Growing up, my knowledge of horses was limited to the racetrack, more specifically harness racing. My dad used to take me to the Liberty Bell racetrack in Bensalem on Saturday night.  We would enter after the 7th race (when entry was free) and if we were lucky someone would give us his program on his way out/our way in.  I learned how to read the race program at a young age, not that it ever helped figure out the best exacta or trifecta combo, for me it seemed to be just pure luck.  As a kid, I picked the horse based on the name and my dad would often bet a ticket just for me (he knew better than to throw my horse in his combination). If it was a cool night, we would stand outside cheering our horse on as it neared the finish.  Everyone in the stands got louder willing their horse to win.  My dad would buy me a soft pretzel and a soda – a good treat for a kid.  It was a different kind of father/daughter outing and worlds away from the Devon Horse Show on the (wealthy, fancy) Mainline but the love of horsemanship was similar.

 

While my dad loved the horses and continued to go to the OTB (Off Track Betting) to watch the races from around the country, I dreamed of attending the Kentucky Derby in a fancy hat when I grew up.  I hoped to convince my dad to get on a plane (he didn’t like to fly) and do a bucketlist trip to Churchill Downs someday.  Sadly, my dad passed a  year ago this weekend, so visiting the Devon Horse show for the first time brought back some cherished memories.

My sister and the kids picked me up to go with them as my younger niece is now taking riding lessons and was keen to attend the horse show.  The show’s history is traced back to 1896 and continues to be the country’s largest outdoor horse show. There were riders from around the country which surprised me as I thought it was a local event.  But before we would watch the performances, there was a midway to conquer on the country fair side of the show grounds.

While we were there to see the horses, my niece was quickly lured (as most kids are) by the midway games and stuffed toys to win.  The games of my youth (balloon darts, water gun, duckies, skee-ball) hadn’t changed other than the cost ($2 and $5 per play) and some of the prizes.  I grew up in the 70’s and remember the games of the Wildwood boardwalk when cartons of cigarettes were prizes (scandalous now, acceptable then). I was quite adept at the games and for every stuffed animal I won, I would also win my dad a carton of cigarettes.  I was a good investment then with above average returns. Hey, it was 70’s way before everyone got warning labels for food, life, trophies, cigarettes, alcohol, driving, biking, kids, television, etc.

Walking through the game midway, we were lured by the smells of fried carnival foods and the insanity of the choices (none of which exist in my food journal choices).  My brother in law and I were tasked with choosing the fried goodness to share and not content with funnel cake, we amped up the artery clogging by choosing fried nutter butters, fried chocolate chip cookies and fried brownies.  Everything about this food station was so, so wrong, yet, so incredibly tempting just to know how it would taste (blog research, right?).  As the resident cookie monster, I tried the fried chocolate chip cookie which was similar to a chocolate chip funnel cake square – yum!  I passed on the other two options as I knew there would be more carnival foods – all of which are off limits most days but somehow with the kids were ok  for today.

After indulging on dessert first (as life should be), we played more games, wandered the small shops, bought raffle tickets benefitting the local hospital (fingers crossed that I win either the Jaguar lease or an IPad) and ended up in the food line (kids do eat alot) for hot dogs and fries.  Sharing a bench with other families in the picnic grove, I could see that you didn’t need to be a horse person to enjoy your day here. But weren’t we here to see the horses?

We finally got the girls to go sit and watch the horse competition (they ran out of their allocated game money).  One of the jumps was in front of us so we were quite close to the riders and the gorgeous horses. Only one horse refused to jump and had to leave the competition, I felt so bad for the rider who had trained for this competition.  The other horses all looked good jumping so it was hard to figure out the scoring (I needed a play by play to understand). When a new rider and her horse was announced, I imagined the announcer on the loudspeaker at the racetrack with Dad and wondered who was a good bet based on name?  Many of the horses had good loudspeaker names for a winning trifecta.

In the other ring, we could see the teams of three riders in their themed costumes riding and jumping to music.  There was a large crowd gathered there to watch the entertainment. There were Muppets, Minions, Wizard of Oz to name a few themes.  We would watch Roar (based on Katy Perry song) and Happy, Happy, Happy (Minions).

 

My first visit to the Devon Horse show proved that I didn’t need to be wealthy with a fancy hat to attend as I had envisioned growing up.  Mind you, I doubt there were any folks there who spent time at the racetrack as a kid reading the race sheet (these kids owned their own horse!) like I did, but I wouldn’t trade those memories with my dad. Attending the Devon Horse Show with my nieces hopefully is something they look back and remember fondly as a day with Aunt Sue.

The Devon Horse Show runs through June 1st.  General Admission is $10 Adult, $5 children 3-12. Seating in grandstand is additional as are other options here.  Parking is clearly marked and ranged from $10-$20 in the area, all proceeds benefiting charitable organizations.  The local police are controlling traffic along Lancaster Ave (Route 30) to ensure easy, safe crossing for spectators.

 Visiting the Main Line?  Read my  Main Line favorites