Zara Tindall has opened up about the early days of her equestrian career being trained by her parents, revealing that her father Mark Phillips was a 'tough coach' and 'quite critical'. Speaking on the Talk Horse podcast, hosted by equestrian Pippa Funnell and Tristan Phipps, Zara discussed her childhood love of horses and the rigid teaching techniques she experienced.
Parents' strict approach
Zara, who is King Charles's niece, shared that when she decided to pursue horse riding full time as a teenager, her parents told her they would not use royal connections to help her advance in the sport. She said: "When I was about to leave school – and I had a great last couple of years at school and didn't do very much work; I played lots of sport – I then thought, [I'll] just see if I'm any good at it. You know, riding a horse, try and find something that could maybe go all the way."
She continued: "I think my dad and my mum were like, 'But you have to do it properly. And this is how it's going to work. And you're not getting any help and you need to produce results'. So that's kind of how it started. I was like, 'I'll just have a crack, see if I'm any good at it'."
Childhood around horses
Both Princess Anne and her ex-husband Mark Phillips had impressive equestrian careers, meaning their children, Zara and Peter Phillips, were immersed in the world from a young age. Anne won gold and silver medals in European championships in both 1971 and 1975, while Mark won representing Great Britain at the 1972 Munich Olympics and claimed silver at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
As a result of spending much of their childhood around horses, Zara said she and her brother were not shielded from the less glamorous side of the sport. "We had to do everything with them. We had to clean our tack. We had to muck them out. My mum and dad's head girl at the time was like a Rottweiler. And if we didn't do it, we were in serious trouble," Zara said. She added that the woman was 'amazing', saying she 'completely taught us' the discipline involved in keeping horses.
Tough coach
Zara said that her royal connections did not impact her when she was a child involved in a youth pony club, and added that her toughest critic was always her father. "Mum's very relaxed," Zara said. "She's like, 'Just, you know, just do what you do', whereas my father's like, 'More of this, more of that'. My father was quite critical... Very rarely you would get a, 'Yeah, that was good', out of him.
"So I was always striving to try and get that comment. He was a tough coach. He doesn't beat around the bush basically. If you want an honest opinion, he'll give it to you."
Zara added that she is trying to be 'not so tough' on her own children, who are also involved in the equestrian world. She said she had recently taken her eldest child Mia and eight-year-old Lena jumping alongside her brother Peter's daughters Savannah and Isla Phillips. She joked that Mia was less receptive to advice from her mother than her cousins were, adding: "[Dad] was a tough coach, but I'm trying not to be quite that bad with my own kids."
Upcoming event
At the end of the podcast, Zara revealed she would be participating in the inaugural London International Eventing Challenge on Friday 18 December 2026. Announcing the news, podcast host Pippa Funnell said: "We've got some really exciting news. Our reigning National Champion, none other than Zara Tindall, has signed up to do the Eventing Challenge at the London International Horse Show." Co-host Tristan Phipps added: "The names get bigger and bigger - people are starting to get really excited about this!"
