ART lovers have been given the chance to see a pony fit for a prince.

A bronze sculpture of one of the Duke of Edinburgh's favourite fell ponies features in an exhibition at the Blake Gallery, in York.

Artist Sally Arnup, of Holtby, near York, was asked last year to cast the pony as a present for the Duke of Edinburgh's birthday.

"He's very interested in competition driving with a team of ponies and I was asked to work on a particular horse of his called Storm," said Sally. "I went down to Buckingham Palace to present it, and the Queen was there and was rather sweet.

"The Queen has 70 drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and I was able to look at the pictures of horses that he did. They were very much like the fell pony I was asked to work on."

Sally was given permission to cast an number of bronzes identical to the model made for the Duke of Edinburgh, and the one on display at the Blake Head Gallery will be only one of 55 bronzes on show, with prices ranging from hundreds to thousands of pounds. The gallery opens Tuesday to Saturday, from 10am to 5pm. The exhibition ends on November 9.