SEEL LATEST NEWS & UPDATES

New venue announced for this year’s finals.

Lodge farm in Matfield, Kent will host this years SEEL Arena Eventing Championship on 14 June 26. The Finals will be run on grass this year, with 9/10 show jumping fences, followed immediately by the Cross Country section which will finish in the water complex. This popular venue in Kent which boasts incredible ground, even in June also hosts the BRC combined challenge and ‘The Lodge Farm Eventers Challenge’ which will run alongside.
To qualify, combinations must finish in the top ten at the numerous qualifying SEEL Arena Eventing at 80/80 or 100 classes.

Lists of qualified combinations can be found on the SEEL site and updated on a regular basis when results are received from the venues.
Fence sponsorship and Title sponsorship is still available for the finals.

SEEL is still seeking new sponsors for the 2026 season going forward.

This is an ideal opportunity to gain coverage on a yearly basis rather than a one off. It would suit either a national or a south east based company, whether you be a feed or bedding supplier, equine transport, estate agent, fencing , or clothes supplier.

https://south-east-eventers-league.co.uk/sponsorship-opportunities/

Home to over 400 ewes who have their lambs in April, our busiest time of year. The farm is also home to many horses, from competition horses to those in retirement and some young horses yet to start their ridden careers. Of course, there are also dogs including a couple of collies who we couldn’t do without, especially when moving the sheep around the farm. Plus there is the obligatory farm cat or two plus Colin the cockerel and his hens.
Over 2000 bales of haylage are produced each year for feeding to horses and sheep. Our diversification projects, so important in today’s changing economy, include a Cricket Bat Tree plantation & the development of the old dairy milking parlour into a holiday cottage.
The remoteness and beauty of Knockbridge Farm lends itself perfectly as a wedding or party venue and is also the ideal place for the budding artist, photographer or film producer. The perfect place to explore the great outdoors from, with direct access onto several footpaths, including the 1066 Country Walk, a bridleway and a 30 minute saunter to Pett Level beach. Plenty of lanes to cycle around, including Pub stops and not far to cycle to Rye.
The owners, Nigel and Beccy live on site and all horses are checked at least twice daily by knowledgeable people, who have a lifetime of experience caring for all types of horses. We can also catch and hold your horse for the vet or Farrier, change rugs and feed if required. Haylage is fed to our grass liveries during the winter month when required and lovely large barns, bedded down with straw are available when the weather / ground is bad.
We are near completion of a new stable yard including tack rooms and horse wash bay, we will soon be installing a horse solarium, these stables are being offered for part & full livery; ideal for competition horses and hunters. Knockbridge also specialises in retirement livery.
There is good hacking around the farm (weather permitting) including jumps and the farm is located on a bridleway, the local roads are quiet and offer good hill work.

Home

Registrations will open for the 2026 season in mid January and is free to register, please encourage and remind everyone to get involved for next year. The committee have also agreed to include Hertfordshire and Greater London into the SEEL region.

New venue announced for this year’s finals.

Lodge farm in Matfield, Kent will host this years SEEL Arena Eventing Championship on 14 June 26. The Finals will be run on grass this year, with 9/10 show jumping fences, followed immediately by the Cross Country section which will finish in the water complex. This popular venue in Kent which boasts incredible ground, even in June also hosts the BRC combined challenge and ‘The Lodge Farm Eventers Challenge’ which will run alongside.
To qualify, combinations must finish in the top ten at the numerous qualifying SEEL Arena Eventing at 80/80 or 100 classes.

Lists of qualified combinations can be found on the SEEL site and updated on a regular basis when results are received from the venues.
Fence sponsorship and Title sponsorship is still available for the finals.

SEEL AE QUALIFIERS 25/26
SEEL FINALS AT LODGE FARM…14 JUNE

GOLDEN CROSS
https://www.goldencrossec.com/enter-on-line

Saturday 18th October
Saturday 1st November
Monday 29th December
Saturday 10th January
Friday 20th February
Saturday 7th March

PETLEY
https://www.petleywoodequestrian.co.uk

2 November ((Battle RC Area Q)
16 November (RMPC)
13 December
28 December
4 January
1 February

COOMBELANDS
https://www.coombelandsequestrian.com/events

8 November
6 December
2026 dates TBC

BREACH BARN (SMP EVENTS )
https://www.smp-events.co.uk/event-calendar

4 October
1 November
7 December
17 January
21 February
28 March
4 April

PYECOMBE
https://www.brendonpyecombe.co.uk/events.asp

26 October
15/16 November
7/21 December
4/17 January
7/28 February
15/29 March

Sam secures the’ Double’

Sam Sweeney aboard Warren Marshalls ‘Foody Classic Dawn’ took the honours at a sun-soaked Petley Wood to secure the 100 Arena Eventing title. The same combination won last years BE 100 SEEL rankings. Sam won the class by the narrowest of margins, beating herself on ‘Brittania Royale ‘ by 0.1 of a penalty. Simon Blake and Jolly Quality took the final podium spot.

The 24 fence championship course which asked the right number of questions with 29 jumping efforts rode really well with lots of inside lines which suited the classes which oozed a high standard from start to finish.

The 80 Championship class went the way of Megan Verhagan on the coloured gelding Beechwood Boy who rode a faultless round, making the course look easy with a well judged round just 0.32 inside the optimum time. Podium spots went to runner up Tristan Mante, who earlier in the day won the 70 junior class and the ever consistent Dinah Smith on Culmore JJ who defied the veterans age posting the fastest time of the whole day.

The 90 Championship title went the way of Jessica Moreton and Hey Mickey, who secured there qualifying spot earlier in the year at Petley. The combination again rode a lovely round from an early draw which didn’t look that quick but made use of all the correct lines and made it all look to easy. Amy Tate took the runners up spot just 2 pens behind with prolific Arena Eventing winner this year Fiona Patty taking third place and her place on the podium.

All the Championship winners, alongside their generous prize money win two complimentary tickets to the SEEL Ball and awards on 22 November in Tunbridge Wells where they will pick up their trophies.

A big thank you must go to Jake Tarrant from Eqivation who sponsored this years championships as part of their final year of title sponsorship.

FOOTNOTE:
Unfortunately, the SEEL Committee are seriously looking at the viability of running these Championships in 2026. Entries for the finals have decreased year after year and without a title sponsor in place for 2026 and the committee feel all efforts and finances are better spent on keeping the SEEL running past its 30 year existence.

We would like to thank everyone who made last Saturdays SEEL Ball such a success. We are very fortunate to have so many loyal sponsors who return year after year to support Eventing in the South East.

This year we decided to support the ‘Georgie Campbell Foundation’ as really close to our hearts, and always in our minds.

We can now publicly announce that the raffle and silent auction raised an amazing £7725 for the foundation, this doubles our previous record ! This could not of been achieved without the overwhelming number of raffle prizes offered, we thank everyone who donated. Also a big well done to our ranking winners, well deserved all round.

We were very privileged to award a new trophy this year, ‘The Georgie Campbell Memorial trophy’ which goes to the top U18 SEEL member won this year by Emily Hamilton, who received the award from Georgie’s parents Ian and Debbie.

We do it all again next year, pencil in 22 November in your diary where again we will do it for the foundation. The official photos are now available on the link below, Julian will donate 50% of takings to the foundation, take a look and order your now  www.julianportch.com

If you didn’t manage to get your Coco and Jane Loves bracelets on the night  or want to crack on with Christmas shopping for a great cause, go to www.cocoandjaneloves.com