Two-time Queens Plate winning jockey Eurico Rosa da Silva doesn’t give horseback riding lessons to new riders or even other professionals.  But these are strange days.

On Tuesday 22nd of June 2021 weird currents swirling about social media found Eurico as a remedy for pandemic blues.  The famous jockey, who is 45 but looks much younger, has transformed himself into an elite performance coach who helps Canadian athletes and business executives straighten-out their minds; he calls his business mindcoaching.  Watching him work these equines at Halton Place, I can’t help but wonder if his wisdom comes from the horses. 

Horses show us how to communicate. They don’t speak English, but they can read our body language and they understand our tone of voice. When Athena’s ears are forward, she is listening and attentive. Her swishing tail tells us she’s happy.   

“This is a good horse,” Eurico says, holding the bridle. “She is smart and willing, you see.” He slips the gear over the animal’s muzzle and brings a strap up over her ears. “She lowered her head for me.”

This is especially significant for Eurico, who is shorter than most folks. The famous jockey is a Brazilian immigrant who came to Canada in search of a better life. Over the last seventeen years he worked his way up the rankings at Woodbine Racetrack, a career detailed in his autobiography, Riding for Freedom. This book is Eurico’s honest and thought-provoking self-examination of his own demons. It details how and why a good life can unravel, and what it takes to piece it back together again. The story chronicles the impoverished youth’s unlikely rise to prominence in Sao Paulo, his personal challenges, and over-indulgences in Macao, and finally his journey to Canada where he steered a course toward self-preservation.

On Tuesday, as we groomed horses for the ride, Eurico related how he was flown by helicopter to Hong Kong after being trampled at the track in Macao and how the flight took twenty minutes.  His anecdotes are often self-deprecating. He complains about his height and his stories leave us feeling an honest respect for the man. I ask him how he directs a speeding racehorse in a crowded match, and he says it’s a mind-to-mind connection that cannot be described in words and can only be understood by doing, which is something I'll never experience, and he'll probably never experience again. 

At the end of 2019, at the height of his success, the seven-time Sovereign Award-winning jockey walked away from the sport. He’d won all of Woodbine’s most prestigious races, including two Queen’s Plates, and now it was time for the Brazilian-born man to give something back to Canadians by becoming a life coach and making retirement better for his favourite racehorses.

Today was Eurico’s first time meeting Athena, a clever and curious five-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare. She was joined by Raven, a retired thoroughbred racehorse who had won many matches at Woodbine, although none with Eurico in the saddle. “Horses show us who we are.”  The jockey says, “they’re herd animals, and every herd has a leader.” Athena was clearly eager to follow Eurico, and she stood patiently at the mounting block as Tuesday’s neophytes clambered up and down her sides.  But the confidence comes when the horseman lets go of Athena, and when the new riders must take the reins and be the boss the horse expects.

Horseback riding increases problem-solving, leadership, and social skills.  In addition to being relaxing, riding horses can also be an excellent workout, and be remembered as a great day at the stables.  The memories we made on Tuesday and the experiences we had on Athena and Raven give us a tiny glimpse into Eurico’s life and what he offers his clients. I’m left to wonder if the mind-to-mind connection he felt with winning racehorses is transferable to other sports and other professions, and if that’s his great secret.