Circuit Champions at the 2011 Vermont Summer Festival will receive this custom designed travel bag from OUGHTON LIMITED. Photo by Oughton Limited

August 10, 2011 – East Dorset, Vermont – This year’s Vermont Summer Festival Circuit Champions - those horse and rider combinations who have garnered the most points in their division over the six weeks of the Festival - will receive a special prize, an equestrian chic tote bag from well-known equestrian lifestyle company OUGHTON LIMITED, located in Pawlet Vermont.  The six-week Vermont Summer Festival is running at Harold Beebe Farm in East Dorset, Vermont, from July 6 through August 14, 2011.
 
OUGHTON LIMITED was launched in 2007 by Pawlet resident and competitive equestrian Daphne Markcrow.  Born of her own need for great looking bags to carry everything needed for life on the road with horses, the line has since expanded into a wide range of equestrian-chic travel bags for the horse-show set, constructed of iconic waxed canvas and trimmed with bronze halter fittings.
 
OUGHTON bags are favored by many top riders on the horse show circuit including many horse show parents, such as rock star Bruce Springsteen and his wife Patty Scialfa who have bought OUGHTON luggage as gifts and for their own use.  In addition to pop-up shops at select horse shows on the East Coast, the line is sold primarily through the OUGHTON LIMITED website where the full range is shown.  The current line features approximately 25 different pieces, ranging from smaller accessories and purses/totes to larger rolling luggage in waxed canvas, as well as several different constructions including the rubber Wellie line and faux hair Phony Pony line.
 
“I am honored that the Vermont Summer Festival chose my bags as their Circuit Prize, and feel that this prize is a good fit with their customer,” said OUGHTON LIMITED founder and President, Daphne Markcrow.  “There is a lot of my Vermont surroundings in the line, it is inspired by a life lived with horses and the quiet classic chic of the country, where the aesthetic sense is one of long-lasting utility and timelessness over trend.”
 
Horses are not merely a sport, but a way of life and perhaps no line out there today is more emblematic of this lifestyle than OUGHTON LIMITED.
 
Offering more than $750,000 in prize money, the Vermont Summer Festival is the richest sporting event based on purse in the state of Vermont.  The final week of competition culminates with the $50,000 Vermont Summer Celebration Grand Prix at 1 p.m. and the $15,000 Vermont Celebration Children’s/Adult Jumper Classic, Presented by Parlanti, both held on Sunday, August 14.  In addition to the $10,000 Open Welcome Stake, Presented by Manchester Designer Outlets, held Friday, the $10,000 Show Jumping Hall of Fame Junior/Amateur-Owner Classics are hotly contested. New in 2011, the Vermont Summer Festival will host a $5,000 Hunter Derby on Thursday.
 
Competition begins at 8 a.m. daily, Wednesday through Sunday.  Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for children, Wednesday through Saturday.  On Grand Prix Sunday, admission is $7 for adults, $5 for children.  As always, 100 percent of the gate proceeds benefit the Friends Foundation for MEMS, (Manchester Elementary and Middle School).
 
For over 20 years, the Vermont Summer Festival has attracted exhibitors and their families to the Manchester region each summer.  For more information about the Vermont Summer Festival, please e-mail: info@vt-summerfestival.com or visit www.vt-summerfestival.com.