Upper level dressage rider Silva Martin, who sustained a serious head injury in a fall on March 5, is continuing to recover at Delray Medical Center in Delray Beach, Fla.

Silva regained consciousness and was smiling and speaking on March 7, but her condition worsened slightly on March 9, when she briefly went unconscious again. She’d made slight improvements as of the evening of March 9.

By March 10, Silva was speaking again, though still dealing with effects from the bleeding in her brain.

“[March 9] she wasn’t looking so fresh, but [as of March 10], she’s getting stronger, so doctors are confident at the moment that she’s in a stable condition. The bleeding has stopped, but unfortunately the blood is trapped in there, and that’s what’s affecting her vision,” said Boyd, who’s based in Cochranville, Pa., with Silva most of the year. “She has double vision and slurring speech, and it’s also affecting her balance. We’re hoping for her body to reabsorb all the blood, and once that’s happened, her sight and speech should balance out.

“I’ve had discussions with the neurologists about her rehabilitation plan,” Boyd added. “It’s a bit unclear about how long it’ll take to get her back to being as good as gold, but we’ll just take it how it comes. What we’re hoping for is that in the next couple days she’ll get released to a rehabilitation place that’s attached to Delray. After a couple days there, we’re hoping to get her back to Pennsylvania, where the majority of her support circle and friends are located.”