This year's show will include qualifiers for the Ponies (UK) Burghely Event Pony Competition.
There will also be an additional Ridden Horse Ring which will host the Ridden hunter Classes – Light, Middle and Heavy Weights, Cobs Coloureds, Smalls and Veterans.
Not wanting the children to have all the fun, organisers have included a Family Riding Horse Class which will be judged on the horse's manners, obedience and turn out, not its conformation. The judges will be looking for a horse exceeding 148cms that is suitable to be ridden by novice riders who have attained their 16th birthday by 1st January 2009.
The last class in the Ridden Horse ring will be the 'Race Horse to Riding Horse' class. This is a new class in the Dublin Schedule this year and it will give the retrained race horses a class of their own. This class will be judged as per the R.D.S. Schedule.
Due to last years' enormous entry in the Family Pony Ring, the size of the ring has been increased and divided the classes up to suit every ability of rider. All the entry fees in this ring will go to the charity 'Fields of Life'.
The feature class in the Family Pony Ring is the Carrowdore Saddlery Fancy Dress competition. We hope you will all put in as much effort this year as you did last year as it was a truly imaginative and colourful display.
In the Working Hunter Ring the Derby classes, which are once again sponsored by Equisuds of Comber, are actually qualifiers for the Ponies (UK) Burghely Event Pony Competition. The two pony classes will be run under the Ponies (UK) rules and will give the top three placed ponies and riders in each class the opportunity to compete in the final which is held at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials on Sunday, September 6.
These competitions run slightly differently to the rest of the Working Hunter Classes. The riders have to ride a set short dressage test similar to their regular show that they would ride in their second phase and then go immediately to their jumping phase which will include some cross country type obstacles. The competition will conclude with an in-hand inspection by both judges.
The exact details and rules of these classes are available on www.poniesuk.org and riders should make themselves familiar with the information before entering on July 25.
There are of course performance, novice and open working hunter classes in each height category, ponies starting at 9am followed by similar horse classes including the Equisuds Derby in the afternoon.
The Show Jumping ring will start at 9.30am with the horse classes, followed by the pony classes in the afternoon. These classes were well supported last year and we will hope to build on the numbers again this year.