, and the spectators who came out in 2021 were thrilled to be back watching the competition.
It’s always a struggle, however. Costs of putting on the show have risen from $750,000 in 2021 to $900,000 this year, with a hole in the budget of $40,000. The price of renting the showgrounds also increases from 10 to 15 percent annually, according to show president Anne Moss, who took that position in 2022.
She noted that while the 2019 aid attempt “didn’t get off the ground,” it had lacked help from anyone with a fundraising background. Now board member Nicole Del Giorno, a professional in the field, is spearheading the effort.
A trainer who was a gold medalist at the North American Junior/Young Rider Championships as a teen, Nicole knows the dressage world well. She works for a company called MarketSmart, that has software which “helps non-profits find and engage major-giving donors.”
Moss said, “She has enabled us to have consultations with experts in fundraising to come up with a strategic plan for the show.”
Dressage at Devon President Anne Moss. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
That led to establishing the Dressage at Devon Sustainers Club. The show has sent an appeal letter, “hoping people can donate $1,000 and become a member and hopefully do that every year to help sustain the show,” said Moss.
Del Giorno noted sponsors, who are looking at what a show can do for their business, think differently from individual donors and philanthropists. That segment instead is focused on, “how can I make a difference that’s going to reflect my values?”
She suggested this donor thought process: “If I really care about dressage education in the region; if I really care about trying to keep our top horses and riders in the region and being able to see top-class dressage, suddenly as a philanthropist, Devon is looking very attractive.”
As Moss noted, “A lot of big sponsors are sponsoring our national governing bodies. It’s harder and harder for a stand-alone horse show to get the attention of sponsors for the support we really need. There’s only so much money you can ask from the competitors and spectators before they’re going to say `No’. We want to encourage competitors and spectators. The only way we can fill those holes is with donations and sponsorship.”
The money that comes in is not being wasted, because the Devon board is keeping a close eye on its finances.
“We’ve tightened out belts and tightened our belts. We’re trying to do it on as much of a shoestring but still make it a fabulous show,” commented Moss.
Alice Tarjan and Serenade MF qualified for the 2023 FEI World Cup Finals with a victory at Dressage at Devon 2022 Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer
“We’re in the process of reshaping what the show is. We know we’re not going to attract all the big names from Florida and the West Coast. So we’re trying to put an emphasis on making it a fabulous experience for the amateur CDI and the wonderful professionals who support us, and all the Canadians, and add as much to the schedule as we can for education.”
The Dressage at Devon Forum on the Wednesday of the show will feature veterinarians from the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center lecturing on advanced breeding techniques for sport horse mares, while Dr. Hillary Clayton will give a presentation on biomechanics on the Thursday morning into the afternoon, accompanying livestream of the young horse classes. There are plenty of shopping opportunities, while a barn day and kids’ activities Oct. 1 offer another way to participate.
The show has hired Phelps Media Group to get the word out. The sponsorship team has been increased from one person to three, offering different circles of contact from which to seek support. Volunteers are also needed, and the jobs they do offer another way of giving to the show.
Devon continues to have its own brand of allure. There are still riders for whom Dressage at Devon represents a goal worth working for.
Kim Opiatowski last rode there decades ago, back when the show offered Third Level competition. Now the lowest level for performance horses is Fourth Level, and Kim is hoping her qualifying score with her mount, Dario, made the cut.
While there may be less in the way of big names than in the past, “It’s kind of nice for some of the amateurs, because it’s not quite as crowded as it has been in the past,” said the New Hope, Pa., resident.
At the same time, she pointed out, “It gets you ready for some of the big show venues if you’re going to go to Finals later. It’s a good steppingstone because (the U.S. Dressage) Finals can be pretty electric. too.
“It’s a very spectator-friendly show, so friends and family can come watch and they can also see the freestyle on Saturday night. There’s a lot of aspects of the show that are very fun to do that you don’t have at other shows.”