Her horses are foaled at the Royal Stud in the Sandringham Estate. As yearlings, they are raised at Polhampton Lodge Stud in Hampshire, before being passed on to the training facilities of any one of five trainers. Once they finish racing, they remain in her care into retirement and if they are sick or injured are looked after at Polhampton. As well as thoroughbreds, the Queen also breeds Shetland ponies at Balmoral in Scotland and Fell ponies at Hampton Court. The Fell ponies are used by Prince Philip for carriage driving, which he is still able to enjoy, although not at a competitive level. In 2007, she opened a full-time Highland pony stud at Balmoral to help preserve the breed.

The Queen, who had her first riding lesson at the age of four, still rides out regularly with her groom Terry Pendry at Windsor and Balmoral. She refuses to wear a hard hat and once told trainer Ian Balding: ‘You don’t have to have your hair done like I do.’ She has confessed, however, that in her dotage she enjoys riding only when the weather is decent: ‘I’m rather a fair-weather rider now. I don’t like getting cold and wet.’ Instead of the spirited half thoroughbreds she once rode, she now prefers the safety and width of her homebred Fell ponies, especially one called Carltonlima Emma.

In 2014, the Queen was honoured with a lifetime achievement award from the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the International Federation for Equestrian Sports, at a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Hailed as a ‘true horsewoman’ who has an ‘extraordinary bond’ with her horses, the Queen was given a white gold and diamond brooch of nine interlinked horseshoes, which had been especially created for her by FEI President Princess Haya, who is married to Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, the world’s largest racehorse owner, both of whom are frequently guests of the Queen at Ascot.

Another race meeting that the Queen attends regularly is the Epsom Derby, a race she has never won, although her horse Aureole was placed second in 1953. Prince Philip always goes to the Derby with the Queen, but he has been seen in the back of the royal box reading a book rather than the race card. In the year of her ninetieth birthday in 2016, the Queen agreed to present the trophies to the winning connections for the first time. On the balcony of the royal box, the Queen could be seen surveying the scene with obvious enjoyment as she chatted with John Warren. Prince Philip was leaning over the edge of the box having an animated conversation with Prince Andrew.