Guidance for Nominators

  1. Each category has specific criteria that the judges will be looking for so please refer to ‘the qualities and examples’ relating to the respective award categories.
  2. Please provide specific examples to back up your assertions.
  3. Set the context, and when nominating someone, please explain why they are deserving of the respective award, based on an act/event/achievement specifically relating to 2016 (between November 2015 and November 2016).
  4. Include examples of the three core qualities (motivation, going above and beyond, horsemanship*) that cross over all the categories;

Examples of core qualities:

Motivation
X arrived at the yard age 17 with no qualifications. X is a highly motivated individual, she has never had a day off, always arrives on time, she always has a smile on her face and has a ‘can do’ attitude. Early in her career she passed her NVQ levels 1, 2 and 3 and is now superbly qualified to pass on her knowledge and experience to the rest of the yard.

Going above and beyond
X not only fulfils her full-time role but is also extremely passionate about rehoming our retiring horses and works hard to make sure they go to the best possible homes when their racing careers are at an end. X’s recent efforts to strengthen links between my yard and the racing public have been concentrated on setting up and promoting our Racing Clubs, overhauling the website and ensuring that it is updated regularly to engage with potential owners.

Horsemanship*
X came to work with me after a bad injury ruined a promising apprentice career in the saddle and for many years she was the mainstay of the racing yard where we have trained countless winners primarily in the pointing field. Over the last few years, we decided that after overseeing a successful breeding operation that why not stand our own stallion? In reality there was only one person who would be responsible for this, namely X. Although the vast percentage of stallion handlers are well-built and strong, X is less than 5 feet tall and not your typical hand. However, her empathy with each stallion is a joy to see, she has such a natural way with them and her lack of physicality has never been an issue. In many ways she is self-taught, but she has gone away, looked at how different studs do different things, looked into the various methods of covering, facilities, routines etc and her work alongside the vets has enabled all the stallions to maintain high levels of fertility and first time coverings. She never stops wanting to learn or develop in order to make things better at the stud, for the good of everybody as a team.

* Please note that horsemanship may or may not be relevant to the Rory MacDonald Community Award.

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