Mike Tindall won't allow wife Zara to teach him how to ride a horse

Mike Tindall won’t let wife Zara teach him to ride horses.

The former rugby player – who has Mia, 10, Lena, five, and three-year-old Lucas with the royal– thinks he would be a very “tough student” so doesn’t want the equestrian to get him on horseback, despite it being a favourite pastime of the rest of her family, including her mother, Princess Anne, 73, and late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth.

Asked if he’s learned to ride since joining the Royal Family, Mike told Britain’s HELLO! magazine: “No! It would be a bit like asking Zara to learn to play rugby.

“I know she does it with the kids, but I think we’d argue if she was trying to teach me to ride – and I would probably be a tough student.”

Despite Zara’s royal background, the ‘Good, The Bad and the Rugby’ podcaster insisted their lives aren’t always glamorous.

Asked the most un-royal thing they do, he said: “Picking up horse poo!

“We have three dogs, three kids and horses, so there’s a lot of poo in my life.

“It’s a great leveller.”

The couple are keen for their children to follow in their sporting footsteps, because there’s so many lessons they can learn from being part of a team, and they encourage their brood to be as active as possible.

Mike said: “We’re not different to other parents and our weekends end up being about the kids and getting them to their sports.

“It’s a mixture of rugby, hockey, swimming, gymnastics.

“I think sport gives so many things to kids, whether it’s learning how to be a team member or determination.

“It has given Zara and me so much that we want to expose them to as many sports as we can.”