11 Jun 2008 - Goodbye and thank you, Sylvester and Elf

We were all shocked and saddened when we learned that our own pony, Sylvester, had suddenly become very ill. He developed an inoperable tumour on his small intestine. The vet was called but, in the end, Sylvester had to be put to sleep. Our instructors Nikki Francis and Liz Walker were with him when he died. Sylvester, the only horse our group has ever owned, was bought in April 2004. He was currently called Silver but we thought that two ‘Silvers’ on the yard would be confusing so this latest Silver became MBM Sylvester. The ‘MBM’ stood for Mary Butler Memorial as we acquired him as a tribute to Mary Butler, mother of Anne Everall and a tireless worker for our group since its inception in 1987. Sylvester was bought because he had a talent for dressage and we felt he could enable our younger dressage enthusiasts to progress. He did the job admirably, helping his riders to success at the RDA National Championships every year since we acquired him.  

Sadly, another veteran of the National Championships also died recently. Elf was a very dependable stalwart at Acrecliffe and for 12-15 years has taught many of our youngest members to ride.

Both Elf and Sylvester will be much missed.