Boyd and Silva Martin: 3/2/14

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Boyd and Trading Aces Bring Home Red Hills CIC*** Victory

With Silva recuperating under the watchful eyes of friends and family, Boyd focused unwaveringly on the competition at Red Hills CIC*** in Tallahassee, FL and clinched the win with a clear and fast cross-country round aboard Trading Aces today. Boyd also finished fourth on Sir Donovan.

Jenni Autry of EventingNation.com covered the competition and caught up with Boyd this afternoon. Follow the links for coverage and photos:

[Competition Coverage]
http://eventingnation.com/home/boyd-martin-and-trading-aces-win-cic3-in-dramatic-red-hills-finale/

[Interview with Boyd]
http://eventingnation.com/home/why-you-should-never-bet-against-boyd-martin/

[Live Scores]
http://www.evententries.com/livescoring/15570.html

Friday, March 7, 2014

Silva Smiles

Good news! Kate Hicks and Mary Griffin are in Florida with Silva and sent this photo of her smiling this morning. Her condition is stable and doctors are monitoring her carefully. We will continue to post updates her her progress and Boyd's weekend competing at Red Hills. Meanwhile, thanks to everyone for their well wishes; please keep up the positive and healing thoughts and prayers for Silva!

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Both of Boyd's Horses in Top 10 at Red Hills

Boyd and Trading Aces. Jenni Autry Photo

Three of the top five rides came in the last hour of CIC3* dressage at Red Hills, with Boyd Martin — running on no sleep after spending the night with his wife Silva in the hospital — piloting Trading Aces into second place on 41.4, just narrowly missing catching leaders Allie Knowles and Last Call.

Continue reading at EventingNation.com

STATEMENT FROM BOYD ABOUT SILVA'S CONDITION

Following her recent success on the gold medal winning team at the Nations Cup and winning the PSG at the Palm Beach Derby riding Rosa Cha W, US Dressage Team rider Silva Martin has sustained a riding injury at her training facility in Wellington, Florida.

STATEMENT FROM BOYD MARTIN:

Yesterday morning, March 5th, my wife Silva Martin was riding in her dressage facility in Wellington, Florida when she had a freak fall from a horse that she was training. The horse had an almost comical trip and Silva bumped her head on the horse’s neck on the way down, and hit the ground unconscious which was followed shortly by a seizure.

Silva’s trusty crew of girls at the barn jumped into action and paramedics were on the scene immediately. Silva was airlifted to the ER at the Delray Medical Center in nearby Delray Beach.

So far CT scans show some bleeding on her brain, which remains stable scan after scan. Doctors are opting not to do surgery at this time in hopes that Silva’s body reabsorbs the blood.

At the moment the doctors are hoping that slowly but surely she will come back to her senses as her body heals from the injury. Her current condition is a deep sleep, and doctors expect that it will take a few days for her to be more responsive and alert.

I’d like to thank the thousands of well-wishers who have been keeping Silva in their thoughts and prayers. Since the tragedy of Courtney King Dye, Silva has worn her Charles Owen helmet every day and doctors assured us that if she hadn’t had her helmet on in this instance the conversation we’d be having would be extremely different.

-Boyd

Read more at

[DRESSAGE-NEWS.COM] [EVENTINGNATION.COM]

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Scout's Ultimate Fight Club AKA Dressage Update from Florida

…I’m finding my blogs to be pretty monotonous at this point. How many ways are there to describe how magnificently the show weekend went, ya know?

Then it hit me, what’s more magnificent than the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)? Nothing. The UFC is friggin awesome. And it just so happens that these dressage shows share some of the same basic principles as the UFC: you go, you dominate your opponents, you leave victorious… Or at least that’s how it works for Silva.

First, we had the preliminary rounds…

Zoom entered the ring with a vengeance, winning the PSG, handily, with a 68%. Every time this horse enters the ring he is even more impressive, instilling fear into his opponents, one test at a time.

Next on the fight card was Eddy. For those of you cool enough to watch MMA fights, you might compare Eddy to a fighter referred to as “The All American”: young, athletic and bold, Eddy maintained his undefeated record over this past weekend. He won both tests with a 74% and a 72%!!!!

Le`roy once again spent his weekend aiding a minor, winning the third level. He’s like the Chuck “Iceman” Liddell of dressage, a seasoned legend. Again, HUGE thanks to his owners, the appreciation I feel for the opportunity is inexpressible.

Scoop was next in the ring. The talent and willingness of this horse is invaluable. He showed First level, test 3 for the first time over the weekend and won with a 69%!! It was an honor, nay a Privilege to be able to compete such a horse. Another huge thank you to his owners and to Silva.

Kymmy and Gracia also showed up to lay down the law on their horses Woody and Colin. Kymmy sailed smoothly over her sea of competitors with Woody, winning both training AND first level with a 74%!!!! Gracia also rode a beautiful test on Colin, and showed some serious heart, which led her to her victory at fourth level!!

Sandy showed her horse Tony over the weekend and put in a stunning test, one of her best tests yet, earning her a well-deserved win in her first level division. Congratulations Sandy, we couldn’t be happier to have you down here with us!

The last fight of the preliminary bouts belonged to Benny, who entered the ring with no qualms about ruining the days of the other six-year-old horses doing their young horse tests. He DOMINATED the field with a 74%, keeping his champion title firmly in place.

And now, Ladies and Gentlemen…For the main event… I give you a team holding a record of countless wins, zero remembered losses, and zero draws; a horse and rider combo of such talent and ability that it should probably be deemed an unfair advantage. The ones, the onlies, Silva and Rosa CHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Silva and Rosa Stomped. It. Out. over the weekend, winning the CDI PSG and placing third in the Intermediare 1 with a personal best score. Don’t believe me? Just take a peek at EURODRESSAGE.com: http://www.eurodressage.com/equestrian/2014/03/02/martin-and-lagoy-weltz-top-small-tour-classes-2014-palm-beach-derby. Notice that drop-dead stunna of a mare in the cover photo of the website? Yeah, that would be The Friggin’ CHA, and the rider would be my mentor. Outstanding.

Silva and Rosa could only be described as the Rhonda Rouseys of dressage; competitors become victims once The Cha enters the arena, and never do they leave unscathed ;).

An immense “thank you” to the members of the Rosa Cha W Syndicate for making this dream possible for Silva and The Cha. We were lucky enough to have syndicate member Sarah Sanz and her friend join us for the weekend, along with Boyd and George Morris to watch the epic triumph take place. It has also been a dream for Silva to have gained the experience of working with a friend of mine who is one of the most inspirational riders in the world, Deb McD. The knowledge and skill she has gained from Deb’s help has been instrumental in her training, and she could not be more excited and grateful for the opportunity.

Also, thank you to Stuebben for making superb saddles that keep the horses comfortable and at the top of their game, and to the rest of the sponsors for their continued support including Ariat, Smartpak, Middy n Me, Shires, Charles Owen, and Purina.

I once watched a movie that mentioned how it is best end a paper with a quote. The character said that, chances are, somebody else has already said it better, so if you can’t top it, steal from them and go out strong. Therefore I leave you with a fight quote from Napoleon Hill that describes, not only Silva and The Cha, but the Windurra mentality as a whole: “Victory is always possible for those who refuse to stop fighting.”

-- Scout Ford

Monday, March 3, 2014

Wynnie Wins Again at Sporting Days Horse Trials

SBF Eowyn, ridden by Caitlin Silliman, competed in her first Novice event at the Sporting Days Horse Trials on Sunday and won, finishing on her dressage score of 27 in a competitive division. The dressage judge’s comment was, “This horse has tons of potential!”. Wynnie had one of only four clear show jumping rounds over a challenging course and jumped beautifully and out of stride on cross-country.

Her record so far is outstanding; out of her first three events Wynnie won Full Gallop, won Sporting Days and placed second at Paradise Farm. She will make a fantastic horse for an amateur or young rider that wants to be very competitive while moving up the levels.

Call Boyd for an appointment to try this extremely talented young horse: 610-806-2381, currently in Aiken, SC.