PETER Fell of Ballindenisk fears the international three-day event scheduled there for April 22-26th may be the first Irish international to be impacted by rising costs.

“We were really blown away by the lack of entries in our 1* class for this year’s spring international,” he said. “Normally we would expect 20-25 but we have had only five Irish entries and two foreigners. It’s really disappointing and we believe it is down to two factors - the increased cost of FEI registration and fees as scheduled by Horse Sport Ireland for this year and also, changes to the qualification requirements from Eventing Ireland. These mean that riders need to have done two 1.10m classes before they can enter an international 1* rather than three 100s as was the case before this year.

“In response, we have now added a national 1.05m class to the event to cater for riders who either don’t qualify for the 1* or find the FEI fees prohibitively expensive, especially if they only intended to do one international this season. Entries for the new class are open on the Eventing Ireland site and will close on Monday.

“It does make me wonder about the viability of running 1* classes in the future, and that is a shame because it’s a vital stepping stone. 

“Everyone is under pressure with price increases, I would estimate the diesel bill alone for this event alone has gone up by €2,500. While I understand that HSI needs to survive I can’t put up prices in line with theirs. There comes a point where people have to draw a line and I feel we are getting there - although I do hope that this may be teething pain in a way and that things could settle down later in the year. Having said that we are doing our best to cater for everyone and that’s why we are running this class.

“Our other classes are very well subscribed and preparations are going really well so we are looking forward to a super week of eventing and would welcome all comers to Watergrasshill to enjoy the action.”

Beneficial

International event rider Emma Newsam called the addition of the national 1.05m class to Ballindenisk’s schedule “hugely beneficial.” She added: “my horse is a young horse, he is rising six, and I want to give him more time to bridge the gap between EI100 and CCI2* level. The 1.05m will give him the opportunity to experience an international atmosphere and to perform an FEI dressage test while running in a national class.”

“Finances play a huge role too though” she continued. “Since Horse Sport Ireland scrapped the single event licence, you now have to pay for a full year’s FEI registration just to contest one event, which means that an entry in the CCI*-Intro class, without accounting for other associated expenses and the diesel to get there, will cost €900. That’s prohibitively expensive.”

“The single event licence served a great purpose for riders with only one or two international horses, who might compete in just one or two internationals each year.

“I think HSI is losing out here, because instead of buying single event licences, lower-level riders may now chose not to take part in any internationals at all.”

Read Sally Parkyn’s Ballindenisk International preview in next week’s edition.