Whether Boyd should or should not have gone to Red Hills is moot at this stage. Only Silva can tell us whether it was the right choice in her circumstance and anything else is speculation.
Let’s please re-focus our energies on Silva and her recovery. She still needs every jingle she can get. It’s going to be a long road and very painful to have all the puzzle pieces that had begun to come together for her and Rosa Cha blown to bits by this accident.
VicariousRider beat me to it. Let’s get back to wishing her a quick and full recovery, and supporting her friends and family.
Jingling for Siba and Boyd.
When my DH was critically injured by a horse, I did visit him when he was in the ICU, maybe one time.
I had a barn full of horses to care for and they wouldn’t/couldn’t wait. If I didn’t feed them, they got hungry.
I never once spoke face to face with his Dr. My schedule didn’t allow for that.
I am not a Dr, so I left the doctoring to the pros and I took care of the race horses.
The bills were piling up and we couldn’t risk losing any client horses.
I also had 2 small children to care for.
That would be the way it would go down if it happened again tomorrow.
No days off…
Massive jingles for Silva and Boyd from VA
I hope Silva recovers completely. We’ve been through a serious head injury in our own family and it take a lot of help and perseverance to make it all the way back.
Some comments on some other things in the thread.
The only thing I know for certain about anyone else’s relationship is that I don’t know anything about their relationship. It doesn’t matter if they siblings, good friends or someone I read about on the internet. All relationships are very particular to the people involved. So how my wife and I make decisions has no bearing on how any other couple make decisions.
With that said, the Martins and any other professional athletes have made the choice to earn a living in a very public way. The Martins have certainly benefited from media attention in building their business. So it is reasonable for people to discuss and even critique how they execute that business. Sometimes it is going to overlap with their personal life. That’s a choice they made.
GaEventer has a right to his/her opinion, even if you don’t disagree with it.
Or, to put it in different words - suppose skier Lindsey Vonn had an accident whilst skiing that put her in hospital with the same type brain injury. Imagine Tiger Woods going to see her, and then leaving to play in a golf tournament. I am fairly sure there would be social media outrage.
I wish Silva a healthy recovery, and I sympathize with all involved - there is a long road ahead for everyone.
I’m not sure how I feel about the situation, but it doesn’t matter. It is their relationship. The topic certainly has to have been discussed between Boyd and Silva based on the nature of their relationship and livelihood.
However GAEventer was not nasty or rude in her opinion. Calling her a jerk is, though. I can see where the opinion comes from and do tend to agree with her original post. I’m surprised someone hadn’t brought this thought up earlier-- especially on the COTH forum.
People speculate and judge over all sorts of things with professionals… Horse care, riding, personal lives. Anything. I tend to think if it wasn’t a well-liked professional like Boyd that the judgement would be harsher.
Regardless, I wish Silva a smooth recovery and hope that she has no lasting repercussions. They appear to be a great duo and seem have a wonderful team backing.
I hope she continues to recover and is back to riding and competing in no time! It sounds like she has some lovely horses at the moment.
People post all kinds of things about others in the spotlight. In this situation, that doesn’t make it any less ill-mannered.
Best wishes to Silva for an uncomplicated and complete recovery.
To anyone speculating on the behavior of her spouse … MYOB
…and it still wouldn’t be anyone else’s business. Just because something inspires “social media outrage”, doesn’t mean it is appropriate.
GAeventer: I’m sorry that happen to you. I hope those around you offered support, instead of judging your decisions.
Every relationship is different, every situation is different, and desperate times call for desperate measures.
I’m sure the Martins (and those involved) are making the best decisions they can as the questions arise. Jingling like mad for them.
[QUOTE=kmchansen;7473002]
I’m not sure how I feel about the situation, but it doesn’t matter. It is their relationship. The topic certainly has to have been discussed between Boyd and Silva based on the nature of their relationship and livelihood.
However GAEventer was not nasty or rude in her opinion. Calling her a jerk is, though. I can see where the opinion comes from and do tend to agree with her original post. I’m surprised someone hadn’t brought this thought up earlier-- especially on the COTH forum.
People speculate and judge over all sorts of things with professionals… Horse care, riding, personal lives. Anything. I tend to think if it wasn’t a well-liked professional like Boyd that the judgement would be harsher. [/QUOTE]
Clearly I disagree. I felt GAeventer was repeatedly rude. I was actually offended by her repeated posting and judging of the situation, hence my comment. She is of course entitled to her opinion, which is colored by her own experience. But repeatedly questioning and judging someone’s actions during a difficult personal situation (and one to which you have no insight except short public statements) on a public forum means, at best, that you have no manners.
To Silva, if I haven’t stated so already, my very best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery. And much enjoyment of your new wheels. 
This. Yes, if you place yourself in the spotlight and voluntarily open up your personal life with photos and commentary, one would be a bit delusional not to expect the interwebz to come at it from every angle. I personally have not understood this developed trend of people posting pictures of themselves in hospital beds that is becoming quite common – I find it uncomfortably intimate and I’m a person who has very few boundaries, heh. But your life, your choice, and that does not make either one of us better or worse than the other, just different!
However, comments generally mostly just reflect on the commenter and if something is posted online, that DOES open it up for discussion. Whether that discussion is tasteful or classy, well, LOL, it is the interwebz.
I would guess that since the Martins are VERY public, they know that their public will be watching and waiting and asking for updates and wanting to know if Silva is ok, so it was easier to just let EN post it, at whatever level of detail they are comfortable with.
Personally, I hope that Silva is able to make a full recovery as quickly as possible. Resting the brain is so important and the hardest part!
One of the MANY reasons I chose not to try to make horses my job is that, as someone very correctly stated earlier, there ARE no sick days, no paid vacation, and your career and success is your body. And I’m pretty sure the health insurance is not included either. Only a lucky few have wealthy owners and support groups to step in when the catastrophe occurs. When both partners are riders, it makes it twice as hard – the limelight doesn’t neccessarily last a long time and it doesn’t care what your circumstances are, it keeps roaring down the tracks.
I was also taken aback that Boyd decided to compete at Red Hills. If you read the comments on the first EN article, the wife of another 4* competitor chimed in with that she was sure that riding was the last thing on his mind… Apparently not.
If that works for them so be it, but calling someone a jerk for pointing out that it is outside pretty normal expectations is uncalled for. Things can go south so quickly in then wake of this type of injury and regrets last forever. Thankfully this didn’t come to pass and I hope Silva’s recovery is swift and complete.
[QUOTE=onthebit;7471425]
I run a farm. I had a pretty big calamity in my life about 18 months ago. I had just adopted my son from Russia and 8 weeks after getting home with him my father died very unexpectedly. The day after he died my husband, who runs the farm with me, was hurt and out of commission for almost 4 months. So I had a brand new baby, a dead father, a seriously grieving mother whom I was basically forcing food into on a daily basis, and a husband having surgery and then totally out of commission for almost 4 months. How many days of working on the farm did I miss during this? 1.5 days.
I missed 1 day for my husband’s surgery and .5 day for my dad’s funeral. The day after my father died (to whom I was VERY close and lived practically next door to) I was holding horses for the farrier for several hours. After I was done with that I went with my mom to help make funeral arrangements. I can assure you that as sympathetic as my clients were/are, they weren’t interested in excuses about any little thing in regards to horse care being overlooked. That’s the way it is in the horse world and don’t ever kid yourself that it isn’t. My husband was largely on his own during the day and unable to do much for himself but he totally got it that I had to run the farm, not nurse him 24/7. I completely understand and respect Boyd’s decision and might have very well made the exact same one myself. I love my husband dearly but someone has to make a living and run the farm and it would be WHAT HE WOULD WANT me to do. It would also be what I would want him to do. Him sitting around waiting on me to live or die isn’t really going to change an outcome either way, but I realize not everyone sees the world that way.[/QUOTE]
THIS, 100%. And in truth, sitting there hovering over a person in a hospital bed, especially if they’re trying to rest or sleep, is not necessarily helping. The last thing I would want is family and friends doing the “vigil” thing, wringing their hands. In fact, that would royally freak me out.
None of our business what their private decisions are; but this is the modern-day peril of TMI for the public and the net result is ZERO privacy. Kind of like having a Greek chorus in your bathroom, providing commentary . . .
I think if you look at it as a whole, being in the public eye has been far kinder than not to the Martins and I’m sure they have very thick skins.
Optimistic update:
Dressage rider Silva Martin has been transferred to the Pinecrest Rehabilitation wing of Delray Medical Center in Delray Beach, Fla., where she was originally medevac’d following her fall on March 5.
“At the moment she’s mentally sharp as a tack, and her neurosurgeon assures me that as time goes on and the blood is reabsorbed into her body, her balance, sight and speech will improve,” wrote Silva’s husband, Boyd Martin, on their blog late last night. “There’s no question it’s a pretty serious injury and will take time to heal, but if you give this kind of thing enough time things usually come back to 100 percent.”
Silva is currently undergoing between four and five hours of speech, occupational and physiotherapy a day. Her mother, Christa Stigler, will arrive from the family’s home nation of Germany today to help with her daughter’s recovery.
“We are waiting for Silva’s neurosurgeon to give her the okay to travel, and as soon as she gets the all clear, she and her mum will head up to Pennsylvania to the Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital in Malvern. From all reports, that’s the number one place to get Silva back to 100 percent,” Boyd wrote.
Just bumping this up. Does anyone know how Silva is doing? The last post on Boyd & Silva’s blog was on March 17th and said Silva was back in PA at Bryn Mawr Rehab. The post also had an interview with Boyd. I know he is competing a slew of horses this weekend at Carolina. Just hoping she is doing well.
Any rehab updates?
From EN: Boyd and Silva make quite the pair right now in separate hospitals — she’s at Bryn Mawr while he’s at Christiana — with him preparing for his umpteenth surgery and her undergoing six hours of therapy each day. “She’s getting better and better,” Boyd said. “I saw her this morning for the first time in a couple of weeks, and her balance is still very wobbly, and she’s still struggling to open her eyelids. Her vision is not so good, but her speech is better and much sharper. Her mum is over from Germany acting as the Windurra team nurse.”
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