Our final installment of the “2024 Hot Horsemen” features Rick Silvia and Austin Webster. Don’t forget to read part one and part two!
Rick Silvia
Rick Silvia’s life is the stuff of dreams, storybooks and adventures—that is, the Dream Syndication’s Ohh Lala, what Rick calls the “storybook setting” of Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, and exploring the world sans-horses. Rick is a USDF Gold medal Grand Prix dressage rider, and Ohh Lala is his current “dance partner.” The duo is preparing to debut on the CDI Small Tour this spring.
Rick operates his Rick Silvia Dressage, a boutique training, competition and sales stable, out of Chester Springs. “I’m incredibly lucky to have a group of dedicated riders with wonderful horses in my stable,” he said. “I find the day-to-day process of a systematic, kind approach to training both edifying and rewarding. I get to work with incredible horses and great people, in a storybook setting, and I love seeing the progression and development of both the horses and riders.”
Rick credits his spiritual life with helping him face and overcome challenges both within the industry and in his personal growth, and tending to it is very important to him. Similarly, Rick makes sure to plan one or two trips each year completely unrelated to horses or sport. “I love to travel and explore new places,” he said. “I treasure new experiences and making memories.” In the spirit of “Meet Joe Black” quote, “If we lucky, maybe, we got some nice pictures to take with us,” Rick chronicles his adventures in photos on his @RickSilvia_ Instagram.
Another quote, this time from Martin Luther King Jr., inspires Rick: “Not everybody can be famous but everyone can be great because greatness is determined by service.” “I was so fortunate to come from a background that allowed me to take my horses to Europe as a young rider to train and compete,” Rick said. “The training and the experience I gained as a young person living on my own in Germany and training amongst the best-of-the-best shaped both the person and rider I am today. Now, I’m passionate about sharing my experiences and knowledge with students who are equally as passionate as I am about learning and continuing to grow.”
Photo by Adrienne Morella
Austin Webster
Austin Webster grew up in Wisconsin, “Which is mostly known for dairy farms and the Green Bay Packers,” Austin said. Nevertheless, Austin also grew up riding horses—“everything from Fjords to warmbloods and draft crosses”—just not dressage. “I got involved in dressage when one of the local trainers approached my parents and mentioned that I should start taking dressage lessons,” he said. “It wasn’t until I saw a YouTube video of Blue Hors Matine at the 2006 World Equestrian Games that I was fully hooked. At that point, I knew what I wanted.”
He’s been pursuing his dressage dreams ever since. Today, Austin is a USDF Gold medalist and international Grand Prix dressage rider, lives in Loxahatchee, Florida, and runs his own Dancing Duo Dressage, LLC. He’s excited to be bringing 8-year-old Guildenstern SOL and 10-year-old Jackpot Zee Tee to Grand Prix this season, with the goal of making an international team, and enjoys watching his students reach their personal and competitive goals.
In rare downtime, Austin likes pickleball and tennis with friends. When he can fit it in, he likes to travel even further than where teaching clinics takes him—such as a life-changing trip to tour wildlife preserves in South Africa in 2020. But the horses take up most of Austin’s time. “As a professional, I want our legacy to be one where the horses—and their development, care and lives—have come first over the sport, and where correct, empathetic training, no matter the horse, only serves to improve the horse physically and mentally,” he said. “Horses teach you so much, but I believe the biggest lesson is balance: not just in the physical sense. They teach you to balance work with play, how to enjoy the moment without losing sight of the goal, how to let go without forgetting, the list goes on and on. They are wonderful creatures that I’m so thankful I can be around every day.”
Photo by Melissa Fuller
