The stables at Buckingham Palace are so large that Prince Charles has referred to them as "a village in the fullest sense; a close community of people both live and work there, and it has its own economy, founded upon traditional skills which are still practiced there, as they have been for centuries." The queen learned to ride there when she was 3.
The horses' home is kept neat and shiny as a new pin. The walls are covered in pale green hexagonal tiles, and the floor is made up of smooth geometrical bricks. Buckingham Palace architect John Nash built the Royal Mews for George IV with a classical clock tower and grand Doric columns. Grooms constantly pick up after the horses, and their manure is used in the Buckingham Palace gardens.