Don’t miss your chance to nominate your livery yard, competition venue, riding school or RDA centre for the SEIB Yard of the Year Awards in association with Horse & Hound.
A great yard, be it a riding school, livery yard or show centre, can make all the difference to the welfare and happiness of riders and horses. Those who really go above and beyond deserve recognition for what they bring to the equestrian community, so if this sounds like your yard, now is your chance to shine a spotlight on what makes it special, in the 2022 SEIB Yard of the Year Awards, in association with Horse & Hound.
By recognising and rewarding excellence in competition training, teaching and horse care, SEIB Insurance Brokers is helping to boost standards in yards around the country, from riding schools to Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) centres. SEIB has been a trusted insurer of yards for decades, including helping so many through the difficulties of the Covid pandemic, and takes pride in supporting the industry with these awards, in association with Horse & Hound, the country’s leading equestrian publication.
The SEIB Yard of the Year Awards are split into six categories: “do-it-yourself” (DIY) livery yards, with at least 80% of horses on DIY livery; full livery yards, with at least 80% of horses on full livery; large riding schools with more than 20 school horses; small riding schools with 20 or fewer school horses; RDA centres; and – new for 2022 – competition venues.
The judging panel will be looking for a yard that provides an exceptionally high quality of service, be that in training, event organisation or care of the horses, where nothing is overlooked. Professionalism and excellence are core to SEIB’s central values as an insurance broker, and it is these qualities that will be recognised in the very best yards.
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Be inspired: the 2021 SEIB Yard of the Year Award winners
In 2021, over 1,100 nominations were made for livery yards, riding schools and RDA centres up and down the country, with judges facing a tricky task in singling out the worthy winner in each section.
The best small riding school was judged to be Contessa Riding and Training Centre, in Hertfordshire, which was described in one nomination as “an oasis of correct classical training with the enjoyment of both horses and riders at the heart”.
This prestigious recognition was a fitting end to an era for Contessa, with proprietor Tina Layton closing the doors to the centre in 2022.
“We were thrilled to win the SEIB Award and I also achieved the Association of British Riding Schools (ABRS) Fellowship at the end of the year. We are a small, niche yard with our advanced horses and vaulting club. We couldn’t have asked for a higher accolade than this recognition from the SEIB Awards and the ABRS Fellowship so, after 45 years, we decided it was the time to finish on a high,” said Tina.
The award for best large riding school in 2021 was won by Triley Fields Equestrian Centre, near Abergavenny, with its “excellent facilities and inspiring teaching”.
The 2021 DIY livery yard award went to Berries Farm Liveries in Norfolk, described as having “every facility you could want for day to day care of your horse to luxury pampering”, while the best full livery yard was judged to be Folly Fields Farm, Northamptonshire: a “very friendly, well organised yard” where “horses always come first”.
The winner of the 2021 award for the best RDA centre was Barrow Farm RDA in Essex, a centre that “achieves a fantastic balance between the needs and aspirations of its clients, the health and safety of all humans and equines and the welfare of its staff and volunteers”.
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
Don’t miss your chance – nominate your yard now
Nominations for the 2022 SEIB Yard of the Year Awards are now open, and both yard owners and their clients have the chance to nominate their yard up until 14 April, 2022. At this point, a panel of judges made up of leading industry professionals – including Horse & Hound’s Editor-in-Chief Sarah Jenkins – will review the entries and whittle them down into a shortlist. These finalists will then be asked to submit a short video, in which they can showcase their yard and the reasons why they should win, from which the winner in each category will be selected by the judging panel.
So, if you think your yard deserves to win one of these prestigious awards, nominate it today, and help give great yards the credit they deserve.
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