SILHOUETTE ES | 9 YEAR OLD OLDENBURG MARE | MAGNOLIA, TX
Daphne, Silhouette ES, is an Oldenburg mare. Her Sire is Casiro I and her Dam is Sabrina. Her bloodline includes foundational stallions such as Cor de la Bryere, Landgraf I, Capitol I, both Caletto I and Caletto II, and Argentinus. She was bred by Yvonne Elbers, who runs a breeding and training farm out of the Oldenburg region of Germany alongside their son, FEI rider Vincent Elbers. Daphne is owned by Lisa Metrick and the pair train with Hanley and Trapp O’Neal at TKO Sporthorses in Magnolia, TX.
Daphne is a lovely dark bay, standing at 16.3hh with four white socks and a little wishbone shaped marking on her nose. One thing Lisa loves about her is that when you get a closer look at Daphne, you will notice 4 or 5 white hairs on her forehead and a white lower lip/chin. In addition to her striking appearance, Daphne is full of personality. Lisa says that Daphne is a Cookie Monster and that, “she’ll walk out of the ring after a round and stick her nose out to anyone nearby (including strangers!) for a cookie.” Daphne also loves children (including Trapp and Hanley’s toddler), naps and getting dirty (of course, right before showing), and being a “Nosey Nelly”. She can often be found sticking her head out of her stall to see what is going on.
Lisa and Daphne recently celebrated two years together. Daphne was imported by EPIC Sporthorses in 2022, when Lisa had only been at TKO for a few weeks. Right away, Lisa knew that Daphne checked all of the boxes and fell in love the first day the mare arrived at TKO. Daphne is shown by both Lisa and her trainer Hanley. Hanley and Daphne consistently place in the top 3 of the International Hunter Derbies, including a win in the South Central Regional Championships last year. Lisa has had success with her special mare in the Adult Hunter division and was recently champion at Winter Series.
Lisa has been riding since she was 7 years old and recalls guided trail rides in Colorado with her Aunt and Uncle being one of her favorite early riding memories. She states, “I’ll never forget how excited I was the first time I was old enough to ride my own horse on one of those trail rides, instead of riding with one of my parents. I think my love started there.” Her parents bought her a paint pony named Cowboy for her 10th birthday and she has owned horses ever since. Her favorite thing about owning horses is the indescribable connection and the understanding formed between human and horse. Lisa’s lifetime love of horses even played a role in how she named Daphne. She named Daphne (Blue) after a song about the light blue color of vintage fender guitars. The song goes “black jeans and daphne blue, still make me think of you”, but Silhouette was a show name she had held onto since high school. She says, “I couldn’t decide if I thought my new girl was more of a Silhouette show name, or a Daphne barn name so I just combined the two. Since ‘Blue’ didn’t make it into her show name, I call her both Daphne and Daphne Blue around the barn.”
Lisa’s favorite memory with Daphne is, “the night she won the International Hunter Derby Regional Championship last fall (2023) with my trainer Hanley. It was both Daphne’s first international derby win AND Hanley’s first international derby win of her career. Daphne can definitely tell when the stakes are high and always performs better for a crowd. It was an extra special night because my mom and sister were visiting from out of town, and my boyfriend came too. I have the best photograph from that night in the winner’s circle with my family, my now fiancé, my best friend, and most of the TKO team supporting ‘Team Daphne’.”
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Karinda K. is a Houston, TX based equine photographer that travels around the United States photographing equestrians and their horses. Karinda specializes in Outdoor Horse & Rider Portrait sessions that bring to life the magical relationship equestrians share with their horses, Senior Portraits, and Fine Art Black & White Background Portraits for those that want a piece of art featuring their very own animals.
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Portraits for Charity was an idea Karinda dreamt up to help give back to families impacted by Childhood Cancer in memory of her husband’s sister Jessica. With the help of the Pin Oak Charity Horse Show family, Karinda has raised over $30,000 for Candlelighter’s Houston since starting this project.
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Information shared in this blog is based on information collected at the Pin Oak Charity Horse Show, if for any reason this information is incorrect and you would like your horse’s blog post updated, please notify us via email.
