Show Jumping (from 26 to 28 June 2008)
Thursday 26, Friday 27 and Saturday 28 June Port Hercule: 13th Monte-Carlo International Show Jumping (to be confirmed).

an article of jumping
Athina onassi
Yesterday afternoon took place in Monaco the big International Jumping, the competition in which was engaged(started) Athina Onassis.

Under the eyes of prince Albert and his partner - but not still wife! - Charlene Wittstock, the heir of the famous Greek shipowner contributed on her favorite horse. Her husband and trainer, the rider Àlvaro of Miranda Neto, was naturally present.

khillaree wrote:an article of jumping
Athina onassi
Yesterday afternoon took place in Monaco the big International Jumping, the competition in which was engaged(started) Athina Onassis.

Under the eyes of prince Albert and his partner - but not still wife! - Charlene Wittstock, the heir of the famous Greek shipowner contributed on her favorite horse. Her husband and trainer, the rider Àlvaro of Miranda Neto, was naturally present.

Khillaree, I also posted some pictures of Charlene from this site (pure people) in Charlene's thread.

LeanneBo wrote:Khillaree, I also posted some pictures of Charlene from this site (pure people) in Charlene's thread.

Look at the difference between the clothes of caroline, Charlotte, Alexandra and Charlene!! Caroline
We don't put that in a jumping!! No, these dresses are carried by women who walk the streets (Hooker)

Well, it is obvious who was really interested in horse jumping and came to watch and who came just to show off. What was she thinking, she was going to a cocktail party?! Ahhh I forgot, she is Monaco's new glamour girl!

Athina looks terrific. Good for her. Riding at the Grand Prix level you must be a good rider otherwise you won't make around the course. It's a sport that even if you have all her money ultimately it's the rider's ability that counts. She is looking good and I applaud her efforts. Zara Phillips is the same. The contrast to Athina and to Charlene could not be more dramatic. I am comparing them because they are/were athletes. Athina will one day compete at the Olympics I have no doubt. She has the guts and determination. She is fortunate that she doesn't need to find a corporate sponsor but that is the only difference between her and the other riders. Charlene is truly a has-been at this point. If she weren't so cocky I'd feel sorry for her. I posted in the Charlene thread about the dress. I don't want to distract from the horse show in this one.

Can we have more photos of the event Sailor? It would make my day!!!

I'll go and look......

Belga has the best photos but I have not figured out to do make an arry using their site...here are individual photos

©PHOTOPQR/NICE MATIN/FRANZ CHAVAROCHE - MONACO LE 28/06/2008 - JUMPING DE MONTE CARLO /

JULIEN EPAILLARD one
GERCO SCHRODER two
JOSE LAROCCA three
LAURA KRAUT four
ROGER YVES BOST five
VAN ASTEN six
ONYSHCHENKO seven
DENIS LYNCH eight
RICHARD SPOONER nine
RODRIGO PESSOA ten
DANIEL DEUSSER eleven
JUDY ANN MELCHIOR twelve
GREGORY WATHELEY thirteen
ICHEL ROBERT fourteen
ALVARO DE MIRANDA fifteen
ADWINA ALEXANDER sixteen
CHRISTINA LIEBHERR seventeen
ALI AL RUMAIHI eighteen
JOHN WHITAKER nineteen
PHILIPPE ROZIER twenty

JEAN MARC NICOLAS 21
KOCHETOVA 22
MARCO KUTSCHER 23
TIM GREDLEY 24
BEEZIE MADDEN 25
OMAR BONOMELI 26
KIRCHHOFF 27
ALVARO DE MIRANDA 28

It appears that Caro handed out the trophys at the jumping on saturday. Albert was at a local football game in Cap d'Ail. It is the tournament of the company teams. A perfume and toiletries company won against a supplier for plastic parts for carproducers.

Also it is reported that Athina broke out in tears as her husbands horse suffered a leg injury. It says that the foot is broken, but it did not say whether it had to be killed.

paca wrote:It appears that Caro handed out the trophys at the jumping on saturday. Albert was at a local football game in Cap d'Ail. It is the tournament of the company teams. A perfume and toiletries company won against a supplier for plastic parts for carproducers.

Also it is reported that Athina broke out in tears as her husbands horse suffered a leg injury. It says that the foot is broken, but it did not say whether it had to be killed.

Here is a picture gallery of Athina and husband's distress over his horse. It's really sad watching. You can feel her pain just watching these pictures. Also, you can not only see, but feel their love of the sport. Click on full screen to ses the larger pictures.

http://www.purepeople.com/11127-Athina- ... naco-.html

not only for the sport, also the horse and each other. YOu see two people sharing a life and understanding each other. I also like the low profile Athina and her husband keep. No billboard behaviour here. And look at what she is wearing in contrast to Charlene at the same event. It is appropriate for her age and the occassion. not to mention the season.

THanks Sailor I really appreciate it!!!!

This has been a horrific year for the horse world. In the US Eventing world we have lost 4 top horses to leg injuries and heart issues. The famous event horse Theodore O'Connor was put down last month for a leg injury he sustained at home. There was no way to save him. Often with injuries it depends on where and what is damaged. They have made huge progress with helping this wonderful animals but they basically hold all their weight on very thin legs and depending on the age and stress the legs receive, things go wrong. Zara Phillips horse Toytown is out of the Olympics with a bad injury suffered at home training. Also, and this won't be the case with Athina as she has all the money in the world to save him if it's possible, but the awful truth is it takes huge sums of money to try and save a horse with a catastrophic leg injury and most people don't have the money. Also depending on what type of insurance they have on the horse, I have known cases where loss of use requires the insurance to payout it's premium and then they literally take the horse away. I don't have that kind of insurance on my daughters horse. We have a major medical insurance for the value of the horse just so God forbid if anything happens we are at least in a better position to save him but we did not take out the use insurance because I don't care if he can't compete anymore, my daughter loves him deeply. Fortunately, he seems pretty sturdy, so we are lucky - at the moment. Also many top riders horses are owned by a syndicate which using has in their contract that they make the decisions as to the horses welfare, and frankly more times than we would like to know, they go for the insurance money and the horse is put down. Anyway, I have rattled on too much about horses but I can feel Athina's pain and hopefully they will be able to save him, although I think his career as a jumper is over.

If he can be saved, he may still find a nice home. And if he can't be used for riding even for children there might still even be money in it through breeding (although I am not sure whether jumping horses are castrated, that of course would then put a stop to breeding plans), since the horse surely has qualities that may make offspring desirable.

paca wrote:If he can be saved, he may still find a nice home. And if he can't be used for riding even for children there might still even be money in it through breeding (although I am not sure whether jumping horses are castrated, that of course would then put a stop to breeding plans), since the horse surely has qualities that may make offspring desirable.

Exactly paca. Athina will spend what ever she needs to to save him if it can be done, and it looked from the way they were bandaging him that he might stand a chance. The xrays will be the final decision. Now days many top jumping horses are not "gelded" or castrated. My daughter's horse was because they decided not to breed him. He is in fact a former steeplechase horse so he got another life with my daughter who loves him dearly. He is as equally devoted to her. I hope Athina is able to save him. He's obviously very special to her. What stuck me was the fact that I couldn't picture Charlene reacting that way. I could be wrong but I just can't picture her crying over a horse. JMO

I can't imagine her crying over anything really apart from not getting the tiara. She doesn't really convey the emotional type, more calculating IMO, someone doing checks and balances for herself rather then showing empathy. In any case I don't think even if she would show it, it would only be for a brief moment.

Seems like Athinas husband did it again. He fell at a horse show in Aachen and was dragged a few meters. It seems that he broke a leg this time. Maybe Athina ought to throw in a few riding lessons. two accidents in such a short period and he seems to have a rep of reckless rider. Anyways thought I'd post it here since it ties in with the incident last week.