A night of Celebration at the British Showjumping Awards Ball
Wednesday 05 October 2022
For the first time since October 2019, British Showjumping was able to connect our community together for a brilliant night of celebrating at the 2022 Awards Ball, with over 250 guests, nominees and members in attendance.
The evening kicked off with a champagne reception during which all 2022 Area League Winners and Graded Para League winners were recognised for their achievements this year.
Following the awards ceremony and raffle, the dance floor was filled until late into the night at this long-awaited chance to party together again.
The 2022 award categories and respective winners are as follows:
1. Leading Pony Rider
This year’s Leading Pony Rider winner was Tabitha Kyle who has had a fantastic year. Her most recent achievement being representing Team NAF at the Pony Nations Cup Final in Peelbergen where the British team claimed the gold medal and where she jumped an all-important double clear.
2. Leading Children on Horses Rider
The winner of this award category was Noora Von Bülow and the aptly named Lucky Lisa who together posted great clear rounds at the Youth European Championship, finishing 5th individually as the highest placed British Rider in the Children on Horses team.
3. Leading Junior Rider
This year’s Leading Junior Rider nominations were all riders who represented Great Britain’s Team NAF at the 2022 Youth European Championships. The winner was Grace Debney who was not able to make it to the awards but in her acceptance video said she was “so grateful for everyone who made this year so great."
4. Leading Young Rider
This award is for riders aged under 21 who have excelled themselves both nationally and internationally this year. The award went to Lily Attwood who with Cor-Leon VD Vlierbeek Z, was part of British Showjumping’s Team NAF Young Rider team who took Bronze at the 2022 Youth Europeans, drawing on their experience to assist the team to the podium, as well as placing 2nd in the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Paris.
5. Team Groom of the Year
Behind Britain’s Senior Team riders are their incredibly hard-working grooms who are undeniably an integral part of the sport. The Team Groom of the Year winner this year was David Honnett who grooms for Scott Brash and Hello Jefferson; he couldn’t be there on the night due to Scott’s busy competition schedule but sent a video saying: “this award isn’t really just for me – it is for all the team who work with Scott”.
6. Coach of the Year
Behind many of our riders’ successes are the dedicated coaches who spend hours developing riders of all level and ability to help them achieve their goals. The 2022 award winner Nicky Fuller was nominated for her proactive and passionate development of British Showjumping coaches as well as influencing coaching qualifications across many Equestrian disciplines through her role as Chair of the Coach Development Action Team.
7. British Breeders Award
This annual award recognises the British Breeders who have been the visionaries behind the best British Bred horse we have seen this year and this year that visionary was Martyn Edwards whose 12 year-old bay gelding Montreuxs Tale has had many successes this year.
The Edwards family started a breeding programme more than two decades ago. Montreuxs Tale is by the home-bred Tinkers Tale II (out of Mammas Tinker) – himself a top winner on the national and county circuit for Mark. Montreuxs Tale, ridden by Mark Edwards is also part of the ongoing breeding programme as a successful sire himself and again used at stud as a young horse before being gelded.
8. International Stairway Champion
Timothy Davies was the 2022 International Stairway winner with the 9 year-old gelding Neilson owned by Lisa Volk, having placed in five of the seven International Stairway series competitions this year.
9. National Champion
This year’s National Champion, which is a title given to the outright winner of the Grand Prix at the National Championships, was Robert Murphy from Lancashire with the 10 year-old gelding, How Easy, owned by Sandra Low Mitchell.
One of only five clears in the first round, he claimed the title when as the last to go, putting in an incredibly daring round, despite losing a stirrup halfway round, to relegate Louise Saywell with Kings Borough Kasper, the only other clear in the jump off, into 2nd place.
10. CSIO5* Team Horse Debutant
This award recognises those horses that have made their debut on a British CSIO5* Senior team this year. This year’s winner was Ben Maher’s ride Faltic HB, owned by the Oakingham Stud. The 12 year old stallion and Ben were part of the bronze medal winning team in Herning at the FEI World Championships in August as well as finishing 4th individually. They also represented Great Britain on the Nations Cup team which finished 3rd at the World Equestrian Festival at CHIO Aachen.
11. Senior Team Performance of the Year
The penultimate award was the Senior Team Performance of the Year award, an accolade which acknowledges those who have excelled in the senior international field.
This year’s award went to the team of Ben Maher, Scott Brash, Harry Charles and Joe Stockdale who took team bronze at the 2022 Agria FEI World Jumping Championship; the last time that Britain won a medal at an FEI Jumping World Championship was in Rome in 1998, when their now Chef d'Équipe Di Lampard was on the team.
The third place finish also meant that Great Britain are guaranteed a spot in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Also recognised for the award as part of the team’s success in Herning was Di Lampard, John Whitaker, as a travelling reserve and for his wealth of experience and support of the team, Stanny Van Paesschen as Technical Expert, helping the riders in their preparation for key performances, plus Simon Woods, Team Veterinarian.
12. The British Showjumping Award 2022
This award was given for Outstanding Service to Equestrian Sport. This year, the award went to the following group of veterinary professionals:
- Celia M Marr BVMS, MVM, PhD, DEIM, DipECEIM, FRCVS, EBVS
- David Mountford BEVA Chief Executive
- Jenny Hall BVSc MRCVS
- John McEwen MBE BVMS MRCVS
- Richard Newton BVSc MSc PhD FRCVS
The 5 individuals were awarded for their exceptional dedication to our sport, having been an essential part of a group who were instrumental in the safe return of British horses competing in Spain during the outbreak of the neurological form of Equine Herpes Virus (EHV-1) in the early part of 2021.
This carefully planned passage home also meant that as a sport we were not required to halt our national competitions, or put under the same restrictions as those in mainland Europe. This meant everyone could carry on competing, following the challenging year that 2020 had been.
Sponsors
Thank you to all British Showjumping sponsors for your support, especially the following who generously donated raffle prizes:
- BlueChip
- Zebra Products – who also supported the evening with table gifts
- British Horse Feeds
Thank you also to EquiDry for the donation of a raffle prize.
Image, from left to right: David Mountford, John McEwen, Richard Newton, Jenny Hall, Celia M Marr pictured with British Showjumping Chief Executive Iain Graham (far right).
