The Queen has ridden a succession of different horses since her first appearance at Trooping the Colour in 1947, the first ceremony to be held after the end of the Second World War. One mount in particular stands out, however: a black mare named Burmese.

Burmese was given to Her Majesty by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1969 when representatives came to England to perform at the Royal Windsor Horse Show.

The horse was seven years old at the time. She had been trained in Ottawa and was ready for her first Trooping the Colour parade later the same year.

The Queen rode her in the annual Birthday Parade every year after that until she was retired after the 1986 ceremony. Following her retirement, The Queen decided that she did not wish to have a new horse trained in her place and Her Majesty has attended the parade in a horse-drawn carriage ever since.

On her visit to Regina in 2005, The Queen unveiled a statue of the mare who died in 1990.