RIDERS and producers of young event horses will have ample opportunity to get their youngsters out over the next six weeks or so as the well-heralded Stepping Stones to Success League starts on Tuesday while, as announced this week, the Young Eventhorse Series gets underway on the last day of the month.

As soon as they were forced to call-off their Stepping Stones league in mid-March when the lockdown kicked in, organisers Orla Roche and Pat Peare declared that this was a postponement not a cancellation and dates for the rescheduled league at Wexford Equestrian were published towards the end of May.

Thanks to a lot of persuasive work on Roche’s part, the league, which facilitates thoroughbreds and ponies as well as four- and five-year-old young event horses, has managed to retain sponsorship from Childeric Saddlers, Equijump and NutriScience plus a syndicate of thoroughbred organisations and racehorse trainers. There is a prize-fund of over €12,000.

All legs and finals of the league have been scheduled to take place on Tuesdays (July 21st and 28th, August 4th, 11th and 18th) but these summer dates have proven so popular with pony owners that the majority of their animals will compete on the Wednesday morning each week. Exceptions will be made for pony riders (children or adults) who have horses competing on the Tuesdays when they will be allowed run their ponies then as well.

Full details for all classes, and qualification criteria for the finals, can be found on the Stepping Stones website. Entries must be made on www.online.equipe.com where details will be taken for competitors and for any travelling grooms/owners to comply with Covid-19 protocols. Entries will open at 8pm each Wednesday and close 48 hours later – or earlier if classes fill. The Equipe system will provide online live results each day.

As the league continues to get support from the IHWT (Irish Horse Welfare Trust) and Irish Horse Gateway, a new dimension this year is an online auction which, in partnership with Equine Elite Ireland, will run live on September 1st and 2nd. Again, further details are available on the Stepping Stones website.

At time of writing, details still have to be finalised for the Young Eventhorse Series, legs of which will run at Tullylish (Friday, July 31st), Forth Mountain (Wednesday, August 5th), Rincoola (Thursday, August 13th) and Scarteen (Tuesday, August 25th). On the same days, there will be a class for Junior/Young Rider event horses and competitions for Connemara ponies and Irish Draught horses.