IRISH riders wishing to enter a single home-soil FEI-endorsed international event no longer have the option of purchasing a single-event registration.

Heretofore, riders could register for a single Irish international for €100, an option many amateurs or budding professionals took for going to the Millstreet or Mullingar internationals.

For 2024 however, riders in all disciplines wishing to compete at the home internationals must pay the full annual registration fee of €300. They are also required to pay to register their horse, which is €70 for a renewal or €90 for the first-time. The registration is paid to Horse Sport Ireland, who then pay FEI. The FEI website shows that for 2024, their fee for athlete registration is €10.30.

In Britain, show jumpers pay British Showjumping £210 annually for FEI registraion or £30 for a single event. Equestrian Australia charges athletes in all disciplines $45, while American athletes pay $35 to US Equestrian for their FEI registration.

In 2019, in a story about an FEI registration fee price hike, a HSI spokesman acknowledged the value of the single event registration. “These reduced fees are in place for riders who may wish to compete only at home internationals or a small number of international events,” said the HSI spokesperson.

The Showjumpers Club told The Irish Field they have been contacted by a number of riders over the last week, who are upset that the option to avail of a single event license has been removed.

“All have stated that this would have serious implications for their plans to compete at International classes at either Mullingar or Millstreet,” a spokesman said. Similarly, this will have a negative effect on the few Irish international shows that we still have, these shows need support and this move will have the opposite effect.

“The cost increase is very significant and we will be in contact with both Horse Sport Ireland and ShowjumpingIreland in the coming week to ask what the rationale is and why there was no notification of a change from HSI to any riders or affiliates.”

Show goes on

Robert Fagan of Mullingar Equestrian said he was very disappointed in the move, as it hinders the show’s aim of being somewhere riders can gain experience before going international.

“Our show will go ahead and it will be wonderful, we have ensured that, despite losing the DAFM classes and the prize money that went with that, as well as the hosting grant we used to have.

“We are doing everything we can to provide riders with a platform to gain education and experience at a higher level and learn the international protocols but this kind of thing flies in the face of that.

“If HSI really wanted to help riders they would reverse this or even do away with the fee to give more riders the opportunity to compete at this level.

“€300 just to register - how can any normal rider who is on the national circuit justify that? This is another kick for the industry to take from our governing body when what we need is support.

“Thankfully, we have huge support among the riders and wonderful sponsors on board and we will make a huge success of our event regardless.”

HSI CEO Denis Duggan said: “Unfortunately, HSI had little option but to remove the previous single event FEI registration in November 2023, due to widespread breaches of the Single Event License.

“The FEI does not offer a single event registration, and as such when HSI provided a single event registration, in actual fact, someone was registered for the year. Some occasional riders were aware of this, and the single event registration was being widely abused.

“For example, in 2023, 58 single event show jumping registrations were completed. However, 36 of these athletes competed at more than one event, which meant that almost two-thirds of athletes were not paying to participate in second, third, or any subsequent events.

“In eventing, there were 60 single use registrations, while 33 athletes that held single registrations, representing 55% of this group, competed at more than one additional event without paying the appropriate license fee.”