Equestrian businesses in CA Awards regional finals
Four equestrian businesses have made it to the regional finals of the 2009 Countryside Alliance (CA) Awards — is your local favourite among them?
The awards, now in their fifth year, celebrate the characters, skills, traditions and enterprise of the countryside and the nominees are put forward by the public.
This year’s competition attracted a record 3,500 nominations from the public, in the four categories — the local food award, village shop/Post Office award, rural enterprise award and the Daily Telegraph best traditional business award.
All four equestrian businesses are vying to be their regional representative in the traditional business category.
They are:
Worcestershire-based bespoke tack maker Helen Leedham
Feed merchants Elms Farm Equestrian, of Claygate, Surrey
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
Saddlers and riding outfitters Calcutt and Sons, based in Sutton Scotney, Hampshire
Mendit Rug & Tack Ltd, of Dorchester, Dorset, which repairs saddlery and rugs
Judging panels across Britain will now decide the regional winners and will visit each of them to find out why they deserve a Countryside Alliance award.
The regional winners will be announced before Christmas and will go forward to the grand final at the House of Lords in February 2010.
Countryside Alliance chief executive Simon Hart, who chairs the national judging panel said: “Our regional finalists represent the colour and diversity of rural enterprise and the Countryside Alliance is very proud to salute our finalists and offer them well deserved praise.
“To get this far is an achievement in itself as the quality of nominations just seems to get better year on year.”
Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now
A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.