Sunday, July 8, 2012

Socialite Equestrians

Seems like there are a lot of rich and famous young equestrians these days - those who you might find on an Olympic caliber horse one day and at the Calvin Klein runway show the next.


Princess Grace's granddaughter, Charlotte Casiraghi, dons the cover of Town & Country this month.  She's also the face of Gucci, and with her looks and pedigree, well, she's perfect for the role. Got to admit that I don't like this cover photo.  Her hair should be neatly put up in her helmet with a hair net (this is the "George Morris" coming out in me for those who know the discipline that is inherent in riding horses competitively).


I can't speak for her riding skills, but she certainly looks the part. She's not a Reed Kessler, by any means, but her high profile name brings exposure to the equestrian world.

There are plenty of other young "high profile" names out there who also happen to love and ride horses competitively.

Jessica Springsteen, daughter of "The Boss."



Bill Gates' daughter, 15-year old Jessica.



Georgina Bloomberg, 29 year old daughter of Mayor Bloomberg.  Georgina likely would have tried out for the Olympic show jumping team this year but is recovering from an injury.  See some of my earlier posts about her and her charity, The Rider's Closet.

Zara Phillips is the daughter of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips and is an accomplished Three Day Event rider, winning many of the world's most coveted titles in this event. See some of my earlier blog posts about her. 

Steve Jobs' daughter, Eve rides in the hunters and equitation in California.

And don't forget about the Onassis family. In addition to Jackie, Ari's daughter has always loved horses.  

Wikipedia Photo

Athina Onassis Roussel is an accomplished equestrian. She is the only surviving descendant of Ari Onassis, the Greek shipping magnate and the sole heir to his fortune.  She married Brazilian Olympic show jumper Alvaro de Miranda Neto in 2005 and she goes by the name Athina Onassis de Miranda.  She also switched her national affiliation from France to Greek, effective for all of her equestrian competitions.  She is based in Sao Paulo.

And Paige Johnson, daughter of billionaire founder of Black Entertainment Television, Robert Johnson, and Sheila Johnson.  She splits her time between family farms in Wellington and Middleburg.  Paige is a very good rider and started in the ponies and worked her way up to Grand Prix jumpers. Here she is pictured with her mother, Sheila. Their Salamander Farm in Middleburg is incredible.


Enjoy your Sunday. It is like a sauna outside. Was in the saddle this morning at 6:30 am!  Stay cool!

5 comments:

  1. I found your blog on Google and I'm so glad I did! I miss being able to ride horses so just reading about them and all things equestrian is great. I wanted to give you a Versatile Blogger award. I love that your blog is about horses but it so well written that I think anyone would enjoy it no matter what. Please stop by and pick up your award. http://entirelyemily.blogspot.com

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  2. I'll have to disagree with you on the hair net. Most people who ride horses around the world don't even know who George Morris is, and in most countries, girls ride with their hair down; tucking it in neatly inside the helmet is NOT a requirement in other countries.

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  3. I admit to being a bit fascinated by these offspring of the rich and famous, able to pursue whatever horse dream they could possibly come up with. Since I simply can't imagine that lifestyle - like 98% of the population - it's very intriguing! I'm always glad when I get a first-hand report, like in the case of Jessica Springsteen, that they are polite, well-behaved and hard workers.

    T&C inexplicably neglected to mention Ms. Destry Spielberg, currently showing Rumba (winner of the International Hunter Derby a couple years ago, as you probably know) in the Jr. Hunters. I found a video of those two and I'm really glad because I was dying to know what the world's most push-button hunter would look like in the hands of a kid (Initial impression: pretty good. But she's anticipating, jumping ahead and needs to bring her stirrup up a hole, in my ever-so-humble opinion). Heaven only knows what insane amount of money Steven forked out for that animal... (Can you imagine being a trainer and someone saying, "Mr. Spielberg is on the line and wants to buy a horse." Do you think the price went up by a zero in the blink of an eye?)

    Anyway, thanks for publishing this. As I'm not a T&C subscriber I would have missed it and now I'll have to try and find a copy of that issue.

    P.S. I completely agree about the hairnet. ;-)

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  4. Athina Onassis Roussel is the granddaughter of Aristotle, she being the daughter of Christina.

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