Sallyanne Burberymayes, 27, is part of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, which has been practising a complex routine ahead of the event.
The group of riders performed a display on Parade Square at Woolwich Barracks in south-east London on Thursday.
They were then seen practising a procedure known as a Musical Drive, where mounted gun teams performed choreographed manoeuvres before mock-firing 13-pound First World War-era guns.
The 48 Irish draught horses will perform on the day. The VE Day procession on May 5 will start from Parliament Square. The procession will travel along Whitehall and The Mall, and finish at the Queen Victoria Memorial. There will be a flypast by the Armed Forces over The Mall and Buckingham Palace.
Gunner Burberymayes described how excited her father, Alan, is to see her involved in the historic day, as he also served in the past.
She said: “He is just as passionate as I am about it.
“He’s my number one fan.
Gunner Burberymayes, who as a first-year apprentice farrier is learning the skilled craft of shoeing cavalry horses, added from her spot in the forge: “The family are telling people to look out for me on TV.”
Sergeant Paul Renton, 41, from Coventry, said the unit is training in more complex manoeuvres than those they will perform at the VE Day parade.
He said: “If we can do a Musical Drive, the ceremonial parade is a walk in the park.”
In a Musical Drive, six-horse teams pull wheeled field guns at speed, echoing First World War military traditions, and perform technical moves such as the “scissor” where gun teams cross.
“We cannot afford to get it wrong,” Sgt Renton said.
“We are the senior regiment of the British army and it is nice to know that.”
Following VE Day, the unit has a long summer ahead which will see them appear at the Royal Windsor Horse Show between May 15 and May 18.
Captain Iain Ritchie, who served in Nato’s enhanced forward presence in Estonia, said the VE Day celebrations feel important, given the context of the war in Ukraine.
“Today, I think the sacrifices that those men and women made 80 years ago is even more relevant,” he said.
Captain Ritchie described how his grandfather, who was in the Royal Navy, influenced his ambition to join the forces, saying: “I have his medals in my office and his pocket watch that he carried with him throughout the war still sits with me today.
“I’m sure VE Day means different things to all the soldiers but, you know, we’ve got to remember the sacrifices that those men and women made for us.”
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