Another Dressage at Devon has come to a close, but what a show it was. Six straight days of nearly picture perfect weather made this year’s show a pleasure to attend. As usual, Devon drew most of the top riders from the East Coast of the U.S. and Canada, as well as a fair amount of the best riders from areas west of the Mississippi. The Saturday evening Grand Prix Freestyle had its usual sell-out crowd.

Dressage at Devon is one of the most popular dressage competitions in all of North America. Favored not only by competitors, but also by spectators, because it provides a fair-like atmosphere not found at most shows. Devon attracts huge numbers of vendors, offers some of the best horse show fare around – including a wine and beer tent and a coffee vendor that actually serves good lattes – and Devon provides some of the best entertainment.

And when it comes to entertainment, this year’s competition was as good as it gets. Sabine Schut-Kery, an always popular attraction at Devon, joined with dancer Ana Ayromlou for a beautiful dance duet between horse and human. The pair had a great sense of humor and not only joined spectators in laughing at announcer Brian O’Connor’s own rendition of their performance, but ended up joining him in the fun during Saturday’s Grand Prix Freestyle competition.

The performing team included the Friesian stallion Illiad, owned by Proud Meadow Farms and the Andalusian stallion Granito, owned by Avi Cohen.

Dressage at Devon has long served as a fundraising event for Thorncroft Therapeutic Horseback Riding, Inc. and this year was no exception. And riders from Thorncroft were part of this year’s entertainment. The Thorn craft Mainstreamers, a group of riders ranging in age from 11 to 18, performed a quadrille. Spectators were also treated to a polo cross demonstration and, as always, the Devon ring crew provided their ring-break entertainment.

And of course, everyone waits for the chance to dance in the Devon dirt following the awards ceremonies after Saturday night's Grand Prix Freestyle. This year with record crowds, perfect weather, and a week of the finest Dressage in America, spirits soared, and everyone win or lose had a wonderful show.

In sum, there was something for everyone at this year’s Dressage at Devon and if you missed it, there’s always next year.

Footnote: Where were Mary and JJ?
As I was packing the RV at the beautiful Lamplight Equestrian Center near Chicago, following four days of the Great American/USDF Region 2 Dressage Championships, my cell phone rang - it was Robert Dover. "Mary, are you OK? We were all looking for you and JJ to show up at Devon, and be in your usual spot behind the Gold Arena?"

We are fine, and have lots more news to come this week as our website coverage continues to expand with the help of our great reporters Lynndee Kemmet, and the added marketing management for Devon of Equestrain Sports Promotions.With John and Lisa Seger serving as gracious hosts for our shared sponsorship with Markel, Dressage at Devon was in good hands, and this enabled us to be on the scene expanding our opportunities to cover more events.