[1] The horse fair is held each year in early June, attracting roughly 10,000 Romani and Travellers, about 1,000 caravans, several hundred horse-drawn vehicles, and about 30,000 visitors.

There is a market selling a variety of goods, including those traditional to the Romani and Irish traveller communities, and a range of other horse-related products.

The 'New Fair', held in early June on Gallows Hill, which was then unenclosed land outside the borough boundary, began in 1775 for sheep and cattle drovers and horse dealers to sell their stock; by the 1900s it had evolved into a major Romani and Traveller occasion.

[a][4] The fair is a regular but spontaneous gathering, and is not organised by any individual or group, although the Gypsies and Travellers have a Shera Rom (Head Romani), who occupies Fair Hill under Licence from the Town Council, and arranges toilets, rubbish skips, water supplies, horse grazing etc.

The highway at that location is closed to vehicle traffic for the main days of the fair, which are now the Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The horse fair has generated some controversy over the years, with some complaints of mess being left in the town,[6] violent crime,[7] and animal cruelty.

The fair brings in significant income for local businesses and land owners, particularly accommodation and fast food providers, public houses, grocery stores and campsite owners, but many local businesses prefer to close their doors while the fair is in progress.

[15] In 2021, Shera Rom Billy Welch warned Home Secretary Priti Patel that the event was threatened by the proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, stating that if the bill was enforced, police could confiscate the homes of Gypsies and Travellers if, upon complaint of local residents, they did not immediately move on.

[20][21] According to police estimates, 300-400 people visited Appleby over the weekend of 4–6 June, mostly day trippers, being a mixture of Gypsies and tourists.

Warnings and advice are given in borderline cases, and the very great majority of horses at the fair are well looked after, well treated, and in good condition.

The RSPCA and Gypsy and Traveller representatives issued statements appealing for information about the persons responsible and condemning the cruelty, which Shera Rom Billy Welch described as 'a stain on the reputation of the fair which will be hard to wash out.'