Morgans in Dressage

By Renee Suprenant

The Morgan Dressage Association (MDA) is a national organization (but includes international riders) that supports and promotes those horses and riders who are training or competing in classical dressage. If you are a rider, owner, trainer, breeder, or lover of Morgan horses, you may be interested in what this organization has to offer. 

Founded in 1999, this 501(c)(3) has been dedicated to promoting the Morgan horse in all aspects of traditional dressage. We are seeing more Morgan horses at the open competitions, and there is a perfect reason for this! The Morgan horse is well suited to many riders due to their size, temperament, and athletic ability. They are super mounts for junior or young riders, serious adult amateurs, and professionals. They have shown their ability to compete at the higher levels, many reaching Grand Prix. Also, due to their size and breed qualities, they have sport longevity, and you will see them out competing at the higher levels well into their 20s! 

The MDA has multiple award programs available to its members. Awards of Excellence are offered at Training through Grand Prix levels to horses competing at USDF/USEF-recognized open competitions of traditional dressage. Adult Amateur, Junior/Young Rider, and Open divisions are offered at each level. Musical Freestyle awards are offered at First/Second, Third/Fourth, and FEI. There is also a division for para-dressage riders. These horse rider combinations act as Morgan Ambassadors to fellow dressage riders unfamiliar with what this breed can do.

The organization also offers a Schooling Show/Morgan Show division at Introductory through FEI levels, including Musical Freestyles. These awards are also offered for Adult Amateur, Junior, and Open divisions. This division has ambassadors for the open schooling division, and we are excited to have these horse rider combinations share dressage with other Morgan riders.

An Amateur Owner “Synergy Award” is awarded yearly to the highest scoring USDF/USEF recognized open competition Adult Amateur rider at Training Level through Grand Prix. The highest average scoring rider and horse (owned by the rider or their immediate family) wins a beautiful personalized cooler.

The MDA recognizes breeders by offering a yearly Morgan Breeder award to the breeder of the highest-scoring horse from the USDF/USEF Recognized Open division of individual award levels. For breeders and owners that show in in-hand Sport Horse classes, MDA offers four divisions of Dressage Sport Horse Breeding Awards.

The MDA also offers High Score ribbons at Morgan horse shows that offer traditional dressage. Riders do not have to be members to win this award. The MDA member with the highest scoring horse and rider combination from that year’s Morgan shows showing at Training level or higher will be awarded an Overall High Score ribbon.

Whew, what opportunities!! On top of the awards programs, the MDA also offers yearly scholarships available to professional, amateur, and junior/young riders. This money is to be used for training and to further the rider’s knowledge in dressage. It’s an amazing opportunity to assist riders in their pursuit of dressage training.

Tips and updates are given on our Facebook page. This page is open for all to view and offers some wonderful articles, show results, and photos of member riders. It is also a great way to post notices for our members.

We send out a monthly e-letter that highlights members. It shares show results, new horses, clinic experiences, and whatever else members want to include about themselves and their horses. It also includes training and health maintenance articles, USDF/USEF rule changes or notices, and American Morgan Horse Association (AMHA) highlights affecting many of our MDA members.

A new and now annual meeting is held via Zoom. This meeting allows members from across the country to meet each other and share information about themselves and their horses. Our meetings include an educational component with a guest speaker, and we are honored and excited to have Joy Congdon at our 2024 meeting.

The MDA maintains a database on our website sharing which horses have competed at Third Level and above, providing valuable information about performance Morgan bloodlines. It also shares bloodlines that have been successful in dressage specifically. 

The MDA has so much to offer, but the most exciting part is that it celebrates Morgan horses in the dressage community and highlights their accomplishments in training and competition. MDA is a wonderful community of people who want to share the attributes of this breed and be ambassadors at the open competitions.

Jen Rand, a MDA scholarship recipient

“I have been the grateful recipient of the MDA scholarship twice. These scholarships have allowed me to participate in clinics with such wonderful trainers, including Lucile Bump, Francois Lemaire de Ruffeiu, Shelia McLevedge, and Jane Karol. Each of these trainers has allowed me to build on the great instruction from my trainer and had the added benefit of promoting the breed. For example, I rode with Jane Karol at Equine Affaire this year. At the end of the clinic, three different people came over to tell me they had a new respect for the Morgan breed. Later, I got a call from one of the spectators asking who bred Odin (H.D. New York) because they were horse shopping, had never even considered a Morgan, and now wanted something just like him. I am very, very thankful for the scholarships and have exceeded the dressage goals I had set when I bought him in no small part because of them.”

Lin Nelson-Mayson, MDA Scholarship recipient, Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Award winner

“With a 2021 MDA scholarship, I advanced my dressage training by riding in two two-day clinics with trainer Brad Cutshall, who came to Orchard View Stables in Watertown, Minnesota, where I board my Morgan mare Tie Creek Zeta Jo (Zeta). Combined with regular lessons under trainer Heather Salden-Kurtz, the MDA-funded clinics were a significant boost to the 2021 show season. Using skills developed through rideability and lateral work from the Cutshall clinics, I successfully debuted a First Level freestyle and began working towards Second Level. The Cutshall clinics helped to provide a good foundation for these achievements. 

Balancing the financial challenges of horse-keeping and showing can limit other areas, specifically additional instruction that can help us improve beyond our current state. The MDA Scholarship allowed me to expand my dressage education and was an invaluable contribution to developing skills that have provided the foundation for current and future growth. We continue to seek Zeta’s powerful ‘tiny Totilas trot!'”

Brenda Thoma, Scholarship Recipient

“I have been a member of the Morgan Dressage Association since a friend and member of MDA encouraged me to join. Because of that choice, I have gained so many friends and so much encouragement that I only regret not doing it sooner! Helping our “non-traditional” breed succeed in open USDF shows is made easier by supporting and advising one another on how to improve our tests and keep our horses even healthier. As an FEI rider, I have benefited from the words of riders who have competed at these levels on their Morgans before me. I also earned a $500 scholarship that I used to take lessons with a successful FEI trainer with decades of experience. I feel that those lessons gave me the confidence in myself and my horse to compete at the higher levels. I also appreciate the wonderful recognition in the form of year-end awards offered by the MDA; those awards encourage me to strive for the requirements to apply. It takes many hours in lessons, schooling, and time spent keeping your Morgan healthy and in shape to compete. I feel that the MDA and its members see that effort and share the joy of the experience with me every step of the way.”

A Few of our Adequan®/USDF All-Breed Award Winners

Photos courtesy of Morgan Sport Resource