After an injury to her horse forced local rider Sarah Apperley to pull out of the Canberra Royal last year, she is ready to return to compete in the annual event this week with her 8 year old part Arabian mare Dennyce.

This year, Sarah will be competing in the in the led Hunter Galloway 14.2 hands high to 15 hands high event, ridden novice Hunter Galloway event, Ridden Hunter Galloway 14.2 hands high to 15 hands high event, and Ladles Hunter Galloway event.

The Canberra Royal will take place from 20-22 February.

To qualify for the Canberra Royal, Sarah had to get six wins or placings across ag shows around the region over the last twelve months.

As part of this, Sarah competed at Blayney, Cowra, Grenfell, Eugowra, Young and Forbes Shows, as well as the Cootamuindra Summer Show where she came home with the Reserve Champion Led Galloway as well as Champion in the Ridden Hunter Halloway Class.

Sarah used the experience competing at the Cootamundra Summer Show as a practice for the Canberra Royal.

This will be the fourth time Sarah has competed at the Canberra Royal, competing twice previously with her Hunter hack Banjo and her Grey Hunter Galloway mare, Rory, who she sadly lost in the may after her Canberra Royal run in 2023.

Sarah said she likes to compete at the Canberra Royal as it is a bit closer and easier to get to than the Sydney Royal.

She hopes the Canberra Royal is a stepping stone for her dreams to compete at the National horse show.

hile she has competed three times previously at the Canberra Royal, Sarah qualified last year, but her competition plans were dashed after taking her mare out for a bush ride to get her out of the paddock.

Sarah said Dennyce got a bad stone bruise and didn't recover in time to compete.

Following on having to pull out of competing at last year's Canberra Royal, Sarah said she was a bit disheartened, but both her and Dennyce have worked hard to get competition ready for this year.

Sarah said it has been a bit of a fun year, with preparing Dennyce for the noise of the sideshow, after a mixed response to the loud noises.

As part of her training, Sarah and Dennyce work either ridden or led three or four times a week to get fit to show.

Sarah has been showing horses since she was thirteen and has been training with Dennyce training since the mare was broken in to get her to the level she is

She has been working with Dennyce for the last seven years in training and preparing for shows, after having bred her to be a hack show horse.

Sarah said the eight year old mare still keeps learning despite the time spent training.

Following on from Canberra, Sarah said she plans to let Dennyce have a rest.

Sarah's love of showing began when she was a teenager, taking her mum's standardbred gelding to compete at the Berry Show, where she had a ball.

After getting her own horse at 15, Sarah has continued on showing and working with horses since, as well as working in photography.