December 26, 2022 
California’s Desert International Horse Park (DIHP) has been a labor of love for president and CEO Steve Hankin these past three years. You could say it’s also a side-effect of love.
The sometime-reining enthusiast came to the hunter/jumper horse show business in a round-about fashion.
“I’ve been following my wife around for 30 years, going to horse shows. I remember standing in Upstate New York in four-degree weather and watching her ride indoors in the middle of January,” he said.
Safe to say, then, that Thermal, California is something of an improvement—at least on the winter riding. But fine weather is the least of the incentives the Horse Park has to offer these days. Since taking the reins in 2019, Hankin and his partners have been working season round to transform DIHP into a world class show destination.
“I’m not sure there’s a square inch [of this place] that hasn’t changed in the last three years,” he said. “We’ve really been working nonstop on this.
“Our goal was to set out to build a place that would give people on the West Coast equal opportunity with people on the East Coast—there aren’t many private facilities on the West Coast and a lot of them are public facilities that are in decline. So this facility is so important to the sport out here.
“I think the most difficult part of this has been that I’m not sure we understood when we started how far we were from really being a national destination.”
Suffice it to say, it is now. Under Hankin’s leadership DIHP has undergone extensive improvements, highlighted by a new Grand Prix ring and grass field. His team has replaced 1.6 million square feet of footing across the Park (that’s every ring on the property), upgraded every wash rack and added several new ones, made all stalls on the property 12×12, undertaken extensive landscaping and created a miles-long bridle path. You know, little things.
“When I say there’s not a part of this place that hasn’t been redone,” he said, “it’s really true.”
With those new improvements comes a new improved schedule for the upcoming winter season. For the first time, Desert Circuit is offering nine weeks of national and international hunter-jumper competition with a horse-friendly three weeks on/one week off schedule that spans the months of January (4-8, 11-15, 18-22); February (1-5, 8-12, 15-19); and March (1-5, 8-12, 15-19), 2023.
“We really had to give some thought on how to build the calendar for this year,” Hankin explained.
“We wanted the schedule to be without peer in the country.”
That meant going back to the drawing board to create a show program that appeals to a wide variety of competitors, from elite-level hunter and jumper athletes to developing horses.
Among the highlights: Premier hunter classes every week, including well-paying weekly hunter derbies. For jumper riders, Desert Circuit will offer a robust schedule of National Standard grands prix, including weekly Saturday night classes, and a new 1.40m series on Sunday. International classes will also be offered weeks two through nine, highlighted by two CSI4* weeks.
“We’re trying to provide a schedule that deals with all the different levels of riders and all of the different situations the horses are in—whether they’re young horses, or horses coming back, or horses ready to step up,” Hankin said.
“We have a huge lineup of special classes as well, [whether] it’s our Team Challenge, or the Pro Equitation Challenge, or the Family Class. I’m going to ride in the Family Class with my reiner this year, and with my wife—she tolerates me,” Hankin joked. “We have to figure out how to deal with the speed difference!”
Unique to the circuit is the scheduled off-week each month. Aside from the intended benefit of building in critical time-off for show horses on the Circuit, Hankin believes Desert International Horse Park is well equipped to support its riders during the off-weeks as well.
“One of the things that we worked really hard on this year and over the last three years, really, is making it a Horse Park [where] you can come and show, but also, you can come and stay, and not be in the competition ring.
“[We have a] really long bridle path that people love. We have a lot of open schooling rings that people can just go to [and] school, and not be near the competition rings,” Hankin says. “We keep our rings open all the time for people to ride—we’re pretty liberal about that.
“[We’re hoping our facility allows] people to be here, during the off week, and have some fun.”
Entries are now being accepted for the 2023 Desert Circuit. Find the prize list at deserthorsepark.com.
