The third in line to the throne was thrown off his house as he attempted a sharp turn close to the goal. Prince Harry was in Barbados competing in a charity polo competition. The competition was to raise money for Sentebale, which is a charity that he co-founded in memory of his late mother – Princess Diana. Sentebale is a charity that helps vulnerable Aids orphans in the African Kingdom of Lesotho. The match was a sell out, selling 1,200 tickets at a hefty price tag. The charity competition is thought to have raised approximately £100,000 from ticket sales alone. 1/3 of Lesotho’s 1.8 million population is infected with HIV or Aids and 40% of children are orphans as a result. Average life expectancy in Lesotho is only 40 years old. Prince Harry visited Lesotho on his gap year and was moved by the people he met, “It seems to be one of life’s cruellest ironies that when natural disaster strikes – whether it be earthquake in Haiti or years of drought and ravaging by HIV AIDS in Lesotho, it is always the most defenceless, the children, who are left exposed and needing the most help. We are making a real difference in Lesotho but it is not straight-forward. The problems are complex and our work, inevitably, is not without its issues. But we are there for the long term.”

Prince Harry has dedicated his fund raising efforts to help the children in Lesotho in memory of his mother. When he arranged the polo competition he did not expect to fall off his mount as he is an experienced polo player. When his horse slipped and slid across the hard fields, Prince Harry attempted an acrobatic roll in order to escape further injury if his horse fell on top of him. Thankfully Prince Harry and the horse were unharmed. Prince Harry was visibly unhappy as he threw his mallet to the ground. Prince Harry’s team went on to win the Sentebale Polo Cup with Prince Harry scoring one of the six goals. Prince Harry spoke after his fall to say ‘I’m a bit sore but it was for a good cause so it was worthwhile in the end. Basically the horse slipped from underneath me, which does happen occasionally and is a bit unfortunate. It probably looks very dramatic because i was trying to throw myself clear of the horse. I’m a bit sore but the horse is OK though.” Many critics thought that Prince Harry was very angry at the fall but he explained it was actually because he lost a bet in which he was set to win $100,000. “The reason why I was throwing my mallet down was because I met this nice businessman at dinner last night who offered me $50,000 for Sentebale if I fell off my horse today. His wife turned round and said ‘that’s a bit harsh, you should give him $100,000 if he stays on.’ So when I fell off I threw my mallet and shouted ‘What a waste of $100,000!’ I was furious with myself.” As it turns out the businessman honoured his bet as he said it was obvious that the horse fell and not Prince Harry.

Polo is a very fast paced, fun sport to play. As you can tell from the story above, however experienced you are, there is still the risk that you could fall or your pony could fall and you could both injure yourselves. Horse insurance cannot prevent this from happening but can protect you financially should you or your horse need medical/veterinary care. E&L horse insurance have four different cover levels for you to choose from. Cover is available for vet fees, death of your horse, personal accident, public liability and saddlery and tack to name but a few. E&L horse insurance policies start from as little as £3.30 a month. Please visit www.eandl.co.uk/equine for more information or to take out an instant policy online.

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247626/Prince-Harry-furious-falling-polo-horse-charity-match.html, 1st February 2010

Bookmark This:

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks

Ask backflip blinklist BlogBookmark Bloglines BlogMarks Blogsvine BuddyMarks BUMPzee! CiteULike Connotea del.icio.us

Digg diigo DotNetKicks DropJack dzone Facebook Fark Faves Friendsite folkd.com Furl Google

Jamespot Jeqq Kaboodle kirtsy linkaGoGo LinkedIn Ma.gnolia Mister Wong Mixx MySpace Netvouz Newsvine

oneview OnlyWire PlugIM Propeller Reddit Segnalo Shoutwire Simpy Slashdot Surphace Sphinn Spurl

Squidoo StumbleUpon Technorati ThisNext Twitter Webride Windows Live Yahoo!

Email This to a Friend

  Link HTML: 

 Permalink: 

 If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

More »