Nominations are now open for the 2022 SEIB Insurance Brokers Yard of the Year Awards in association with Horse & Hound.
As we head towards the third running of these awards, Horse & Hound have come on board and the award name has been updated to the SEIB Yard of the Year Awards in association with Horse & Hound. A sixth category has been added – the SEIB Competition Venue of the Year, which is designed to recognise and celebrate the tireless behind the scenes work that goes into running a successful competition venue.
Click here to nominate.
Nominations will close on the 14th April 2022 at 5pm.
- Best DIY Livery Yard of the Year: (over 80% DIY) Judged on horse care, facilities, atmosphere, marketing and business acumen
- Best Full Livery Yard of the Year: (over 80% full livery) including training, competition and production. Judged on horse care, facilities, atmosphere, marketing and business acumen
- Best Small Riding School of the Year: (under 20 horses) Judged on teaching, horse care, facilities, atmosphere, marketing and business acumen.
- Best Large Riding School of the Year: (over 20 horses) Judged on teaching, horse care, facilities, atmosphere, marketing and business acumen.
- Best RDA Centre of the Year: Judged on teaching, horse care, facilities, atmosphere, marketing and business acumen
- Best Competition Venue of the Year: Judged on facilities, atmosphere, marketing, business acumen and visitor experience
The winners and runners up in each category will be announced at the SEIB Awards on the 6th July at Dorney Lake in Berkshire.
The story behind the SEIB Yard of the Year Awards
Back in 2019, our Livery Yard Insurance team at SEIB noticed that there was no organised, national recognition of achievement for those that own, run and work in the many livery yards, riding schools and Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) centres across the country.
Many conversations later, and an outline plan was in place for the owners, managers and staff of the best yards in the country – the backbone of the British equestrian industry - to have their skills, hard work and expertise recognised in the SEIB Livery Yard and Riding School and Awards in January 2020.
Initially, there were to be three sections for the awards, Riding School, DIY Livery Yard and Full Livery Yard. It was quickly realised though that one vital category was not catered for – Riding for the Disabled (RDA) centres. This was quickly amended and the awards covered four sections.
Each Awards section would have an eventual winner and a runner up prize. The format was set up that the public would be invited to nominate their favourite yard. Once nominations closed, a shortlist was drawn up for the four categories and each yard was visited by one of the experienced panel of judges.
During the yard visits to each of the shortlisted yards across the four categories, each judge looked at criteria including horse care, welfare and business acumen. Photos were taken, details discussed and scores written down. Following this, the full judging panel met up to verify and scrutinise the results.https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/
The SEIB Livery Yard, Riding School and RDA Centre of the Year Awards were not to be defeated in 2021 when the decision was taken early in the year that – Covid restrictions permitting - the winners would be announced at the SEIB Awards at Dallas Burston Polo Club. Following feedback from the 2020 running of the awards, the 2021 SEIB Livery Yard, Riding School and RDA Centre of the Year Awards grew to five sections. The Riding Schools category became Small Riding School (under 20 horses) and Large Riding School (over 20 horses).
The SEIB Awards were originally scheduled to take place in June 2021, but when lockdown restrictions were extended, the date was put back to early September. Because of the restrictions in place in the first part of 2021, after the nomination stage the Livery Yard and Riding School of the Year Awards were judged from video footage submitted by each yard.
The winner of the 2021 SEIB Small Riding School of the year, Tina Layton of Contessa Riding and Training Centre said: “We were thrilled to win the SEIB Award and I also achieved the 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. We will be closing the doors of Contessa at the end of March.”
