There was a surprise in store for the Princess Royal when she visited the Greatwood racehorse rescue and rehabilitation centre near Marlborough on Monday.

The princess visited the centre at Clench Common to officially open an unsaddling area paid for by a donation from the Wooden Spoon charity that helps disadvantaged children.

She unveiled a plaque and praised the work of Wooden Spoon both at Greatwood and elsewhere.

The area, that wooden Spoon donated £33,000 towards, provides somewhere for the children who take part in the centre’s unique HorsePower programme to wash and relax after they have been working with the ex-racehorses that Greatwood saves from being put down at the end of their careers.

As the Princess Royal was about to leave at the end of a one hour visit to Greatwood she watched as one of the Greatwood staff Coudy Cecil encouraged former racehorse Transpique to do a few tricks just for her.

Five year old Transpique, or T-P, to all the Greatwood staff bowed to the princess before kneeling down and finally lying down on his side.

The princess, clearly impressed by the horse, jokingly asked if the horse got down his knees so that she could get on him.

The horse learned his tricks from Mr Cecil who in his native Czechoslovakia trained horses for jousting.

However a hectic schedule prevented the royal visitor from meeting any other of the sixty-plus horses that Greatwood is currently looking after and, unfortunately for the dozens of children who greeted her waving Union flags, there was no opportunity for any of them to meet her either.

However before the princess arrived some of the special needs children who have been taking part in Greatwood’s unique HorsePower programme did have the chance to meet the racing legend Willie Carson.

Carson, who won over 4,000 races in his glittering career, is now a racing broadcaster and he presented certificates to 20 children who had completed HorsePower schemes.

He told the children: “Well done all of you for working hard to get these certificates.” He had a few words of advice for them, saying that he had never let the handicap of being born small get him down. “Everyone one of you has a gift and all you have to do is find it and use it all your life,” Carson urged the children.

Children who met the former jockey came from Rowdeford Special School near Devizes, Springfield School at Calne, Dowland School in Devizes and Stonehenge School near Amesbury.

There was also a group of pupils from St Peter’s Junior School in Marlborough to welcome the princess as she stepped out of the Range Rover she had driven herself.

The HorsePower programme encourages special needs children to work with the horses which gives them confidence and and boosts their self esteem.

Michael Yeadon who runs Greatwood with his wife Helen told the assembled guests the HorsePower programme was launched after Greatwood discovered how children suffering with conditions like autism and Down’s syndrome benefited from working with horses.