Hartpury College student Daisy Beards has won the SEIB Insurance Brokers Search for a Star Championship at Your Horse Live. Connemara pony, Spinway Colm was ridden to perfection by Daisy Beards on 9 November under the bright lights of the main Your Horse Live SEIB arena in Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire to take the Search for a Star title.
Level 3 Extended Diploma Agriculture student Daisy said: “The atmosphere here today was just great; I went in with the attitude to have fun and at the same time try our absolute hardest. What an experience! Colm was brilliant from start to finish!”
Daisy continued: “I thought he would be calmer here, but he’s absolutely loved it! We’ve competed in lots of different riding club competitions including the Winter and Summer Riding Clubs Championships in dressage and juniors. My sister saw the new BRC Search for a Star class on Facebook, so we decided to give it a go! You don’t have to belong to a show society so it makes it nice and straightforward, and we thought it would be a bit of fun for both me and Colm! I’m on a work placement year from Hartpury College and am working on a farm near Banbury now. It’s been brilliant to do Search for a Star and it has given us a great opportunity to do something different!”
Daisy and Colm qualified for the Search for a Star Your Horse Live with a win at a qualifying show back in June. They went on to win the Search for a Star British Riding Clubs Championship on the Friday at Your Horse Live before taking the Supreme Ridden and Overall Supreme on the Saturday.
Head of British Riding Clubs, Rachael Hollely-Thompson said: “Congratulations to everyone who took part in SEIB Search for a Star this year. We are delighted to offer this new opportunity to BRC members and are grateful to the Search for a Star team for hosting the BRC classes. I hope members out there are inspired to have a go next year as it’s such great fun and you never know - you may end up as the 2025 champion, just like Daisy and Colm!”
Longstanding Search for a Star judges, and top show producers, Katie Jerram Hunnable and Chris Hunnable said: “Our Supreme Champion gave an outstanding performance both yesterday and today in the Supreme – he was the best throughout the championship. His suppleness and the way his rider has trained him shone through. It’s great to see this new riding club showing series and the support it is getting. I spoke to our champion and said she must go and do some Mountain and Moorland Working Hunter Pony classes as he is also a great jumper. We’ll look forward to seeing him in the future – no doubt being a champion again, they are a great combination!”
Nearly a thousand competitors have entered SEIB Search for a Star qualifiers this season to chase a total of 60 much-coveted Your Horse Live tickets in the series. SEIB Insurance Brokers set up the Search for a Star series in the mid-1990’s.
