Davinia La Douce retires, and she’s not the only one

by | May 20, 2024 | On the rail

Anna Buffini announced that her dressage star Davinia La Douce (Don FredericoXA Jungle Prince) is retiring after a long career and at the right moment.

“I have made the decision to retire her when she’s still feeling her best,” the Callifornia rider said on social media.

Anna Buffini and Davinia La Douce on their freestyle victory pass in Wellington. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)

“From a horse who was overlooked by many to sixth place in the World Cup, none of us could have imagined how far Diva would take us. I purchased Diva off of a video during Covid, but because of the excellent training she received from Klaus and Belli Balkenhol, Guenter Seidel (her trainer) and I were able to compete with her almost immediately.

Anna and her other horse, Fiontini, are short-listed for the U.S. Olympic dressage team and will compete in Europe in the run-up to selection for the Paris Games.

A retirement announcement also has been made by German star Isabell Werth for her 18-year-old Emilio at Wiesbaden over the weekend, where he won the Freestyle with a score of 83.3 percent. The FEI World Cup Finals in Riyadh during April was supposed to be his last bow, but a small injury meant he couldn’t travel to Saudi Arabia.

Anna Buffini noted in her posting about Davinia La Douce, also known as Diva, that “In 2021, we made our First Nations cup team together. She also got to compete in Rotterdam and place fourth in the special at Aachen. In 2022, Diva girl was on fire and qualified for the World Cup. I received a lot of acknowledgment for being the youngest ever U.S. athlete and the first African-American to compete in the World Cup, but it was all because of Diva,” Anna stated.

“After the World Cup, we got to experience Horses and Dreams for the first time and she placed fourth in an incredibly special freestyle. In 2023, we found our way into the World Cup again, including scoring our first ever 80 percent together. We flew to Florida with one chance to qualify for it and she came through again. With a tenth place finish in the Grand Prix and placed sixth with our Top Gun freestyle routine, that’s the memory I’ll take with me of Diva forever.

“Later that year, she was the anchor for team USA at Aachen and the first day of the Grand Prix we set one of our personal bests. This horse is all heart. Going into 2024, I looked at this season as icing on the cake. She had a good first show but I made too many mistakes in the next few shows and we didn’t get the scores we were hoping to get to make the short list.

“However, our last show in Temecula was magical and made for a beautiful ending of our career together. It was a hard decision not to bring her to Europe, but just like we did with Sundayboy, I always want to retire our horses before they start to decline. I’ll be forever thankful to this mare who has been an underdog her whole life. She may not have had the biggest muscles or the most extravagant movements but she does have the biggest heart. She will live out the rest of her days by my side teaching young up-and-coming riders, and being the boss of the barn as usual. Who knows? We may also see some Diva babies in the future. I wish to thank my coach Guenter my parents and the incredible team of people who have worked so hard to keep this wonderful mare healthy and happy. We indeed did have the time of our life.”