Queen Elizabeth owned more than 100 horses at the time of her death. Take a look at her lifelong passion for thoroughbreds.
Lloyd Lee
- Queen Elizabeth II reigned the Commonwealth for 70 years, but her love for horses lasted longer.
- She began riding horses at age 3 and continued to do so until her death at 96.
Next to her adoration for corgis, Queen Elizabeth II arguably had an even larger love for well-bred equestrians.
The Queen died on Thursday at 96, marking an end to the longest-ruling monarch in history. But spanning longer than her seven-decade reign was her passion for horses.
Her Majesty began riding horses at 3 years old, when she was then Princess Elizabeth II, and continued to do so in the last year of her life, even against initial instructions from her health advisors, according to The Sun.
Here's a look at her lifelong long passion for horses.
The Queen began riding horses when she was 3 years old.
Queen Elizabeth received her first horse riding lesson when she was 3 years old, according to Town and Country Magazine.
Her first horse, given to her when she turned four, was a Shetland pony named Peggy, according to Metro UK.
The Queen came from a generation of equine lovers.
When Elizabeth's father King George VI died in 1952, he not only passed down the throne to his eldest daughter but also his own collection of horses, according to Metro US.
A year before his death, the first of Britain's annual flat racing events, the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, took place.
The Queen owned more than 100 horses in a given year.
The Queen was known to have bred and ridden various types of horses, including racehorses, carriage horses, hunters, sports and riding horses, and ponies, according to Horse & Hound magazine.
While it's difficult to know how many horses she had throughout her lifetime, before her death the Queen owned more than 100 horses, according to The New York Post.
Her favorite horses include 8 riding horses and 5 race horses.
In an interview with Horse & Hound magazine, the Queen's head groom, Terry Pendry, and her racing advisor, John Warren, pinpointed to 13 thoroughbreds among the long list of the Queen's favorite horses.
Pendry and Warren noted the horses' character, physical strength, or, for the racing breeds, some of the competitions they've won.
They include Aureole, the first horse the Queen inherited from her father, and Estimate, a reddish-brown mare that helped the Queen win the Gold Cup at the Royal Ascot in 2013, according to the magazine.
The Queen was a competitive racehorse owner.
Research by OLBG, a sports betting community, showed that since 1988, the Queen entered 3,441 races and won 566 of them in the UK. This helped her reign in about £8.7 million in prize cash.
According to the Racing Post, she had her best year in 2021, winning 36 races which put her in the top 20 racehorse owners.
But her most notable accomplishment was in 2013, when her horse, Estimate, won the Gold Cup, making her the first reigning monarch to win the title in the horse racing event's over two-century history, The Mirror reported.
The Queen's favorite US state to visit was Kentucky, horse country.
The Queen visited the Bluegrass State five times, with her most recent trip in 2007 to attend the Kentucky Derby, according to The Lexington Herald-Leader.
Her first trip to the state was in 1984, which was also the Queen's first private trip abroad since 1967, according to a New York Times article, "Lure of Thoroughbreds Shapes Elizabeth's Itinerary In U.S."
When the Queen died, Shannon Arvin, president and CEO of Keeneland, a horse racecourse and auction company based in Lexington, issued a statement noting the monarch's affinity for horse racing.
"Queen Elizabeth's lifelong love for horses and her passion for racing left an indelible legacy on the sport around the world and at Keeneland," Arvin said. "The Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) will be even more special this fall as we honor her memory and celebrate Her Majesty The Queen's Platinum Jubilee."
The Queen attended every Royal Windsor Horse Show since it was founded.
The Queen attended every Royal Windsor Horse Show since it started in 1943, Reuters reported.
The closest she's come to missing UK's largest horse show was this year in May when she skipped the opening day due to health concerns.
Even then, she took that time to visit her horses privately, The Telegraph reported.
On the second day of the show, the Queen made an appearance in good spirits.
The Queen kept riding horses up to the last few months of her life.
Just a few months before her death, the Queen was reported to be back on the saddle, according to The Sun.
The report came just nine months after a source told the tabloid paper that Her Majesty was instructed to give up her beloved sport due to health concerns.
The Queen has passed her love for horses down the royal line of succession.
The royal tradition has already been passed down throughout the royal family.
Zara Tindall, one of eight of Elizabeth's grandchildren, won the Olympic silver medal in 2012 for the equestrian event representing Great Britain.
Tindall's one-year-old son also has already gotten some exposure to thoroughbreds.
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