There is a white horse at the school that no one besides Silver has ever had any luck riding (until Epel figures out how to do so), and another (or the same?) horse that “got a bit rowdy” in another vignette, resulting in Silver twisting his ankle while trying to calm it.
Ruggie says there is “something real majestic about the way Silver gallops around on horseback”, and Silver’s horseback riding skills impress Vil in another vignette where Vil drafts him into a project for the film club.
When complimented Silver responds, “That’s because I was doing something that I do on a regular basis.”
When Silver insists on removing the bits from abandoned horses in Lilia’s dream so that they will be able to graze Baur is impressed by how quickly he is able to calm them.
Sebek explains, “We’re well versed in soothing horses. And Silver gets along especially well with them.”
Silver’s concern for the abandoned horses rewards the group with the first-aid supplies that they had been carrying, and it is not the only time in Lilia’s dream that his compassion for animals aided them: while searching for brooms to help them escape the besieged citadel, Silver happens upon a room of locked away pigeons and owls used for sending messages.
Silver insists on sharing some of their food with the birds (“They seem extremely hungry”) despite Sebek protesting that they do not have the time.
Sebek then has the idea to use Silver’s “odd affinity with small woodland creatures” to their advantage: in exchange for feeding them, the birds agree to “bring their friends” to help the group of injured fae escape the citadel.
Pigeons, sparrows and owls appear at Silver’s beckoning whistle to harass the silver owls, followed by “hordes of animals coming from the woods.”
Lilia says, “Honestly-birds and squirrels for reinforcements? What a haphazard approach… We’re creatures of the night, you know.”
Squirrels eat through the silver owls’ catapult ropes while birds drop rocks on the soldiers from above, allowing Silver’s group to survive a situation where their group of less than ten injured fae had been surrounded by over 100 violent enemies.
Jamil comments on Silver catching a bug that he releases outside, and he also rescues a baby bat (once again despite Sebek’s protests, much like the birds in Lilia’s dream).
It is possible that Silver’s affinity does not extend to direbeasts: when the group wanders into a dire beast lair in Book 7 Silver says that he has nothing personal against them, “but we have to get through here!,” and the scene turns into a battle, possibly implying that he fought them rather than reasoned with them.
Twisted Wonderland Reference Note 