Silva - Rehomed

Silva has been adopted into a loving family, and ready to start her new chapter in life! Read her story below.

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This is the story of a lonely horse found high above Cariboo Blue Farm, over a rolling mountain and in the forest. The story of a horse, who's fate turned from gloomy to bright because of our spontaneous decision to ride off the beaten path.

Silva is a Steady Steed Graduate and has found her forever family of five! 💙

We are happy to announce, Silva has excitedly found a new family of five! Congratulations Dez on adding Silva to your family. Silva is a darling and has lots of love to offer you and your family.

Happy trails!

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Silva's Story

It was a beautiful day on Sunday, November 24, 2019 - still warm enough for a sweater and sweatpants ride. My best friend and I set off on our 4 hour ride into the cariboo forest. Tamara atop her steady steed Trixie and I atop a gentle giant named Razor. Tamara and I set aside a Sunday every week to work with horses together - and it was on this day our 4 hour ride turned into a 2 hour ride instead. I am still new to the trails behind our farm - this ride may have been my fifth or sixth ride.

My plan was to ride the opposite direction of a trail I rode previous 3 weeks before. As I started to turn left, I turned right instead and ducked into the forest onto a path yet to be discovered. Through the forest, winding and weaving, ducking and dodging eyeball height tree spears we continued to descend down, deeper into the forest, the temperature changed quickly from warm to chilly. I eventually had to jump off my 16.2hh gentle giant and walk back up the hill and south hoping to find the tree line again - Being new to Quesnel, I am still directionally challenged, so lucky for us we found our way out.

When we finally made our way out of the thick forest, Tamara spotted something in the distance. I could not see what she was so excited about, so we inched carefully toward the object. As we crept closer, we realized it was a horse! A dark black/grey horse, sprinkled with silver hair all over her body and a mostly white silver face, her mane and tail was no more but a giant clump of burrs.

I slacked my reins, and Razor, the gentleman he is, walked ever so quietly toward the mare. There was quick interest, pointy ears, arched necks and a whole lot of heavy breathing. After about 20 seconds, the mare walked away. Razor and I walked slow circles around her to see if I could get her to connect with us and follow us home. She quickly connected and so we descended back down the hills and through the forest and she followed us all the way back to the farm.

SILVA, derived from the Latin word silva, meaning 'forest’. Variant form(s): Zilva

Silva's first winter with us - photo taken January 2020

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CONFORMATION

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SILVA'S QUALITIES

Aside from being beautiful on the outside, Silva is incredibly smart and learns very quickly. She is sensitive, but is not over reactive, and seems to be a lovely balance of both. She has lovely confirmation and rock hard hooves.

Silva's right hind hock is enlarged from an old injury - however she is not visibly lame. After discussions with my farrier and my vet and advice from horse people I admire, we decided keeping Silva as part of the Steady Steed Project so she could be re-homed with a loving family would be her best chance. We could not let her go to auction, as you can imagine a horse with an old leg scar would be tagged for the meat truck.

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