Tandem driving on the grass, Marathon Phase Hickory Knoll CDE
Michelle Blackler driving her tandem of homebred Morgans Chevals Topp Mentor [wheeler[ and The Major General [leader] at Hickory Knoll CDE where they were Preliminary Dressage Champions with a score of 39. Groom is Theresa Burns.

Dressage. Driving. Morgan horses. One trainer. Eastern Iowa.

FEI 2* combined driving athlete Michelle Blackler offers what almost no one else does: elite training in dressage under saddle, traditional pleasure driving, and combined driving sport — alongside a purpose-bred Morgan sport horse program — from beginner to international competition. Founded 1997.
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There are dressage trainers. There are driving trainers. There are Morgan breeders. Finding all three at the level Michelle Blackler operates — from Training Level through FEI, in harness and under saddle, with a breeding program built on the same principles — is genuinely rare.
Her philosophy is called Form to Function: the conviction that a horse trained correctly moves correctly in any discipline. It produces champions. It also produces horses and riders who simply go better, feel better, and last longer. She is also writing The Dressage Rubric — a kinesiological curriculum for the adult amateur rider who has been told ‘more bend’ one too many times and deserves a real answer.

Dressage

The foundation of everything Michelle teaches — under saddle and in harness, beginner through the levels.

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Pleasure Driving

Traditional turnout, six-class divisions, show preparation — and the Concours d’Élégance, the Best in Show of the carriage world.

Combined Driving

Three phases. Thirteen kilometers. One of the Midwest’s few FEI 2* combined driving trainers.

Morgan Sport Horses

Purpose-bred for sport performance. Intelligent, athletic, willing. Horses for sale.
· ​FEI 2* Combined Driving
· Tandem Champion, CAA Carriage Festival
· 3rd Place, CIAT Lissago, Varese, Italy under international judging panel: President of the Jury Baron Christian de    Langlade, and Pierre de Chezelles [FRA], Hartmuth Huber [GER]
· 1st Place, Haflinger Division, Royal Windsor Virtual Show — Judge: Nigel Hollings
· Concours d’Élégance, Villa Louis Carriage Classic
· A Haflinger Cross trained by Michelle Blackler selected to represent the US at the 2025 FEI Driving World                Championship for Ponies in France.
​· Twenty-five years of clients winning at the highest levels of the sport
Whether you are looking for your first lesson, your next competition horse, a trainer who takes dressage and driving equally seriously — or you are a frustrated rider who has been told ‘more bend’ one too many times and wants a real answer — this is a good place to start.