Ponies from across Great Britain to take part in the first ever SEIB Search for a Star Pony Club Championships at Your Horse Live
The first ever SEIB Insurance Brokers Search for a Star Pony Club Your Horse Live Championships will take place in the main SEIB Arena at Your Horse Live at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire on the 11th and 12th November 2022. Each of the four nations of Great Britain are represented in this exciting championship with young riders and their ponies travelling from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales for the big day.
The SEIB Search for a Star Pony Club Your Horse Live championship is part of the Search for a Star Your Horse Live championship which includes a total of eleven championship finals on the Friday of the show. For the first time ever, a Search for a Star Supreme Championship will be held for all the amateur finals winners on the Saturday of Your Horse Live in the main SEIB Arena.
The Search for a Star Pony Club championships include three finals, lead rein, first ridden and open. To compete, children and young people must be a member of a Pony Club branch or centre. Pony Club members from as far a-field as the Ross-Shire Pony Club in Inverness and East Antrim Pony Club in Northern Ireland have qualified for the first ever Search for a Star Pony Club championship.
SEIB Search for a Star has been running since 1996 and over this time the series has helped many amateur riders learn showing skills and go on to compete with great success in open classes. Founder of Search for a Star, SEIB’s Marketing Manager, Nicolina MacKenzie said:
We are delighted to welcome The Pony Club to Search for a Star and are looking forward to the first ever Pony Club Search for a Star championships. Our competitors have worked so hard to secure their qualifications, we wish everyone the best of luck at Your Horse Live.”
Following six qualifying shows across Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a total of sixteen young riders have qualified for the three Search for a Star Pony Club finals. Search for a Star 2022 kicked off with its first qualifying show at Vale View Equestrian Centre back in April and qualifiers followed at Bury Farm, Netherton Equestrian Centre in Perthshire, Laurel View in Northern Ireland, Stoneleigh Park and Onley Grounds Equestrian Centre. All finalists have either won, or been placed runner-up at one of these qualifying shows.
Search for a Star is unique owing to the support provided to amateur riders and their horses and ponies. Qualifying shows are headed up by senior judge, Mr Richard Ramsay who has a lifetime of experience producing, judging and mentoring showing competitors. Other series judges include Nicola Taylor, Hannah Horton, Samantha DeCaprio and former Search for a Star competitor, Louise Gaunt. All competitors are supported and encouraged by the team of Search for a Star judges and stewards who also give up their time for two Search for a Star ‘Weekender’ events throughout the season – where a training workshop is offered the day before the qualifying show and the Search for a Star training day held in September for all riders that have qualified for a Search for a Star final.
Competitors at the Search for a Star Pony Club Your Horse Live championships are lucky to go under top judges, Katie Jerram-Hunnable and Chris Hunnable and Matthew Lawrence for their final. As each class is underway, the judges will voice their thoughts over a microphone. This has proved very popular with the audience.
Your Horse Live Event Director, Emma Bedford said:
We are thrilled to welcome and host more SEIB Search for a Star championship classes than ever before. The Search for a Star schedule is packed and will run back-to-back all morning on the opening Friday of the show with for the first time ever, the Search for a Star supreme championship to follow in the SEIB Arena at prime time on the Saturday lunchtime!”
The SEIB Search for a Star Your Horse Live Championship 2022 will begin at 8.20am in the main SEIB Arena with the in-hand finals. This final includes in-hand plaited horse and hogged show cob. In-hand plaited pony, in-hand native and traditional, in-hand veteran and in-hand mountain and moorland. At 9.40 the first of the new Search for a Star Pony Club finals gets underway with first-ridden and lead rein. At 10.25, the Pony Club Open final will take place, going on at 10.50 to the Search for a Star ridden part-bred traditional final. The biggest championship class of the day follows with the Search for a Star ridden mountain and moorland final at 11.15am and the action-packed morning will have its finale at midday with the SEIB Search for a Star open veteran championship.
Each winner of the ten Search for a Star amateur sections on the Friday will be invited forward to the Search for a Star Your Horse Live Supreme Championship at 1pm on Saturday in the main SEIB Arena at Your Horse Live.
Leading equine Insurance brokers, SEIB Insurance Brokers set up Search for a Star nearly 30 years ago so they could offer a unique competition opportunity to many of their amateur rider customers. SEIB has a long association with the showing world and is renowned for ‘putting something back’ by supporting many equestrian events and activities in addition to Search for a Star.
Leading equine Insurance brokers, SEIB Insurance Brokers provide cover for horses, horse boxes, yards and much more. The company has a long association with the showing world and is renowned for ‘putting something back’ by supporting equestrian events and activities.
Qualifying riders for the inaugural SEIB Search for a Star Pony Club Your Horse Live Championship 2022
Search for a Star Pony Club Lead Rein
- Blackhill Osprey / owned by Lisa Croft and ridden by Millie Croft from the Rufford Branch of the Pony Club
- Clearfell Bumblebee / owned by Sophie Milczarek and ridden by Florence Milczarek from the Wheatland Branch of the Pony Club
- Collstone Caventina / owned by Jamie Clarke and ridden by Charlotte Knight from the Worcestershire Hunt Branch of the Pony Club
- Saintjohnstar Harry Potter / owned by Zara Wardle and ridden by Eirin Wardle from the North Down Branch of the Pony Club in Northern Ireland
- Thistledown Elpaso / owned by Heather Hiscox and ridden by Emily Hiscox from the North Warwickshire Branch of the Pony Club
- Thistledown Honky Tonk / owned by Mary-Jo Grant and ridden by Ianna Grant from the Ross-Shire Branch of the Pony Club
Search for a Star Pony Club First Ridden
- Ballyhill Boy / owned by Stacey Erwin and ridden by Paige Erwin from the East Antrim Branch of the Pony Club in Northern Ireland
- Desabre Sparrow Hawk / owned by Victoria Cable and ridden by Lucia Cable from the Puckeridge Hunt Branch of the Pony Club in Essex
- Honey Bee / owned by Victoria Piper and ridden by Abigail Piper from the Glamorgan Branch of the Pony Club in Wales
- Just The Way You Are / owned by Sara Ridgway and ridden by Emily Ridgway from the Old Berkshire Hunt Branch of the Pony Club
- Larchgrove Isabella / owned by Connie Elliott and ridden by Emily Elliott from the Rufford Branch of the Pony Club
- Nerwyn Leonardo / owned by Sarah Fraser and ridden by Annabel Fraser from the Cumberland Farmers Hunt North Branch of the Pony Club
SEIB Insurance Brokers Search for a Star Pony Club Open 2022 Championships
- Battlestown Jenny / owned by Fiona Radford Jones and ridden by Isobel Radford Jones from the Woodland Hunt Branch of the Pony Club
- Cavan Mick / owned by Naomi Kitchener and ridden by Helena Kitchener from the Mid Surrey Branch of the Pony Club
- Phantoms Masquerade / owned by Sarah Adams and ridden by Grace Adams from the Ryburn Branch of the Pony Club
- Rooan De Goariva / owned and ridden by Jessica Ross from the Grafton Hunt Branch of the Pony Club
- Rosedust Class Act / owned by Karen Watson and ridden by Aaliyah Watson from the Deveron Branch of the Pony Club in Aberdeenshire
Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.