Wayne, Illinois – It was worth the trip for Amy Bock and Parcival, who traveled all the way from Texas to win the FEI Prix St. Georges class on the opening day of Dressage at Lamplight.

Bock, of Argyle, Texas, was part of a group of four that traveled to Lamplight Equestrian Center from the Dallas area for the three-day show that includes the Markel/USEF Young Horse selection trials for the Midwestern U.S. Bock is using the weekend to compete in the FEI Prix St. Georges and Intermediaire I competition. Her three fellow Texans are Anna Burtell, Lyndon Rife and Julie Madriguera. Burtell, a trainer from Montgomery, is competing in the FEI Five-Year-Old Test with the Dutch gelding Valentino. Rife, a dressage trainer from Aubrey, Texas, is competing in the USEF levels with the 10-year-old Hannoverian gelding Willkommen that he co-owns with Madriguera, a dressage trainer who is acting as support staff and groom on this trip.

“I’m doing the braiding, grooming, whatever,” Madriguera said. “We’re just having a lot of fun. It’s nice just to get away and have just one horse for everyone to care for and not have so many students along that everyone is hectic and feeding off each other’s tension. It’s been lots of fun so far and it’s only the first day.”

Madriguera and Rife made the 19-hour drive from Texas with the horses while Bock and Burtell flew up from Texas. Madriguera and Rife, who are based at Shannon and Pegge Kinslow’s Southern Comfort Farm, made one stop along the way in Missouri. “We first went to one place where we made a reservation, but it wasn’t suitable, so we had to get back into the truck and keep driving. But we found another super place that wasn’t far off,” Madriguera said.