East Dorset, VT—July 10, 2002—The 2002 Vermont Summer Festival is officially underway with five rings of horse show action featuring the Manchester Summer Festival, July 10-14 at Harold Beebe Farm, in East Dorset, VT.

Nearly 1,000 horses are entered for the five weeks of competition to take part in the best Hunter, Jumper and Equitation divisions including Marshall & Sterling Children’s and Adult League, presented by Corona/Lexol and the North American League (NAL).

In the jumper divisions, Juniors and Amateur-Owners are featured in the 2002 National Horse Sports Foundation Show Jumping Hall of Fame Jumper Classic Series offering $10,000 classes each week.

The highlight of the Festival is the Grand Prix Series sponsored by the Stratton Mountain Inn, Hand Motors and the Equinox Resort. Each Sunday, top riders and horses both nationally and internationally are show- cased in a USET-recognized $35,000 Grand Prix. Expected to compete are Canadian Show Jumping Team rider and Olympic veteran Mario Deslauriers; USET veteran Mark Leone of Oakland, NJ; Debbie Dolan- Sweeney of Oyster Bay, NY, the first American to ever win the British Ladies Show Jumping Championship and Mary Lisa Leffler, who won the Vermont Summer Festival’s $35,000 Mad River Festival Grand Prix aboard Graf Rossini S last year

The Vermont Summer Festival, which is New England’s largest “AA” rated hunter-jumper horse show circuit, continues with the Manchester Classic, July 17-21, The Valley Classic, July 24-28, and the Manchester and the Mountains Horse Show, July 31-August 4. The action culminates with the Vermont Summer Celebration, August 7-11

For further information, please visit the Vermont Summer Festival website at www.vt-summerfestival.com or call 802-496-4878.

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