©Marion Cox/Divine Equine
Erin Silo (CAN) didn’t have a straight path up the centerline into the dressage world. Her story has as many twists and turns as a cross-country course.
For the greater part of 20-years Silo was a fast and furious eventer, campaigning off-the-track Thoroughbreds in the most adrenaline inducing equestrian discipline of them all. Most eventers get hooked on the thrill of galloping out of the start box or splashing through a water complex, but these days you’ll see Silo winning back-to-back CDI1* classes at Thunderbird Show Park (tbird).
It’s not often you find a reformed eventer, and it certainly wasn’t love at first half pass for Silo. Her dressage immersion was more of a slow burn.
“I actually used to hate dressage. It was my least favorite of the three disciplines [in eventing],” Silo confessed.
Now a student of Canadian dressage trainer Shelley Lawder and a recent Sietske Memorial Applause Dressage Freestyle Grant winner, suffice it to say she’s since come around to the dressage way of thinking.
“The thing that I love about dressage is that you ride every step. It is so precise and there is such a methodology to it. There has to be feel, but also discipline and development. For me, it is much more a mind sport because of the precision involved. Not that there isn’t in evening, it’s just different.”
Still, her eventing background shines through in her preference for a challenge, even in her equine partner. Her nine-year-old KWPN gelding Jett isn’t afraid to express himself through his movements and his personality.
“He’s a quirky little dude. He is super affectionate, but he can be kind of spicy. He is a little ball of energy that you don’t necessarily always know what’s going to happen. Like [Friday] during my test he had a little buck and scoot,” said Silo.
A spooky moment is enough to throw off many riders for the remainder of their test, but Silo doesn’t mind when Jett takes a hint of creative license on the pattern.
“Growing up eventing I took ex-racehorses and retrained them, so I like that he’s got spirit. I love his quirkiness and his personality,” said Silo.
It was a twist of fate that brought the pair together. In 2020, Silo was in the market for a dressage horse to develop and had nearly exhausted her horse search when the onset of the covid-19 pandemic put a hard stop on her plans.
“I tried quite a few [horses]. I vetted one in Poland and in Langley. I had gone to North Carolina, I went to Alberta, and then covid happened and I kind of gave up that I was going to find a horse during this time because traveling wasn’t an option,” said Silo.
“Then my girlfriend Ashley Moore went up to Vernon, BC to try [Jett] because her Grand Prix horse has the same sire, but he was too small for her. So I’m very fortunate that she’s tall because that’s probably the only reason she didn’t keep him and I got him.
“It was kind of like the universe aligned to bring him to me.”
Silo fell in love with Jett the moment she sat on him. It took her some time, however, to come to terms with the financial investment being that he didn’t have the same inviting price tag as a retired racehorse.
“I grew up in the eventing world buying horses off the racetrack. This was the first time I was spending more that $5,000 on a horse. I was apprehensive to be spending what I should have used to buy an apartment on a horse,” said Silo.
“I actually had a bit of buyers remorse for a period of time, but today I couldn’t be more happy with the decision I’ve made…I could care less about owning an apartment, I enjoy riding my horse every day.”
The judges enjoyed them too. Silo and Jett captured back to back wins in the FEI Prix St. Georges CDI1* and FEI Intermediate I CDI1* at the Touch of Class CDI over the weekend and took second in Sunday’s Intermediate I Freestyle CDI1*.
“I’m so pleased with how he handled himself and in the environment,” said Silo. “I thought he might think the Jumbotron was going to eat him. But he was so good, and for a green horse he showed a lot of rideability and a lot of heart.”