Lisanne Zoutendijk's Davina Passed Away

Dressage

The Netherlands

Dutch Under 25 Grand Prix rider Lisanne Zoutendijk had to say goodbye to her former junior rider's horse Davina.

Davina was a 12-year old Dutch warmblood mare by Johnson out of Melvira (by Ulft x Visioen). She was bred by P. van den Berg.

Successful KWPN Mare

As a youngster the mare placed in the finals of the 2011 KWPN Mare Championship and scored 90 points in her IBOP mare performance test. This earned her elite status. Under Lisanne der Nederlanden she won the 2012 Dutch Subli Cup Championship for 4-year olds.

She was trained at Coby van Baalen's yard, where she also served as a broodmare.

Davina produced Mara de Vries' internationally successful small tour horse Habibi DVB (by Don Schufro), as well as the licensed stallion Kaiser DVB (by De Niro), and Jalila DVB (by Sezuan).

Junior Rider's Horse

The Zoutendijk family purchased Davina as a 6-year old from Coby van Baalen in May 2014.

Zoutendijk competed the chestnut Davina just for a three month period at international junior riders level almost five years ago. The pair made its CDI debut in Biarritz, France, in October 2015, and started in Lier and Roosendaal, followed by the 2016 CDI Drachten in January 2016, their last international.

The Zoutendijk family bred three foals out of Davina, all three via embryotransfer. They have two 2-year olds Nirvana and Narcos (by For Romance and by Ferdeaux) and a foal this year by Toto Jr.

Laminitis

Davina suffered from an infection in her hoof and foundered. Unfortunately her condition did not improve and it was decided in the best interest of the horse to put it to sleep. Before she became lame, Davina was working towards Under 25 level.

"Davina had much talent for piaffe and passage, but from one day to the next she was lame. First in one front leg. After an inspection she turned out to have an infection in her hoof and she foundered after a few days," Zoutendijk told De Hoefslag. "Davina had the issue for four weeks. For a moment she seemed to improve, but went downhill the last few days. Her hoof bone had rotated but also her hoofwall was separating from the coronet band. it was a hard decision, but a fair one for Davina."

For the now 22-year old Zoutendijk the past 8 months have not been the most pleasant ones. In December 2019 her U25 horse Watteau passed away just two weeks into his retirement. The 16-year old died of an aortic rupture in the field.