Lazelle Knocke is a nurse educator by profession with a lifelong interest in horses and riding. For more than 40 years, Mrs. Knocke has been studying, teaching, organizing competitions and judging dressage.

The 2002 winner of the USDF Lifetime Achievement Award, Lazelle is a founder, life member, and past president of the USDF and has written numerous articles on dressage in equine publications. Her leadership and contributions to dressage include officiating at many FEI events in Canada and in the US. She is also a life member of the U.S. Combined Training Association and is a former member of its Board of Governors.

Lazelle helped to develop USDF's Instructor Certification Program and also helped to develop USDF's "L" Education Program for Judge Training. She holds dressage judging licenses from both USEF and FEI and she was a founder of the Eastern States Dressage and Combined Training Association, one of the first three dressage clubs in the U.S.

Mrs. Knocke and her riding partner, Don Perignon, became the first members of the Centurion Club, whose exclusive membership is limited to horse and rider pairs with a combined age of 100 years and still able to come down the center line and perform.