{"id":21597,"date":"2026-09-15T00:37:01","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T00:37:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/15\/the-quieter-story-behind-five-adopted-horses-greek-city-times\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T00:37:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T00:37:01","slug":"the-quieter-story-behind-five-adopted-horses-greek-city-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/15\/the-quieter-story-behind-five-adopted-horses-greek-city-times\/","title":{"rendered":"the quieter story behind five adopted horses \u2013 Greek City Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-first=\"G\">\n<h3 id=\"h-giorgos-mazonakis-adopted-five-horses-the-greek-association-for-the-protection-of-equines-says\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Giorgos Mazonakis adopted five horses, the<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/gr.linkedin.com\/in\/greekhorseprotection\"> Greek Association for the Protection of Equines<\/a> says<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Farewell messages for Giorgos Mazonakis have not stopped. Alongside colleagues and people he helped, the Greek Association for the Protection of Equines (ESPI) has published a tribute that reveals a lesser-known chapter of his life: he adopted five horses.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tv\/CcSW2x8I6Cm\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\"\/>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What ESPI remembered from his visit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Association staff shared a photo from the day Mazonakis visited their premises and described it as a day of joy and emotion. They wrote that they did not only meet a famous singer. They met a kind, approachable man with a warm hug and no arrogance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWithin just a few minutes we felt like he was one of us,\u201d ESPI said. Mazonakis asked about each animal\u2019s history and about the association\u2019s work.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Five horses and an invitation to volunteers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That same day, ESPI said, he adopted five horses. He also invited volunteers to the nightclub where he was performing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The association\u2019s final message<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThank you for seeing our animals not just as rescue cases, but as creatures with a history, needs, and a right to love and care,\u201d the post continued. \u201cWe will always remember you with your big smile, your warm hug, and that kind look that made us, even for a moment, feel like we had known each other forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHave a good journey, wonderful prince.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Giorgos Mazonakis died on 9 September 2026, aged 54. The ESPI tribute stands apart from the official headlines: a record of a visit, five adopted horses, and a farewell from people who say he treated rescue animals as lives, not cases.<\/p>\n<footer class=\"article-tags entry-footer\">\n<div>\n\t\t<strong>Tags:<\/strong><br \/>\n\t\tadopted horses, animal welfare Greece, celebrity animals, ESPI, ESPI farewell Mazonakis, farewell message, folk-pop, George Mazonakis, Giorgos Mazonakis, Greek Association for the Protection of Equines, greek music, Mazonakis death, Mazonakis horses, Nikaia, rescue horses, September 2026, singer tribute\t<\/div>\n<\/footer>\n<div class=\"category_container author-information\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<section id=\"authorpage\" class=\"authorpage\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99ca06517608e7af44e9761bf7c358974ffbc4a43859fd8e5be6fc2f50d341af?s=164&amp;r=g\" srcset=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99ca06517608e7af44e9761bf7c358974ffbc4a43859fd8e5be6fc2f50d341af?s=328&amp;r=g 2x\" class=\"avatar avatar-164 photo lazyload\" height=\"164\" width=\"164\" decoding=\"async\"\/>\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"author-content\">\n<h5>Bill Giannopoulos<\/h5>\n<h4>Junior Editor<\/h4>\n<p>Bill Giannopoulos is a Junior Editor at Greek City Times, covering Greek and international news, sport, and history.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/greekcitytimes.gr\" class=\"boxed-icon fill\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fa-solid fa-link\"\/><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/greekcitytimes.com\/2026\/09\/15\/giorgos-mazonakis-adopted-five-horses-espi\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Giorgos Mazonakis adopted five horses, the Greek Association for the Protection of Equines says Farewell messages for Giorgos Mazonakis have not stopped. Alongside colleagues and people he helped, the Greek Association for the Protection of Equines (ESPI) has published a tribute that reveals a lesser-known chapter of his life: he adopted five horses. What ESPI &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"the quieter story behind five adopted horses \u2013 Greek City Times\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/15\/the-quieter-story-behind-five-adopted-horses-greek-city-times\/#more-21597\" aria-label=\"Read more about the quieter story behind five adopted horses \u2013 Greek City Times\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/greekcitytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/unnamed-4_upscale.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}