THIS year’s Young Eventhorse Series commenced on Wednesday at Forth Mountain where much remained the same as in previous seasons apart from the early appearance of the Smith Brothers Eventing team.

The Gilford operation usually waits for the qualifier at Tullylish to try to book a place in the young event horse championships at the Dublin Horse Show but the scaling back of one-day events in the Northern Region of Eventing Ireland has resulted in a change of policy.