Riders will be forced to choose between attending the finals of the HSI/Connolly’s Red Mills Spring Tour at Warrington EC and Coilóg EC and Millstreet’s CSI* Welcome Tour, all scheduled for the same weekend in April.

Millstreet’s Welcome Tour takes place from Thursday, April 17th while the final two rounds of the Spring Tour take place in Warrington EC on Saturday, April 19th and Coilóg EC on April 20th.

Millstreet’s Thomas Duggan said: “We are very disappointed that there is a clash of dates despite the fact that it was recently announced that the calendar had been sorted out to ensure this sort of thing wouldn’t happen. Yet here we are with a clash on the first big weekend of the season. At last year’s SJI AGM in Mullingar, it was stated that international dates would take precedence. Ultimately it is the competitors who loses out as they cannot be in three places at one time.”

To extend the Spring Tour dates would disrupt both the National Grand Prix and the Premier Series, which begins on April 27th.

PRO of the Showjumpers’ Club, Dave Darragh, noted the “glaring disorganisation within our governing body regarding dates.”

He added: “HSI co-sponsor the Tour and they knew that a clash between Millstreet and the Tour final could be damaging to the tour. Scheduling of shows was discussed at a meeting in June 2012 and commitment was given that more co-ordination of dates would be adopted. In no other equestrian discipline in Ireland would this occur.”

Chris Byrne of Coilog EC said: “Have we learnt nothing from the past? I am all in favour of having more international shows in Ireland, however we need a more a co-ordinated approach. The final of the Spring Tour was established on the calendar, so why parachute an international show in to clash with a successful tour?”

Approval of international show fixtures is a lengthy process involving several bodies.

Horse Sport Ireland has until October 1st each year to apply online through the FEI database for the following year dates in the FEI calendar. After that, HSI’s access to the online calendar is blocked and cannot be amended. Any potential clashes carry a warning mark beside them online.

On September 20th last year, Thomas Duggan sent HSI two applications for FEI events in 2014. These were the CSI*** Show (August 14th - 18th) and the CSI* Welcome Tour (April 17th - 20th). The application was also sent to SJI on September 20th to review and add its chairman’s signature. A HSI spokesman confirmed the April CSI* Millstreet date had been approved by the SJI in September 2013 and was accordingly forwarded to the FEI for inclusion in the 2014 calendar.