When Eurico Rosa da Silva left Woodbine on the evening of December 15, 2019, he was turning the final page in a chapter of his life that had lasted for almost 30 years. On the afternoon of that cold day, he’d guided Pumpkin Rumble to victory by just over five lengths in the Valedictory Stakes, one final winning ride to add to more than 2,900 he’d achieved in his career. Da Silva had written the chapter’s first page when he was a boy with a dream in a remote corner of Brazil, and he’d accomplished far more than he’d ever dreamed of: high-stakes wins at tracks on three continents; two Queen’s Plates, the Woodbine Oaks, the Woodbine Mile and the Canadian International Stakes; the World All-Star Jockeys Championship in Japan; seven Sovereign Awards, the Avelino Gomez Memorial Award and purses earned over 16 years at Woodbine of more than $102 million Now it was time to give something back. “When I was a jock, I loved to race, I loved Woodbine, with all my heart,” says Da Silva, who was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2022. “We were like a family. But the race, the money, the winning, they weren’t fulfilling me anymore. I had something inside myself. I wanted to be something different. I wanted to help people.” Da Silva began the next chapter of his life helping other professional athletes not just to pursue their own dreams more successfully, but also to overcome the nightmares that were impeding their performance. He was well qualified for the job. He’d lived through his own nightmare, described in his book, Riding for Freedom. Even as he pursued his dream, the nightmares drove him into addictive behaviour, hopelessness and despair and almost cost him his life, before he found a way to subdue his demons. In his work as a Mind Coach, Da Silva tried to help professional athletes deal with their own nightmares. “But always I felt a little piece of the puzzle was missing,” he says, “and finally I found what it was. What I needed as part of my coaching business was the horse. “The horse has been with me since I was four years old. They were always there to help me to believe in myself. But I never worked with the horse to help me resolve the trauma that I had.” That realization led Da Silva to transform his coaching activities into the Equine Experiential Connection. Operating from the facilities of Long Run Thoroughbred Retirement Society, in Hillsburgh, Ontario, Da Silva introduces his clients to a group of horses specially trained to bring them into contact with their deepest inner lives. “A lot of my clients come here, they’re not in good shape,” he says. “The horses help them to save their own life.” Former jockey Sunny Singh knew about Da Silva’s work and contacted him in 2025. Like Da Silva, he had been drawn to life at the track as a way out of a turbulent childhood. “I’ve been around horses all my life,” says Singh, whose father first took him to Woodbine when he was six. In 2000, he started his career as a jockey at Woodbine, where he rode 490 winners, But the turbulence and trauma of his early years threatened several times to derail his life as a jock. “I had years of damage inside,” he says. By the time he showed up at the Long Run farm, Singh was a troubled soul. But with Da Silva’s guidance and support, he turned for healing to the animals that he’d ridden for most of his life. “I’d been a jockey since I was 18,” he says, “but I never knew horses had the power to help me.” Clients like Singh learn to open themselves to the horse’s intuitive capacity and to trust the horse to illuminate the hidden corners of their emotional state. “I can see them going very deep inside themselves,” says Da Silva, “and the horse mirrors what’s inside of them. Just from the way the horse comes to them, walks around them, the direction it takes, the direction it looks, everything has a meaning.” Da Silva’s personal struggles to overcome his own trauma reinforce the skills he brings to his program. “He puts out so much energy trying to help me heal,” says Singh, “and the horses extract his energy. He gives it all, just to make you feel better.” Da Silva knows from his own experience the forces that repeatedly thwart his clients like Singh. As he recounts in his book, nothing he accomplished, even winning the Queen’s Plate, could diminish those forces. “People like us with addictions; we sabotage our mind.” Thanks to his work with Da Silva and the horses in the equine program, Singh has put an end to the sabotage. “I don’t need to be a winner at the racetrack to have peace,” he says. “These horses are making me see a different kind of happiness. They’ve affected me spiritually.” As Da Silva knows, all jockeys rely on their success by understanding the horses that they ride. But in their work, they try to control the horse, to tell the horse who’s the boss. Now, the tables turn. Da Silva’s clients learn to relinquish that control and let the horse take over. “You surrender to the horse,” he says. “You’re with the horse in a beautiful way. There’s no judgment, just a silence. The horse will find a way to tell you what you need to know to resolve inside yourself. And it’s life changing.” By the team at The Big Eurico Share This:Share
