Justin Verboomen : "hard to realize that this is really happening"

Since the Frankfurt's 5* last December, where he won the Grand Prix with a 81.587% and the Freestyle with a 91.195%, Zonik Plus stayed at home. After a few weeks dedicated to breeding and light training, the 10-year-old stallion will make his come back to competition next week at the 's-Hertogenbosch World Cup qualifier; an event where he already competed in last year.

Just few days before leaving Wallonia to head to North Brabant, Justin Verboomen spoke with to the last World Cup stage of the season's organizer, reflecting on the past few months " last year was truly unimaginable, but to be completely honest, many moments passed me by,” he says. “I can hardly imagine that we, myself and Zonik  Plus, have achieved all these successes. Yet when I see footage of those moments again, it really hits me ".

Beyond the speed of their rise, the Belgian duo is quite atypical. Without a big stable and team, the Belgian excel at a high level in their own way " my daily routine is far from the spotlights; I work in the stable almost entirely alone every day. All the successes and results feel almost unreal and are so far off from my everyday activities. That sometimes makes it hard to realize that this is really happening. I do enjoy the competitions, they’re part of my job, and I’m learning more and more to enjoy them. I always think things won’t be good enough, but I’m getting better at dealing with that " .

For the past two and a half months, the Rheilander, bred by Vasco Francisco Freire, stand at stud "After Frankfurt, Zonik Plus focused on his career as a breeding stallion during January and February. Because of that I trained him a little less, but I kept him in shape ". Seen in Lier last week for a presentation alongside her husband, the world number 1 took the opportunity to test his stallion. " I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. In our home training we spent the past two months working on various exercises. This show gave me a chance to see where we stand in a competition setting, so that during The Dutch Masters we can hopefully add another scoop on top. Zonik Plus can still improve a lot, and he is very young. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us ".

Competition after competition, Justin Verboomen is also slowly getting used to his new status as a public favorite " I find it surprising and hard to believe that people are fans of us. I do understand that people love Zonik Plus. He is truly special, and I’m incredibly a fan of this horse myself. Every day when I see him in the stable I think again, ‘Oh my God, is this my horse.’ So when I look at it that way, I understand. But as I just said, my ordinary days are far from the spotlight; I’m only busy with the horses, and that is my passion, that is my drive ".

source : Indoorbrabant - crédit photo : FEI/Leanjo de Koster