Zara Tindall brought out an unexpected new family member at her equestrian event on Saturday, revealing that she had expanded her brood of three dogs to include a black cocker spaniel pooch.
The mother of three looked relaxed as she took to the riding ring at the FEI Barefoot Retreats Burnham Market International Horse Trials in Norfolk, dressed in a pair of white jodhpurs, riding boots and a dark-coloured helmet.
After competing with her horse, Classicals Euro Star, at the event, Zara took a moment to walk her new dog around the grounds, showcasing its shiny black coat and boundless energy.
The Tindall family are already the proud owners of three other dogs: the black labrador mother-daughter pair named Storm and Pepper, and a brindle boxer named Blink. The trio are all named after “power women” in the Marvel universe.
The dogs live with Zara, her husband Mike Tindall, and their three kids, Mia, Lena and Lucas, at their Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire. Mike got candid about the possibility of losing Storm in an interview on the Oh My Dog podcast in 2024, as the senior pooch was slowing down.
“The only times I’ve ever cried, well really ever cried, [was] when I had a bull Mastiff called Misty who died and then Cawley, who was Storm’s mum, when she died as well,” he explained.
© PA Images via Getty Images“It’s difficult with her [Storm] at the moment because she is, you know, unfortunately, she’s very old now, and it’s getting to that sort of time where you’re asking the question, ‘Is she enjoying what she’s doing‘, you know?”
Learn more about Queen Elizabeth’s pet corgis below…
“She’s just got no interest,” he continued. “You shake a lead at her, you go out, you go outside. You have to sort of drag her outside. She’s like, ‘I don’t want to go‘. And I’m like, ‘Well, yeah, you need to sort of go too.‘“
“She’s like, an old human being. She hates noise. So whenever she’s, like, happy as Larry, and then you get down for the breakfast time, and she’s like, ‘Please open any door – I’m going to a different room because the noise is doing my head in,‘” he noted.
© PA Images via Getty ImagesZara takes after her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, in her love of animals. The late monarch famously adored corgis, ever since she was gifted one in 1933 by her father, King George VI. On her 18th birthday in 1944, Elizabeth was given a Pembroke Welsh corgi named Susan, who inspired her to begin breeding the dogs up until 2015.
© Bettmann ArchiveElizabeth went on to own more than 30 dogs in her lifetime, and was survived by two corgis and a cocker spaniel named Lissy, who went to live with her trainer, Ian Openshaw, after the Queen died in 2022.
“Dogs and horses are her passion, and it is with them, and the people who share that passion, that she truly relaxes,” wrote royal author Penny Junor in her book All The Queen’s Corgis. “Horses are a rich man’s game, but dogs are not. They are a great leveller, they attract people from all walks of life and, over the years, the Queen has had strong and genuine friendships with many of her fellow dog enthusiasts.“
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