Ask around La Quinta when horse season starts and most people will name a polo Sunday in January. On the calendar, the bigger season is already well underway. It starts a few minutes past the end of Madison Street in Thermal, at Desert International Horse Park. That's where the valley's richest show-jumping class of the winter happens on a Saturday night in early December, and general admission is free.
Eldorado Polo Club's public Sunday Polo runs Jan. 3 through Mar. 21, 2027, and every viewing option needs a reservation. On Opening Day at 50950 Madison Street in Indio, gates open at 11 a.m. and matches start at noon and 2 p.m. Opening Day tickets on Eventbrite start at $81.40 for the VIP Lounge. General tailgating is $129.27, and a clubhouse table is $278.23. Down the road, the USPA's profile of Empire Polo Club describes winter polo starting in December with preseason weekend tournaments and the main season following in January.
Thermal's 2026-27 season opened Oct. 28 with National Sunshine Series 1, so by the first week of November it's already into its second show.
This Week Is a First for the Park
National Sunshine Series 2 runs Nov. 4 through 8. Desert International Horse Park lists it as a CSI3* week, a new FEI-rated offering on its schedule this season. It opens the longest international run the park has hosted. DIHP counts 11 weeks of FEI competition between November and early April, the most in its history. Two more new FEI weeks come later, a CSI2* in mid-January and a CSI4* in the final week of March.
The class to circle is the $117,000 CSI3* Grand Prix, set for Saturday, Nov. 7, at 5:30 p.m. The posted schedule notes that times can change. The same week has the $75,000 Platinum Performance/USHJA International Hunter Derby Regional Championships on the Grass Field. The park also runs a special-events calendar alongside the riding through Nov. 8. It includes Pours in the Plaza hosted by Temecula wines, live country music, a pet adoption day sponsored by Platinum Performance, Pilates in the Plaza and Sweet Start Sundays.
The Following Weekend Has a Free Masterclass
Nov. 12 through 15 is the US Equestrian Open Dressage Final weekend, and the park has added two things for 2026. One is the inaugural Desert Dressage Pro-Am, sponsored by Four Winds Farm. Professionals and amateurs pair up as teams for $8,500 in prize money, with a Battle of the Bands theme. The other is open to anyone with a pass. British Olympic medalist Becky Moody leads a complimentary masterclass on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 2 p.m.
That afternoon runs into the evening program, which includes the CDI5* Grand Prix Freestyle. The park hasn't published a start time for the Freestyle yet, so check the DIHP events page that week.
Dressage weekend is also the cheapest time to try the VIP side. A single-day VIP Palm Club pass is $100 that week, and a weekend pass is $250.
December Is the Peak, and Its Biggest Night Is Free
Major League Show Jumping returns to Thermal for two weeks in a row, Desert Holiday 1 (Dec. 2–6) and Desert Holiday 2 (Dec. 9–13). The prize money jumps a lot from November. The $750,000 CSI5* Coachella Cup Grand Prix is more than six times the purse of this week's CSI3* Grand Prix.
According to Major League Show Jumping's event page, the Coachella Cup starts Saturday, Dec. 5, at 6 p.m., and general admission is free. Tickets are issued through the league's Eventbrite link. Set that beside Eldorado's January prices. The most expensive show-jumping class of the valley's winter costs less to watch than a polo tailgate spot.
Date | Class | Start time |
|---|---|---|
Sat., Nov. 7 | $117,000 CSI3* Grand Prix | 5:30 p.m. |
Sat., Nov. 14 | Becky Moody masterclass, free | 2 p.m. |
Fri., Dec. 4 | $200,000 CSI5* MLSJ Team Competition | 6 or 6:30 p.m. |
Sat., Dec. 5 | $750,000 CSI5* Coachella Cup Grand Prix, free general admission | 6 p.m. |
Fri., Dec. 11 | $200,000 CSI5* MLSJ Team Competition | 6 or 6:30 p.m. |
Sat., Dec. 12 | $340,000 CSI5* Grand Prix, presented by La Quinta Resort & Club | 6 p.m. |
The two Friday team events have two start times listed. MLSJ's pages say 6:30 p.m., while the park's own Desert Holiday 1 schedule and Desert Holiday 2 schedule say 6 p.m. Arriving at 6 covers both. The Saturday Grand Prix times agree across both sources.
The $340,000 Grand Prix on Dec. 12 has a neighborhood tie, since La Quinta Resort & Club presents the whole Holiday 2 week.
One Registration Covers the Whole Season
Getting in works differently from polo, where every Sunday is booked separately. Desert International Horse Park requires an Access Pass for everyone who enters, spectators and any child over 12 included. You sign up once for the whole season, and the pass goes straight to Apple or Google Wallet. Guests without a cell phone register by hand at the horse show office when they arrive. Questions go to [email protected].
The practical upshot is that a household can register in October and use the same pass for a November weeknight, the free Coachella Cup and the January circuit. The registration page is the place to start. The park's address is 85-555 Airport Blvd., Thermal.
Prices for the VIP Palm Club change with the calendar:
- National Sunshine Series 2: day passes are $150 Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday and $300 Friday and Saturday. A weekly individual pass is $750.
- Each Desert Holiday week: day passes are $200 Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday and $475 Friday and Saturday. A weekly individual pass is $925, and a table for eight is $5,800.
A Saturday day pass rises from $300 to $475 in December, so the Wednesday and Thursday classes are the cheapest way into hospitality during MLSJ weeks.
What Changed at the Park Over the Summer
The park did most of its work this off-season around the spectator areas. New shaded viewing areas with fresh turf went in at Jumper 1 and Hunter 5/6. The park also announced new video boards for Jumper 1 and its warm-up ring. The main roads from the front gate to the barns were repaved and given new streetlights. The park also added a grass paddock next to the FEI ring. The streetlights should help most after the 6 p.m. Grand Prix classes.
Food on the grounds goes well beyond a concession stand. The park's onsite dining page lists Derby Grill, Graze Salad Bar, The Poke Ranch, The Pizza Paddock, Roadrunners Tiki Bar, Barn Bites, Atomic Cat Coffee & Boba, The Cali Food Truck, Cow Dog Coffee Co., The Catered Kitchens and the VIP Palm Club. On a 6 p.m. Grand Prix night, that means you can eat at the park and skip a separate dinner reservation.
Where Polo Picks Up the Thread
Empire Polo Club's grounds get busy before its matches do. Empire's events page lists a Veterans Day run and walk on Nov. 11, 2026, across part of the grounds. It also lists Magic of Lights, a drive-through holiday light show, for November and December. Exact dates haven't been posted yet. The USPA calendar has Empire hosting two Pacific Coast Circuit Women's Challenge tournaments, Dec. 10–13 and Dec. 25–28. The first of those overlaps the second MLSJ week in Thermal.
Tack Room Tavern at Empire is open again this season. The Desert Sun reported in February 2026 that it reopened under F10 Hospitality, and the paper later corrected its story to say F10 leases the space rather than owning it. The restaurant's site gives the address as 81800 51st Avenue in Indio. Posted hours are Monday and Thursday through Friday 4 to 9 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday noon to 9 p.m. Hours may change with the season.
Polo opens Jan. 3 at Eldorado. Ten days later, Thermal's Desert Circuit 1 brings one of the season's new CSI2* weeks, Jan. 13 through 17, and from then on the two seasons run side by side. For anyone living at The Madison Club, the free Coachella Cup on Dec. 5 comes a month before polo's opening match.
Many of the desert's best homes are designed around evenings like a 6 p.m. Grand Prix under the Santa Rosa Mountains, and Rich Nolan markets them with that same sense of place. If you're thinking about selling a Madison Club home this season, schedule a design-first marketing consultation and let's talk about how to tell its story.
