Quarantine in the castle: why the Queen only rides ponies now

We’ve all been quarantined and lockdowned for waaaay too long now but at least we can still be with our favorite animals. By now, we all know that hacking, riding and taking care of our horses are the best activities during a global pandemic and we’re not the only ones: the Queen was spotted, hacking around Windsor Castle.

The monarch, 94, headed out for a horse ride at Windsor Castle on Tuesday alongside her head groom, Terry Pendry. The Queen — whose love of horses goes back to her childhood, when she was given her first horse (a Shetland pony) when she was just 4 — was spotted bundled up with a tan jacket with the hood up.

Horseback riding is one of the ways the Queen has stayed busy while self-isolating with husband Prince Philip, 99, throughout the coronavirus pandemic. In May, the royal family shared new photos of the monarch riding a pony named Fern around Windsor Home Park ed-nederland.com.

Good to know: the Queen is only riding ponies now. The last horse she rode was Sanction, before she decided to focus only on ponies.”Sanction was almost telepathic and had a very strong bond with Her Majesty…Sanction was the last home-bred horse that Her Majesty rode before making the decision to start riding native ponies,” the Queen’s head groom Terry Pendry said. “A little closer to the ground, so to speak.”

Source: People.com