ENTRIES close on Thursday next, May 30th, for the first qualifying round of this year’s Young Eventhorse Series (YES!) which commences the following Tuesday, June 4th, at the Stevenson family’s Co Armagh venue, Tullylish.

A conduit for the young event horse classes at the Dublin Horse Show in August, the series continues on Tuesday, June 11th, at Scarteen, on Tuesday, June 18th, at Forth Mountain Stud and on Tuesday, July 2nd, at Rincoola. The series is restricted to four- and five-year-old Irish-bred horses with named passports identifying sire, dam, damsire, microchip and breeder.

Sponsorship of the YES! leagues is being delivered by Horse Sport Ireland and is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s national breeding services. Additional sponsorship from the Traditional Irish Horse Association and Treo Eile is on offer at each qualifier and at the RDS.

“We have an exciting line-up of international judges on board again for this year,” said series co-ordinator, Angela McGahern. “Following the flat work display, they will be giving feedback to riders, which will include tips on training and production.” Cooley Rosalent, winner of the CCI5*-L in Kentucky last month, is just one of the many successful graduates of the series. As usual, qualifiers for the Junior/Young Riders event horse class at Dublin will be held on the same day and YES! are pleased to announce that they have secured increased funding for the Junior/Young Riders league. There is also a revised ridden test for these qualifiers, which are restricted to Irish-bred horses aged five to seven. On the Saturday following each YES! fixture, the four venues named above will host qualifiers for the Irish Draught performance classes (two), the Connemara performance hunter classes (two) and for three of the four ridden Connemara classes at the RDS. This year, riders will receive five penalties for misuse of the whip in the jumping phase. Owners and riders are advised to read the rules of all competitions carefully (e.g incorrect tack will result in elimination) on both YES! and Dublin Horse Show websites and to ensure that their animals’ passport details are correct.