Galery

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GRREPORTER: Now that you’re holding the award in your hands, what are you thinking? What does this mean to you?
Emilios: There’s one thing I can say: A lifetime acknowledgement!
Alexandra: We do everything with emotion, in the way we feel it. For us, the way we live is important. We keep close to our children as they do with us. Our Older daughter is almost 20 (she
studies in Britain) and the younger is 9. 11 years is a serious difference in the age but they are really close. The kids of course are at school during the day but in the evening we all sit
at the table and have dinner.
GRREPORTER: It shows that you are a very united family...
Alexandra: This is so. The fact that all of our children are involved in the same sport makes us even closer. In the weekends we participate showjumping competitions - we pack our bags and
leave with the children. If one of them has a problem with her horse during training or the competition the others help her. They take care of the horses together. The most important thing
for us is that our children live in a great atmosphere. We will be there for them as long as we can. But as parents, we are going to leave this world earlier and knowing that our children
are united makes us really happy.
Emilios: If we follow this logic, we have created a nucleus of certain kind. We will leave sooner or later, that’s for sure. But we have started a chain- each of our four children will have
four of their own, and so on and so on. I really hope this goes on because this is how our society should be built.
GRREPORTER: How did your love for horse-back riding start?
Emilios: The kids brought us this “trouble” themselves. Our second daughter is crazy about horses. She would make us go see them all the times. One day we were passing by a horse-back riding
club and that was it... I had to change my route. For a year I did not pass by the place hoping my daughter would forget about the horses. Unfortunately, the road I was using got closed so I
had to start using the old one again. One day we just entered the place and never got out.
GRREPORTER: So whatever is destined...
Emilios: Yes, definitely.
GRREPORTER: Your oldest daughter, Nataly, is studying  in England...
Emilios: It all began with Monica, our second daughter. Nataly, the oldest one, got her love for the horses from her, and became better than her with the time. There was this time when
Nataly had broken her arm and had to sleep sitting for 15 nights. We didn’t get much sleep as well. The first thing she did after these sleepless nights was to go see the horses and when her
arm was healed (it was a really bad brake, her shoulder) she got on the horse right away. And since the horse was not the most appropriate one for showjumping, Nataly decided to get into
dressage. She participated Greek and International championships in dressage with a showjumping horse, can you imagine! And it hasn’t stopped until today. Currently she is studying in
Warwick College- business management and Equine Studies.
GRREPORTER: How are things in Greece regarding horse-back riding?
Emilios: Dramatic.
Alexandra: We don’t have anything profetional here... with the assistance of the International Equestrian Federation, the Greek Federation  is organizing seminars for trainers, at different
levels. These last for four days and then the participants have to write a paper proving they have enough knowledge to teach. There is no school in the actual meaning of the word.
GRREPORTER: As far as I understand, things are at a very informal state in this area...
Alexandra: Exactly. Greece is not known for any history of Horse competitions; although that Greeks would use horses in their everyday life, especially for work.
Emilios: The first person in the world to introduce horse training was Xenofont, in 500 BC. He was also the one to write the first book for horse training. Ancient Athenians would train
their horses while they were travelling. The exercises used to keep the horses in shape so that when they would get on solid ground again in 30, 40, 60 or more days, they would be fit.
Ancient Athenians built the foundations of horse training. You can imagine how long ago this was and today Greece, as well as all the Balkans, is lagging behind in the field of horse racing.
GRREPORTER: As parents, would you like it if your children devoted their lives to horses, turn it into profession?
Alexandra: I would say yes- with all the pros and cons. The children have different personalities, different interests- one is more competitive, another is more positive, the third one likes
to organize people around her... Yes, I would be happy with such a choice. My personal opinion is that if you have a relationship with a horse, or even more than one, you begin seeing life
and people around you differently.
Emilios: We should start by saying that everybody should do what they love. Otherwise he/she wouldn’t do it well.
GRREPORTER: What does horseback riding give a person? What can one learn from it?
Alexandra: I believe that one can learn a lot but those that learn the most are the children. They get used to taking care and being responsible for another living creature that depends
entirely on him/her. If the kid does not give water to the horse he will be thirsty, if he/she forgets to feed it, it will be hungry, and it will be cold if the child does not put a blanket
on it during the night. There is the huge idea of responsibility attached to that. This is when you understand that you are the one to take care for the animal. This is a beautiful thing.