Dressage — The Foundation of Everything
Not Now Cato, homebred Morgan gelding, Tamarack Dressage Show Series June 2026, Greenbriar Riding Academy
Opening The Dialogue
Dressage is not a discipline. It is a language. It is the language in which a rider or driver asks a horse to be its most correct, most powerful, most willing self — and the language in which the horse answers. Everything else Michelle Blackler teaches is built on it: the pleasure driving turnout that wins the Concours, the tandem that earns a 39 in combined driving dressage, the homebred Morgan stepping into the arena for the first time. The conversation begins here.
Form to Function
Michelle’s training philosophy has a name: Form to Function. It is the conviction that a horse trained correctly moves correctly in any discipline — and that a rider who understands what correctness feels like, in their own body, can produce it consistently rather than accidentally.
This is not a metaphysical position. It is a practical one. A horse in correct self-carriage is easier to drive through a marathon hazard. A rider with functional posture produces bend instead of chasing it. The form is not the goal — it is the mechanism. Get the form right, and the function follows.
“Dressage instruction has failed riders by substituting incantation for explanation. ‘More bend’ is not an instruction. It is a wish. What moves the horse’s ribcage is a concentric pulse in the hamstring at the right moment in the stride. That is teachable. That is what we are here to do.” — Michelle Blackler
What This Is Not
This is not ‘use your leg.’ It is not another pyramid diagram or another incantation dressed up as instruction. If you have spent years being told ‘sit back’ or ‘more forward’ and had no reliable way to produce it, you are not a bad rider. You were given a wish instead of a tool. Michelle gives you a tool, and teaches you how to use it.
Dressage for the Driving Horse
The dressage arena is not separate from the carriage. The horse that learns collection, straightness, and self-carriage under saddle is a better driving horse — more responsive, more balanced through turns, more adjustable at speed. Michelle teaches dressage to riding clients and to driving clients for the same reason: it makes everything else possible.
Many of her driving students have never ridden, and many of her riding students have never driven. The dressage foundation transfers in both directions. A student who understands what ‘on the bit’ means in the saddle recognizes it immediately from the box seat.
Dressage is not a discipline. It is a language. It is the language in which a rider or driver asks a horse to be its most correct, most powerful, most willing self — and the language in which the horse answers. Everything else Michelle Blackler teaches is built on it: the pleasure driving turnout that wins the Concours, the tandem that earns a 39 in combined driving dressage, the homebred Morgan stepping into the arena for the first time. The conversation begins here.
Form to Function
Michelle’s training philosophy has a name: Form to Function. It is the conviction that a horse trained correctly moves correctly in any discipline — and that a rider who understands what correctness feels like, in their own body, can produce it consistently rather than accidentally.
This is not a metaphysical position. It is a practical one. A horse in correct self-carriage is easier to drive through a marathon hazard. A rider with functional posture produces bend instead of chasing it. The form is not the goal — it is the mechanism. Get the form right, and the function follows.
“Dressage instruction has failed riders by substituting incantation for explanation. ‘More bend’ is not an instruction. It is a wish. What moves the horse’s ribcage is a concentric pulse in the hamstring at the right moment in the stride. That is teachable. That is what we are here to do.” — Michelle Blackler
What This Is Not
This is not ‘use your leg.’ It is not another pyramid diagram or another incantation dressed up as instruction. If you have spent years being told ‘sit back’ or ‘more forward’ and had no reliable way to produce it, you are not a bad rider. You were given a wish instead of a tool. Michelle gives you a tool, and teaches you how to use it.
Dressage for the Driving Horse
The dressage arena is not separate from the carriage. The horse that learns collection, straightness, and self-carriage under saddle is a better driving horse — more responsive, more balanced through turns, more adjustable at speed. Michelle teaches dressage to riding clients and to driving clients for the same reason: it makes everything else possible.
Many of her driving students have never ridden, and many of her riding students have never driven. The dressage foundation transfers in both directions. A student who understands what ‘on the bit’ means in the saddle recognizes it immediately from the box seat.
Cato and Michelle training in the grass school at home: where there are no mirrors nor videos. Photo by a photographer who knows little about horses and nothing about dessage.
Not Now Cato
Not Now Cato is Michelle’s homebred Morgan gelding — named, in the tradition of Inspector Clouseau’s devoted manservant, for his role in keeping his trainer sharp. Cato does not allow complacency. He finds it immediately and reports it without sentiment.
This year Michelle returned with Cato to Training Level — not because he cannot go higher, but because she felt she couldn't. Going back to the foundation to build it better is not a retreat. It is the most serious thing a dressage rider can do. Cato is schooling well above Training Level. His rider is earning the right to ask for it.
“There were no mirrors, no photos, no video. It was just Cato and I being worthy.”
Not Now Cato is Michelle’s homebred Morgan gelding — named, in the tradition of Inspector Clouseau’s devoted manservant, for his role in keeping his trainer sharp. Cato does not allow complacency. He finds it immediately and reports it without sentiment.
This year Michelle returned with Cato to Training Level — not because he cannot go higher, but because she felt she couldn't. Going back to the foundation to build it better is not a retreat. It is the most serious thing a dressage rider can do. Cato is schooling well above Training Level. His rider is earning the right to ask for it.
“There were no mirrors, no photos, no video. It was just Cato and I being worthy.”
Blissoak Spyder, a Morgan TBX, training in the grass school at home with Michelle Blackler
The Dressage Rubric
Michelle is currently developing The Dressage Rubric — a kinesiologically grounded curriculum for the horse and rider concurrently, built on her version of the German Training Scale as its spine.
The Dressage Rubric begins from a simple premise: dressage instruction has failed dedicated riders by substituting vague commands for physical explanation. ‘Sit back’ is not an instruction. Neither is ‘more forward,’ ‘more bend,’ or ‘softer hands.’ These are descriptions of outcomes, not pathways to them. The Rubric provides the pathway: what muscle, in what mode, at what moment in the stride, and why.
It is the book Michelle wishes had existed when she needed it. It is for adult amateur riders who are deeply dedicated and deeply frustrated. It is for trainers who teach them. And it is for anyone who has ever been told ‘more bend’ and had no idea what their body — or their horse’s body — was supposed to do next.
The Training Scale is not a ladder to climb. It is a hologram — each element contains and requires all the others. Rhythm without Suppleness is mechanical. Suppleness without Strength is hollow. Strength without Contact is force. The rider who understands this stops chasing the next level and starts inhabiting the one they’re in. Each step is the good part.
Be notified when The Dressage Rubric is available:
Michelle is currently developing The Dressage Rubric — a kinesiologically grounded curriculum for the horse and rider concurrently, built on her version of the German Training Scale as its spine.
The Dressage Rubric begins from a simple premise: dressage instruction has failed dedicated riders by substituting vague commands for physical explanation. ‘Sit back’ is not an instruction. Neither is ‘more forward,’ ‘more bend,’ or ‘softer hands.’ These are descriptions of outcomes, not pathways to them. The Rubric provides the pathway: what muscle, in what mode, at what moment in the stride, and why.
It is the book Michelle wishes had existed when she needed it. It is for adult amateur riders who are deeply dedicated and deeply frustrated. It is for trainers who teach them. And it is for anyone who has ever been told ‘more bend’ and had no idea what their body — or their horse’s body — was supposed to do next.
The Training Scale is not a ladder to climb. It is a hologram — each element contains and requires all the others. Rhythm without Suppleness is mechanical. Suppleness without Strength is hollow. Strength without Contact is force. The rider who understands this stops chasing the next level and starts inhabiting the one they’re in. Each step is the good part.
Be notified when The Dressage Rubric is available:
Lessons & Training
Michelle teaches dressage to riders from their first lesson through the levels, and to driving clients for whom dressage is the foundation of their work in harness. She accepts clients on their own horses or on her horses, depending on the student’s situation and goals.
Lessons are structured around Michelle's adaptation of the German Training Scale — not as a ladder to ascend, but as a living framework to inhabit at every level. A Training Level horse and rider are working on the same elements as a Prix St. Georges combination. The difference is the degree of development, not the nature of the work.
Michelle’s homebred Morgans are available to qualified students as schoolmasters. These horses have been developed through the levels on Michelle’s program and carry the Form to Function philosophy in their bodies. Riding one is an education that no explanation can fully replace.
Is This for You?
If you have been riding for years and still feel like you are guessing — this is for you. If you drive and want to understand what your horse is telling you through the reins — this is for you. If you are a beginner who wants to start correctly rather than unlearn bad habits later — this is emphatically for you.
The standard Michelle holds for her students is the same one she holds for herself: not perfection, but honest pursuit of it. She went back to Training Level this year because the foundation deserved more. That is the standard.
If you are ready to understand what your body and your horse are actually doing — and why — get in touch.
Michelle teaches dressage to riders from their first lesson through the levels, and to driving clients for whom dressage is the foundation of their work in harness. She accepts clients on their own horses or on her horses, depending on the student’s situation and goals.
Lessons are structured around Michelle's adaptation of the German Training Scale — not as a ladder to ascend, but as a living framework to inhabit at every level. A Training Level horse and rider are working on the same elements as a Prix St. Georges combination. The difference is the degree of development, not the nature of the work.
Michelle’s homebred Morgans are available to qualified students as schoolmasters. These horses have been developed through the levels on Michelle’s program and carry the Form to Function philosophy in their bodies. Riding one is an education that no explanation can fully replace.
Is This for You?
If you have been riding for years and still feel like you are guessing — this is for you. If you drive and want to understand what your horse is telling you through the reins — this is for you. If you are a beginner who wants to start correctly rather than unlearn bad habits later — this is emphatically for you.
The standard Michelle holds for her students is the same one she holds for herself: not perfection, but honest pursuit of it. She went back to Training Level this year because the foundation deserved more. That is the standard.
If you are ready to understand what your body and your horse are actually doing — and why — get in touch.