Caitriona Murphy

HORSE Sport Ireland has extended its season for the Irish Sport Horse Studbook leagues by an additional three months in 2015.

Next year the leagues will run from April through to October, instead of April to July, as has been the case up to now.

The move is aimed at reducing the frequency with which young horses are asked to compete if their owners want to take part in both the Irish Sport Horse Studbook series and qualify for Dublin Horse Show.

“We want to avoid the situation where you have young horses jumping in both studbook and RDS qualifiers within four or five days of each other,” said a spokesperson for Horse Sport Ireland. “We hope that this allow competitions to be more staggered.”

The final leg of the Irish Sport Horse Studbook Series will move from its traditional home at the Tattersalls show in July to October, although the venue has yet to be decided. Venues interested in hosting a leg of the league must apply to Horse Sport Ireland before Monday, January 12th, 2015.

The Reaching New Heights sport horse strategy report has recommended a review of the structure and scheduling of competitions for horses aged three to six years old, with greater emphasis to be placed on appropriate development of young horses.