Zara Phillips says her baby is 'like having a high performance horse'

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Zara Phillips has confessed she wasn't very maternal before birth of Mia
Her first child with rugby player husband Mike Tindall was born in January
The Queen's granddaughter also revealed her return to work was hard
The 33-year-old says she is set on getting gold at next Olympics in 2016

Published: 13:11 EST, 31 October 2014 | Updated: 19:22 EST, 31 October 2014

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The Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips has compared having her baby to having a horse - because they both need feeding schedules.

The royal has confessed not being very maternal before having her first child Mia in January and admitted her return to work was harder than she expected.

The 33-year-old, who married ex-England rugby player Mike Tindall in 2011, was speaking to CNN Equestrian about becoming a mother and her career since becoming a parent.

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Zara Phillips with baby Mia (left) and on her horse High Kingdom (right). The royal has compared her daughter to a 'high performance horse'

She said: 'I've really enjoyed it. In a funny kind of way it's like having another high performance horse on your hands.

'You've got to get them in a schedule and feed. I wasn't maternal at all before I had Mia but I'm lucky she's very good.'

'I sat on a horse about five weeks afterwards for about ten minutes. I was teaching my muscle groups again what they were doing - you know I've never not ridden for that long.'

And just eight and a half months after the birth of her daughter, who is 16th in line to the throne, she took part in the showjumping at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Normandy, coming 11th.

It wasn't the first time she was spotted juggling being a new mother with her eventing.

In June she and her husband Mike Tindall took baby daughter Mia - pronounced My-ya- to the Salperton Park Horse Trials in Gloucestershire.

Pictured with Mia when she was six-months-old at the Salperton Park Horse Trials in Gloucestershire in June

One minute she had baby Mia strapped to her front, the next she was galloping around the trial course

Zara holds her daughter Mia Grace Tindall - who is 16th in line to the throne, at the Festival of British Eventing

Former England rugby centre Mike Tindall, pictured her pushing his daughter's buggy, while Zara competes

Zara lifts the hat out of her daughter's eyes as she's held by her sister-in-law Autumn Phillips while at the driving range as Mike Tindall hosted golf event in May

Tindall took over watching their daughter - who they named for no other reason than 'they both liked the name' so that Zara, daughter of Princess Anne, could compete at the event.

She told CNN that their daughter had been on the road with her and 'it fits in really well'.

And little Mia Grace got the chance to watch her father in action - although this time on the driving range rather than the rugby pitch - back in May when she was four-months-old.

Tindall was hosting the event in support of Rugby for Heroes and the On Course Foundation at the Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, Wales.

He is a patron for the charity and hosted the tournament to raise money for the cause.

Zara, who lives at her mother's Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire, was the first senior member of the Royal Family to sell photographs of her new baby to a celebrity magazine – for a reported fee of £150,000.

At the time of going to print in March, senior officials at Buckingham Palace were not made aware of the lucrative deal with Hello Magazine in advance.

Zara Phillips shows a bump riding at horse trial (archive)

Less than two months after her birth on January 17, Zara arrives with Mia (pronounced My-ya) at Kingsholm Stadium to watch Mike Tindall playing rugby

The couple, pictured at the Hambledon Horse Trials in Oxfordshire in April, say that Mia Grace is 'very good'

The royal has confessed that she was not very maternal before having her first child and admitted her return to work was harder than she expected

The equestrian revealed to the American cable network that she felt 'a little bit glum' after walking away with a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012, and she she is intent on getting a gold in 2016.

The former world eventing champion was the first member of the Royal Family to win an Olympic medal as part of Team GB.

Her mother presented Zara with her winning medal at the celebrated event in London.

She also said her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, who is still riding horses at the age of 88 had been a massive influence on her career.

She added that her love and passion for horses has filtered down through the family.

The couple have previously revealed that they would like their daughter to follow in their mother's footsteps and already have a Shetland pony lined up for her to learn to ride on.

Zara has no Royal title or taxpayer funding and earns a living as a professional equestrian, funding her stables through sponsorship deals with firms including Land Rover and Rolex.

Zara Phillips with her husband and ex-England rugby player Mike Tindall, who she married in 2011

The couple, who live at Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire, share a kiss at the Invictus Games during a game of celebrity wheelchair rugby in September