Mrs Edwards of Nangus in southern NSW is one of Australia’s most accomplished barrel racing competitors.

Together with her six-year-old Quarter Horse mare Roc n Shakira she claimed victory in the derby at Grong Grong and won a buckle and cash.

However, she described the journey of preparing her home-bred mare as a being a difficult one.

Mrs Edwards said the mare was not easy to get along with initially and had needed a lot of work to prepare for competition.

“She has been a challenge,” said Mrs Edwards.

“It has not been an easy road with this horse, but she has finally started to turn around and do the job,” she said.

Determination and hard work have paid off and now Roc n Shakira is one of the most dominant forces in the feature events for four to six year old barrel racing horses.

After notching up the win at Grong Grong Roc n Shakira was also crowned as the Southern Classic Series winner.

The mare had previously won and placed at events including Chiltern, Victoria, Tarcutta, and Deniliquin.

“It was satisfying to see her to do well because she has been a lot of hard work.”

Mrs Edwards now has the barrel horse national finals at Tamworth in September in her sights.

Roc n Shakira is by the stallion Roc n Morn from a mare called Miss Dry Time and was bred at the Nangus based 3D Quarter Horse Stud.

“It means a lot to breed a horse and then compete on it … we have had an involvement since the day she it the ground,” she said.

Mrs Edwards said interest in the sport of barrel racing was increasing each year.

The Australian Barrel Horse Association (ABHA), the sanctioning body of the Grong Grong event, has 1500 members.

“The sport is growing hugely,” Mrs Edwards said.

Barrel racing has prominence on the rodeo circuit but she said classic events were important too.

“They give people somewhere to compete on younger horses without having to run against open rodeo horses,” she said.

For Mrs Edwards her interest in riding barrel horses spans at least 30 years.

“It is my favourite event and I enjoy training horses,” she said.

Mrs Edwards said there was good demand for barrel horses and people were keen to enter the sport.

The Grong Grong event attracted competitors from throughout NSW and Victoria. In addition to the classic the day featured competitions for tiny tots under eight years, junior divisional events and senior divisional categories.