It has already been a busy season for Silva. Just over a week ago she and Nina Gardner's Wasabi won the Training level championship Dressage at Bucks Count, where Waimea placed second in Fourth Level test 1 and Jeff the Chef won Fourth Level test 3.
Today is the first day of Dressage at Devon, and Silva will be taking two horses to the show this year. She is riding FS Tiger Lily, owned by Meg Williams, in the Championships for five-year-old horses on Thursday. On the weekend she'll be riding her own Jeff the Chef in Fourth Level - Saturday in the Fourth Level Test 2 qualifier, and Sunday in Fourth Level Test 2 and Fourth Level Test 3.
Last year at Devon, with Silva riding, FS Tiger Lily won the Championship for four-year-old horses and Jeff placed third in the Championship for six-year-old horses.
"This year I know the place better and won't have to find my way around," said Silva. "Jeff is still green at this level but he is going the best he can, so I'm looking forward to riding him. He had a 69.5% at Bucks County, and if he gets that at Devon I'll be really pleased. Hopefully Tiger Lily will do well; she had the last week off with a hoof abscess but she's back in business now and doing great."
Silva is excited about the atmosphere at Devon too. "It's fun having a lot of competitors at one show - there are maybe 35 horses competing in Fourth Level, which is a lot in this country, and it's world-class competition. It's more like the shows in Germany. Jeff is only seven but hopefully he'll keep up with the others. I am hoping that he'll do the small tour there next year."
Amber Heintzberger Photo of Silva and working student Caitlin Silliman preparing Nina Gardner's mare Wasabi for a photo shoot at True Prospect Farm.
Away form competition and performing tests, there is a tradition of
ReplyDeleteclassical dressage followed as a symbol of art. In Classical dressage horses have
been trained to respond and perform. The classical movements of horse are an
excitement to see the elite skills, stylishness and accuracy of dressage movements
appears to be an ancient form of horsemanship. These skills are shown in popular
events generally held nowadays in Olympics called as Olympic Dressage.
An Olympic dressage event where each horse must perform a series of movements
testing the rider's control of the horse, and a panel of judges awards points