Instagram superstar, Teddy the Shetland (pictured), galloped onto social media in December 2015, and almost three years later has an impressive 102k followers, stealing the hearts of many. Teddy has since made headlines for attending Binky Felstead daughter’s birthday, as well as modelling for Dior.
If you are looking to catapult your horse or pony to social media stardom, here Teddy’s owner, Alice Goring reveals her top tips for those keen to turn their four-legged friends into the next internet sensation.
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Alice’s top tips:
1. There are so many animal accounts out there — you need to first find what makes your pet unique and really market that. With Ted, it is the fact he is super fluffy, a rare colour, very fast at running and has a very playful and inquisitive personality.
2. Be consistent with your filters and edit the photos as little as possible so that your pet doesn’t look overexposed.
3. Good photos are important, but funny and witty captions go down particularly well.
4. Post consistently. We try to post pictures of Ted twice a week but top it up with more regular stories, which seems to be a good balance.
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5. When you first start out, using hashtags and tagging larger accounts that post similar content is a great way to increase your reach.
6. Engage with your followers and reply to as many comments and messages as possible.
7. Instagram stories are a great for talking to followers — we love using the questions option on our stories as people can ask the questions they’ve always wanted to know the answers to.
8. Humanise your posts and post about things that people can relate to: food, work, clothes, exercise, relationships and politics!
9. Videos receive some of the best engagement and feedback from followers. Ted’s followers LOVE videos of him running. His legs are so tiny, he just looks like a blur of fast-moving fluff! We joke about his dreams to be in the Olympics — he’s so fast!
10. Get out and meet people. Ted does lots of meet and greets and public appearances throughout the year and his followers love this too.
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Former web features editor, point-to-point editor and digital racing editor
Gemma is an experienced journalist, who was a member of H&H staff from 2014 to September 2025. She is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s has reported from numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.
