The Dressage Foundation (TDF) is pleased to announce Michelle LaBarre as the recipient of the $5,000 Team Tate Mentorship and Leadership Fund Grant for 2025. The Fund, established by the Tate family in 2020, provides financial assistance to dressage professionals to further their business, leadership, and riding skills.
Michelle LaBarre (NY) is a USDF silver and gold medalist who has competed at both the CDI and CPEDI levels in dressage. She established her training business, LaBarre Dressage, LLC, in 2006, following her time as a working student with Herr Egan von Neindorff in Karlsruhe, Germany, and teaching at Houghton College in its Equestrian Program. Michelle trained for 15 years under Carel Eijkenaar and currently works with Agnes Majewska. She develops horses through the Grand Prix level, coaches students, and maintains an active schedule of clinics and a working student program. With her grant funding, Michelle will participate in 20 bi-weekly online sessions with Elizabeth McMillan of Equestrian Professional, focusing on strengthening business management, leadership, and operational systems for her training business.
Photo by Terri Miller
Michelle said, “In many ways, dressage is about helping people and horses grow into their full potential. Dressage takes time and a steady commitment to process, and so very much education. The Dressage Foundation exists solely to help people and their horses reach that potential. Being on the receiving end of TDF’s Team Tate Fund Grant is a gift beyond monetary support. To feel supported and given a vote of confidence by such a respected segment of our industry helps me believe in my own potential in a new and bolder way. I am very excited to use these funds to commit to improving my business confidence, savvy, and marketing to help me reach my greater goal of raising the level of ethics and quality dressage training in my corner of the world. Mentorship and business guidance are truly vital to our industry, and I am so excited to grow in this area. I look forward to sharing what I learn within my own sphere of influence. Thank you, TDF and the Tate family!”
TDF’s Team Tate Mentorship and Leadership Fund provides $5,000 grants to dressage professionals, age 25 and over, to receive business, leadership, or personal coaching education, and to work with their dressage mentors to improve equestrian skills. The online application form can be found at www.dressagefoundation.org. Applications are due on or before July 15th.
For more information about this Fund, contact Sara Weiss, TDF’s Director of Grants and Programs, at (402) 434-8585 or sara@dressagefoundation.org.
To donate to this Fund, visit www.dressagefoundation.org or contact Jenny Johnson, TDF’s Executive Director, at (402) 434-8585 or jenny@dressagefoundation.org.
The Dressage Foundation
The Dressage Foundation is a 501(c)(3), non-profit, tax-exempt, donor-driven organization that is dedicated to educating, supporting, and advancing the sport of dressage. The organization solicits contributions, appropriately allocates the donations, and awards grants to dressage riders, judges, instructors, breeders, high-performance teams, nonprofit equestrian organizations, and more. For more information, please visit www.dressagefoundation.org.
