German born U.S. dressage rider Silva Martin-Stigler has been hospitalized with a brain injury following a severe riding accident on 5 March 2014.
Coming fresh off winning at the 2014 Palm Beach Derby CDI-W in Wellington, Martin fell off a horse which tripped. Silva bumped her head on the horse’s neck on the way down and hit the ground unconscious which was followed shortly by a seizure.
The 33-year old was airlifted by helicopter to the Delray Medical Center for treatment. Silva's eventing husband Boyd Martin told Eventing Nation that Silva has been drifting in and out of consciousness since then, and there is bleeding and swelling on her brain. She is currently having trouble moving her left arm and leg. As bad it sounds, Boyd said the doctors are optimistic that it might just be a severe concussion, as opposed to a more serious head injury.
Silva is in the intensive care unit in the hospital, where she is listed in stable condition. So far CT scans show some bleeding on her brain, which remains stable scan after scan. Doctors are opting not to do surgery at this time in hopes that Silva’s body reabsorbs the blood. At this point, the doctors said it is too soon to know if she will suffer any longterm effects from the accident. Her current condition is a deep sleep, and doctors expect that it will take a few days for her to be more responsive and alert.
Boyd stressed to Eventing Nation that her helmet very obviously prevented this from being a much more serious injury. In an interview with The Chronicle he said, "I was very thankful she was wearing [her helmet]. She comes from a culture in Germany where you don’t wear a helmet every day, but for the last couple of years she’s been very diligent about it."
Photo © Astrid Appels
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