Silvan and Maria

Silvan was a 1994 "accident", born in 1995 in the village of Grosskitzighofen and where we lived 1995-2002.

His "breeder" was Alois who kindly more or less gave us Silvan (for a few hours work in his forest) as a foal so that we had company for our also 1995 born foal Rosie.

My niece Stephanie was friends with a girl in the village, Maria (who was about 8) and the two started & learnt riding on our two adult horses and thus grew up with the foals and started riding them three years later.

We then moved in 2002 but Maria often visited us (the horses were the attraction!) and before one knew it, Maria had finished studying and had her first job. At the same time, Silvan started to have bouts of laminitis which were getting life threatening caused mainly by his bottomless pit of a stomach and from the lack of exercise. So it came as welcome news when Maria said she was thinking about getting a horse and had the possibility to keep him on a field with little grass. No sooner said than we could wrap him up as a present together with all his riding equipment.

Did wonders for him. Little grass and lots of attention and work. Maria has done a great job with him. When we visited the village today he came out of his hut when he heard us and was his typical self. A great character and we miss him but know he is much better off in her hands.

Here Maria took him for a bicycle walk as she had been involved in a large village festival all day and couldn't ride.