Alexa Fairchild Retires Dabanos d'O4 from Sport

Dressage

Belgium

Belgian Grand Prix rider Alexa Fairchild has announced the retirement from sport of her Grand Prix horse Dabanos d'O4.

Dabanos is a 20-year old Belgian warmblood by Abanos out of Sandra de Malois (by Donnerschlag x Lurano). He is bred by Victor Vansant.

Peter de Boer - Ona Dewaegenaere

Owned by Denise van Dingenen, the tall bay gelding first came into the interntional spotlight under the owner's grand daughter, Ona de Wagenaere, a former Belgian youth team member in the 1990s. The pair premiered internationally in the 5-year old young horse classes at the 2008 CDI Pompadour.

Ona and Dabanos at the 2012 CDI Mechelen

In 2009 Dabanos was competed by Dutchman Peter de Boer, who rode him to an 8th place in the 2009 Belgian Young Horse Championships in the 6-year old division as well as showed him at ZZ level that year in The Netherlands. In 2011 they were 10th at the 2011 Belgian Small Tour Championships.

Dewaegenaere and Dabanos made their FEI level show debut at the 2012 CDI Hagen in the small tour and two months later they moved up to Grand Prix level. at the 2012 CDIO Compiegne. They were fourth in the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix Championships.

The pair competed at Grand Prix level through 2015 with numerous CDI starts in Rotterdam, Deauville, Leudelange, Drachten, bremen, Roosendaal, Kapellen, Nieuw en St. Joosland, Hagen, and Zandhoven.

Jeannette Haazen

In 2016 Ona's trainer, the Belgian based Dutch professional Jeannette Haazen, took over the ride on the highly sensitive gelding, whose nerves often got the better of him, especially in the walk part of the test.

Under Haazen Dabanos' scores soared to the low seventies, yet with the occasional drop due to tension.

They debuted at the CDI Roosendaal in June 2016 and competed internationally for 1.5 years. They rode in Maastricht, Den Bosch, Joosland, Hagen, Compiegne, Rotterdam and even the CDIO Nations Cup in Aachen in 2017. Their last international was the 2017 CDIO Roosendaal Indoor.

In May 2018 the owner made the surprising decision to pull the horse away from Haazen and Dabanos disappeared from the show scene entirely.

Alexa Fairchild

Dabanos resurfaced two years later in Wim Verwimp's stable in Belgium, bought by Belgian Under 25 Grand Prix rider Alexa Fairchild as a schoolmaster.

Fairchild and Dabanos made their CDI debut in Sint-Truiden in August 2020. They were also fifth at the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix Championships.

With Fairchild at the 2021 European Championships

In 2021 they campaigned for an Olympic team spot with competition starts in Opglabbeek, Grote Brogel, Compiegne and Rotterdam. Their Grand Prix score fluctuated from a 70.978% in Opglabbeek In April 2021 to a 62.174% in Rotterdam. The Belgian Equestrian Federation nominated Fairchild and Dabanos as their team reserve and the pair travelled to Tokyo, but did not compete there. They did make it on the team for the 2021 European Dressage Championships in Hagen six weeks later and finished 62nd in the Grand Prix with 65.047%. They were fourth at the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix Championships.

In 2022 Dabanos turned 19 and Fairchild decided to try for the World Championships in Herning. They competed in Lier, Opglabbeek, Compiegne, and Deauville but did not make the cut. They were 8th at the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix Championships. In the summer of 2022 Fairchild left long-time trainer Wim Verwimp and moved to Larissa Pauluis' yard.

Also in 2023 Fairchild and Dabanos kept on competing with CDI starts in Le Mans, Lier and Aachen early in the season, but their scores got stuck in the mid sixties range.

Retirement

Today, Fairchild announced the retirement of 20-year old Dabanos on her social media.

"Thanks so much for being the best schoolmaster and such a giving horse," Fairchild stated. "You really taught me so much and allowed us to travel to Japan to the Olympics, an absolute dream come true! We had many ups and downs but always a good laugh at the end and so many good memories made together over 3 years."

The gelding will move to the yard of Alexa's competition groom, Manon Voss.

"Dab turned 20 this year and we decided it was time to enjoy the green fields and some small rides with my show groom," Alexa continued. "He will be staying at her barn under precious care and close to home so I can visit him whenever."

Fairchild will continue her competitive career with four newly acquired horses: rising Grand Prix Lusitano Hermes (originally named Habil MT, by Assírio d’Atela x Quarteto da Brôa) , rising small tour horse Ladignac (by Zonik x Apache), 2022 Belgian young horse champion Nacho (by Secret x Tango), and youngster Odin (by Furst Toto x United).