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Experience nation’s largest carriage driving competition at the Villa Louis

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Mallory Gorman, of Oregon (Wis.), prepared to navigate the your route/my route obstacles in the pairs pony division during the 2015 Carriage Classic at the Villa Louis in Prairie du Chien. (Courier Press file photo)

Held annually, the Villa Louis Carriage Classic highlights competitive carriage driving in arena and obstacle classes. Experience this elegant event, which is the largest carriage driving competition in the nation, on Sept. 9-11.

“This stylish event recalls the brief heyday of the Dousman family’s famed trotting horse operation, the Artesian Stock Farm, a Standardbred training facility,” said Susan Caya-Slusser, Villa Louis site director. ”The Carriage Classic celebrates the pinnacle of the stock farm and allows guests to experience this great tradition.”

More than 100 drivers will hitch finely-trained horse of many breeds to new and restored carriages in several different events. Events will take place in a fenced arena as well as on the lawns and grounds surrounding the Villa Louis estate.

The Villa Louis Carriage Classic will be held Sept. 9-11 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. Daily admission or weekend passes must be purchased to attend. Admission includes viewing of the Carriage Classic competitions, seating, and a guided tour of the Villa Louis Historic Site. Food will also be available for purchase throughout the event. For more information, call 326-2721 or visit www.villalouis.org.

Villa Louis is one of the Wisconsin Historical Society’s 12 historic sites and museums.

The historic Villa Louis mansion is the centerpiece of a grand Victorian estate built by the family of Hercules Dousman, a frontier entrepreneur who amassed a fortune in the fur trade and other frontier investments. The mansion has finished a top-to-bottom documentary restoration that has returned the Dousman home to the splendor of its 1890s heyday, using British Arts and Crafts interior designs inspired by famed designer William Morris.

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