February 26, 2021 - 11:38 GMT Emily Nash The Princess Royal highlighted the issue of Equine Grass Sickness as she spoke on a farming podcast Princess Anne has spoken about the "devastating impact" of a mysterious disease which killed five of the Queen 's beloved horses. The Princess appeared on the OnFarm podcast to launch a new fellowship for research into Equine Grass Sickness , which is almost always fatal to horses. It comes after the Balmoral Estate lost five Highland ponies to the deadly illness between June 2017 and May 2018. READ: The Queen urges nation to get vaccinated as she pays subtle tribute to Prince Philip during call Loading the player... WATCH: Princess Anne speaks about devastating impact of disease on beloved horses Asked whether she had encountered EGS, Anne told presenter Ross Montague: "Yes. More so recently at Balmoral where they've had quite a lot of losses sadly. And that's - you know, particularly when you're breeding Highland Ponies and you lose two really nice colts in one go. That's a pretty devastating impact, as well as the fact that they are working ponies, it's important to keep those gene pools relevant." In a previous episode of the food and farming podcast, Sylvia Ormiston, who manages Her Majesty's Balmoral Highland Pony Stud, described how the Queen made a final visit to one of the horses, a stallion named Hercules in the hours before his death in May 2018, which came two weeks after another stallion, Lord, was put down with the illness. Their deaths followed those of Friendly, a two-year-old filly, and her mother Clunie within 24 hours of each other and that of a male called Omar, in 2017. MORE: 10 sweet photos that show Prince Charles and Princess Anne's close sibling bond MORE: Prince Edward makes rare comment about homeschooling his children The Queen riding in the grounds of Balmoral in 1982 Sylvia … [Read more...] about Princess Anne speaks of the Queen’s devastating loss after horses struck by deadly illness