Brie, 18, from Bundarra and Bronte, 17, from Armidale and a year 12 student and The Armidale School have been competing together for many years at local shows and it was great to see them have joint success at Sydney Royal.

Bronte took home the win in a competitive novice lady rider 17-21 years - the first time competing in that age group - and Brie took home third place.

"It was very exciting to win the class and even better to have Brie in the winners line up with me," said Bronte, who has been competing at Sydney Royal in the show riding classes since she was eight years old. Bronte first broke her novice rider when she was 9 and hasn't been eligible again until she turned 17 and became a lady rider last year.

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"Sydney Royal is the highlight of our showing calendar and attracts the best riders from all over Australia so it is a huge achievement to win anything down there. My win also qualified me to ride in the champion lady rider which was a real thrill and something that doesn't happen very often in your life."

Bronte and Brie had a great warmup to Sydney Royal competing at several New England local shows taking home many supremes and champion prizes between them.

"I was very excited to compete at Sydney this year, especially considering we all missed out last year," said Brie.

"For me, it was very rewarding placing third in my rider class as I had been training very hard prior to the show.

"I love competing at the royal as it is a completely different atmosphere compared to local agricultural shows. It's a very social gathering of all our horsey friends and I enjoy just being down there.

"The competition is of an extremely high standard so to even place can be very difficult. My lady rider was very tough so to come out with a third I was overjoyed."

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