Talented writer, website designer and book publisher Michelle Bloch died Monday March 3 of breast cancer. She was 55.
Michelle had been a pillar of the Capital Challenge Horse Show since 1996, designing the program and prizelist and writing its daily update during the show.
Michelle Bloch at the Capital Challenge Horse Show. (Tricia Booker photo)
“It’s a big loss,” said Oliver Kennedy, the show’s manager and co-founder, said of her passing.
He noted that whenever Michelle was presented with a concept, “she ran with it and made it amazing. Whatever you asked her to do, she figured it out and did it,” he added, saying she always gave “150 percent.”
She was the “keeper of knowledge” for the show with statistics, figures, photos and winners from the past 31 years.
A successful competitor during her time in the junior ranks, Michelle taught riding and kept horses at her Branchville, N.J., farm, but eventually focused on writing and designing.
Tricia Booker, co-founder of the Ink Horse book publishing venture with Michelle, noted her friend loved nature and hiking, but was “as comfortable in a city as in the middle of nowhere.”
Michelle was an intern at the Chronicle of the Horse in 1991 when Tricia was an editor there, and went on to write many freelance articles.
“Throughout my 25-plus years at the Chronicle, Michelle was one of the writers I counted on to always provide accurate and well-written articles,” Tricia remembered.
“When they arrived in my inbox, I’d sigh with relief knowing I could relax and just enjoy the story rather than having to do a rewrite. Michelle always met the tight deadlines of our weekly magazine, and her creativity and beautiful way with words made her work stand out among the rest.”
The two went on to work together at the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association’s In Stride magazine.
“She became much more than a freelancer to me; she was my collaborator,” said Tricia, who admired Michelle’s fashion sense that was part of her flair.
At In Stride, “Although she didn’t have a title on the masthead, she should have had one,” Tricia observed.
“We spent countless hours on the phone discussing article ideas, people to interview, industry trends, horse care topics, the importance of continuing education and so much more. I lost count of the number of American Horse Publications Awards her articles received, but it has to be in the double digits.”
Public relations executive Jennifer Wood, who worked with Michelle at Capital Challenge, noted how helpful her friend was when she launched Equestrian Businesswomen and played a major role in making it successful.
“From the start, she provided her design services and her creative eye to design the logo, build the website, make all the graphics, and bounce around all the ideas for the original 2019 Summit,” Jennifer recalled.
“She continued to support EQBW through the founding of the Equestrian B2B podcast, of which she was guest on the 26th episode about “How to Be Creative and Keep Creativity Consistent” and on Episodes 63 and 51, when she helped recap the 2024 EQBW Networking Brunch and 2023 Saratoga Women In Business Spectacular.
Michelle’s written work can be seen at her website, Writersbloch.com, and on Substack.
In one piece, she elaborated on the painstaking process of putting words together to achieve what she wanted them to mean.
“And then, when it is finally complete,” she stated, “the sun shines and the birds sing and voila, I have written… Past tense.”
Michelle is survived by her parents, Phyllis and Wolf Gstattenbauer; her husband, David Bloch, and their daughter, Abigail. Those wishing to make a donation in Michelle’s memory should contribute to the charity of their choice that most reminds them of her.