How does she do it?
Silva Martin has three rambunctious little boys at home (and an energetic eventer husband, Boyd Martin). At Dressage at Devon she is riding five horses.
No, make that six, because five wasn’t enough.
Friday night, Silva got on her retired mare, Rosa Cha W, dressed the horse and herself in colorful hippie garb (complete with lights and a giant (fake) joint, produced what amounted to an impressive little freestyle and won the second edition of the Devon Dance-Off.
Who’s that hippe? Silva Martin! (Photo © 2024 by Nancy Jaffer)
So back to the question, how does she do it?
Silva said her only responsibility was to “put on the outfit and ride the horse. So it didn’t take much for me.”
The costume that charmed the judges (which included breakers Nemesis and 2024 Olympic gold medalist Phil Kim — better known as Phil Wizard—as well as dressage rider J.J. Tate), took weeks for Silva’s friend Cheryl Griffith to make and design. Why did she pick flower power for her outfit?
Competitors were asked to select a decade for their theme, and Cheryl said the hippie era was the best.
“The costumes were totally over the top,” said Nemesis.
“It’s such an iconic show. We always say there’s special energy in the Dixon Oval, and our horses feel it,” J.J. commented.
“It’s such a great thing to have everybody celebrate dressage and celebrate horses and have some kind of fun across two different genres. Dressage really is dancing on horseback and so it kind of makes sense to bring dancing into it.”
It was Phil’s first time at a dressage show. He called it “super fun,” noting “the energy was amazing. and an interesting and different fusion It was cool to incorporate elements you find in breaking, which was dancing and freestyling and them interpreting it in their way, which was very cool.”
“I thought it was so fun,” said Silva.
“Dressage is very serious and a little stuck up sometimes, and I thought this was awesome and great for the sport. I had a great time doing it.”