Princess Anne visited Perthshire yesterday to view some prize-winning ponies.
The Princess Royal, who is a keen equestrian, arrived by helicopter to open the new Highland Pony Society Headquarters at Aberuthven.
She viewed several of the championship animals while being given a guided tour by Society officials.
The Royal visitor discussed the breed with experts, exploring a number of issues from how DNA testing is helping to preserve bloodlines to how the Highland Pony is enjoying a resurgence on shooting estates.
She presented two Highland ponies, who had each won awards at the Royal Highland Show, with special silver medals before giving a speech and unveiling a plaque.
Susie Robertson, secretary of the Highland Pony Society, said: “Our patron is Her Majesty the Queen and she would have liked to have been here herself but she couldn’t be as she was busy in Edinburgh and so Princess Anne came in her stead.
“She’s very interested in horses. She talked to people about the versatility of Highland Ponies – they can excel in about 10 different activities.
“She talked a lot about using Highland Ponies on the estates of Scotland and how people used them initially, because it was done for hundreds of years, but moved onto machinery as technology stepped up but now they are moving back to ponies as they are able to go in places that vehicles simply can’t go. People who go onto estates to stalk appreciate the experience of working with animals.
“Also we are now using DNA on stallions to allow them to be matched against their offspring, which will be a more reliable way of protecting the breed by identifying bloodlines.”
She added: “We had the in-hand and ridden champions from the Royal Highland Show here today and the in-hand one had her foal with her. Princess Anne presented them with a prestigious silver medal.”
The move to the new centre comes after a 10 year wait for the Society, which was previously based in Shore Road, Perth. The organisation bought the land two years ago and designed a purpose-built headquarters.
The opening ceremony comes after Prince Andrew, Duke of York, enjoyed a whistle-stop journey through Fife on Tuesday, when he took in the spiritual home of Scotch whisky.
The Duke visited Lindores Abbey Distillery, the site of the first ever written reference to whisky in 1494, to learn more about its integral role in the history of whisky.
His brother Prince Edward also made his first visit to Angus after being made Earl of Forfar.
