Sarah Silva

Sarah Silva began her formal equine career in dressage riding, training and instructing, with a one-year internship at Forrest Hill Farm, a prestigious dressage facility in Lafayette, Indiana. There she was responsible for the care of more than ninety horses along with assisting in the training of these valuable sport horses. Breeding management, farm management, starting young horses and training more advanced horses was part of the internship program and provided exceptional knowledge and experience in those disciplines. In the summer of 2000 she showed one of Forrest Hill’s young warmbloods at training level and placed fifth in the Regional championships at Paxton Farms. The following winter Sarah purchased this warmblood mare with the hope of training her to Grand Prix.

The next step for Sarah was to intern with Kim and Yvonne Barteau at their facility in Gilberts, Il for three summers while attending college at Purdue University. This internship program provided the opportunity to increase skills in the care and training of show horses, and again, starting youngsters. While at this facility Sarah rode some highly trained horses to develop her skills at the upper levels. Sarah continued to train her mare Camilla from training level up through third level while working with the Barteaus. In 2003 Sarah continued to show at multiple dressage shows and earned her bronze medal on Camilla. She placed in the top eight at the Region 2 Regional Championships at Lamplight Equestrian Center at both second and third level.

After graduating from Purdue University with a Management degree, in 2004 Sarah moved to Winnemucca, Nevada and began training and teaching at Avanti Farms. She earned high point awards with several of her young horses at Franktown Meadows and Cloverleaf Equestrian center in Reno, Nevada. In 2007 her partner moved and Sarah purchased Avanti Farms. As sole operator and owner she expanded the lesson program and began developing a show team. Meanwhile Sarah continued training Camilla to Prix St George. In 2010 she won a high point year end award from the Sierra-Nevada chapter of the California Dressage society and received her Silver Medal from USDF.

In 2008 Sarah was awarded a scholarship to participate in the USDF “ L” judges program. This program enhanced Sarah’s teaching skills, increased her knowledge of both horse and rider biomechanics and provided valuable insight to understanding the perspective of a dressage judge. After graduating from this program Sarah had the opportunity to judge several schooling shows.

As a riding instructor, Sarah focuses on improving rider’s position as well as helping the rider achieve a solid basic connection with the horse. Her teaching skills enable her students to successfully compete in dressage shows earning high scores and high point awards at various shows. In 2010 two of Sarah’s students qualified for Junior Championships held at Rancho Murietta in Sacramento, California competed at training and first levels earning a Reserve Championship at First level and placing in the top ten at Training level.