Some of the biggest changes centre around young horse and young rider classes.

The number of qualifiers for four-year-old show jumping horses has been halved from four to two and the best 18 horses at each of two qualifiers, based on the marks awarded on the day, will now qualify for the Four-Year-Old National Championship at the Dublin Horse Show.

As well as the reduced number of qualifiers, the marking system for the four-year-old show jumping horses will be changed to give more weight to rideability and future potential. Three judges will be on duty at the qualifiers to score the horses in the second round for jumping technique/natural ability, future potential and rideability. The warm-up will also be considered an element of the competition.

Building on the success of the children on horses class introduced in 2013, the RDS will qualify an extra four riders and add a team element to the competition for 2014. Sixteen riders, as opposed to 12, will now qualify for the children on horses at Dublin.

In addition, the first competition at the show, Competition 108 A will take the form of a team championship, where qualified riders will be drawn randomly to form four teams of four, each with a designated chef d’equipe. The aim is to help talented young riders develop teamwork skills which would be essential if they were part of Ireland’s future Nations’ Cup teams.

In 2014, all riders competing in children on horses and pony show jumping qualifiers (128cm, 138cm and 148cm ponies) must have attained Bar 1 of the SJI Mackey Five Bar Training System to be eligible to compete in the 2014 Dublin qualifiers. The introduction of the certification system for the 128cm ponies last year saw a significant improvement in the standard of riding and competition, so much so that the league system introduced in 2013 will revert back to the standard qualification system for 2014, with the top seven pony and rider combinations from each of the four qualifiers competing at the Dublin.

Two new side-saddle classes, a senior and junior category, have also been provisionally scheduled into the 2014 show programme. The RDS and the Side-Saddle Association of Ireland will select two qualifier shows from which five horse and rider combinations will qualify for each category.

Finally, the upper age limit for show hunter classes has been reduced to eight years, following a series of consultation meetings with industry experts.

The new limit will be applied across all show hunter classes for 2014, with the intention that the age will be reduced further to seven years old in 2015.