Vermont Morgan Heritage Days is happy to host once again two exciting competitions open to all breeds at the show, Dressage and Carriage Driving.

Dressage, from the Old French "dresser," to arrange, means simply, training. The means of communication between every horse and rider--seat, legs, hands--are the building blocks of the relationship everyone desires with a horse--a partnership. Dressage is the discipline that teaches communication. It applies to all styles of riding, from huntseat to reined cowhorse, and no rider no matter how advanced ever stops learning how to more effectively communicate with a horse.

This year the Open Dressage Competition will take place on Friday, July 2nd. We welcome Jane Ashley, Windsor, Vermont, as our judge for 2010.

From a way in which several family members can enjoy one horse together to the challenging sport of Combined Driving, Carriage Driving has a place for every level of expertise and is one of the fastest growing equine activities. For many, it is simply another way to enjoy a versatile riding horse. For others it becomes a passion that tests their skills every time they drive. Vermont Morgan Heritage Days is pleased to offer the Open Carriage Driving Competition as an all-breed competition on Sunday, July 4th. We are pleased to welcome back as our 2010 judge Dottie Billingham of Foster, Rhode Island.

Beginning on Friday evening and running throughout the day on Saturday, the Junior/Amateur Morgan Horse Show features over 70 classes of competition encompassing a wide range of activities and disciplines. The 2010 Class List featuring a complete rundown of events is posted on the Class List page. We are pleased to have Percy McDaniels, Saratoga, New York, as our judge this year.

On Friday evening, July 2nd, the Vermont Morgan Horse Association presents the 2010 VMHA Breeders' Futurity for Yearlings, Two and Three Year Olds. This popular competition showcases our region's promising young Morgan horses at the beginning of their careers. As well as entertaining to watch, the Futurity yields useful insight into the production of many of the breed's active sires and dams, and serves as an indicator of where breeders are headed with their programs.

There are many remarkable horses that excel as individuals in versatility and usefulness, no matter their breed or bloodlines. The Morgan is unique in that it excels in versatility and usefulness as a breed, across the board, with only the individual desires or abilities of its owner to limit a Morgan's capabilities. The Justin Morgan Performance class, named for the breed's foundation stallion, comprises four distinct competitions stemming from the very early days of Morgans in America when versatility was not a happy circumstance, but was an absolute necessity. The class's four contests for an individual Morgan are the half-mile race in harness, the half-mile race on the flat, saddle equitation, and the 500-pound stoneboat pull.

The Heritage Days Justin Morgan Performance Class is the only remaining competition of its kind in the country. This class will be held Sunday afternoon, July 4th.

From its days of brilliance as a roadster on the highways of early America and its development as a competitive trotter on the track, the Morgan has long been identified as a superlative performer in harness. The Morgan's compact, robust stature, coupled with a powerful, ground-covering trot, combined to produce a horse of great endurance and style. These attributes gave partially to the development of the Standardbred, one of a number of American breeds to which the Morgan directly contributed.

As in bygone days when crowds would line the rail at country tracks throughout New England, Heritage Days will once again feature Sunday Morgan racing on the half-mile oval at Tunbridge Fairgrounds. Our full slate of eight races kicks off at noon. Come and enjoy one of the most popular American pastimes of another era.

Photo credits: Shannon Shreve, Tracy's Photography, Debbie Uecker Photography, Denlore Photography