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A young stallion’s aura grows, a Brit narrowly misses out on individual glory and it’s ‘lucky 13th’ for Carl Hester: catch up on the action from the final day at the European Dressage Championships
The final medals have been decided after the freestyle at the European Dressage Championships; Belgium’s Justin Verboomen taking his second gold of the week with Zonik Plus with a spellbinding floorplan.
This concludes four days of action at Jiva Hill Stables, Crozet, France, which will be remembered for the emergence of a new champion in the dressage world.
European Dressage Championships freestyle
Justin Verboomen and this nine-year-old black stallion started competing at grand prix only at the end of last year. This week they have truly come of age, winning both individual gold medals on offer and making history for Belgium in the process. They crowned this astonishing championship debut with a breathtaking freestyle, leaving Justin almost speechless at his achievement. There’s still room for improvement – they made a mistake in the half-pass, without which they could have smashed the 90% barrier.
Following their silver in the team competition, there were no medals for Britain in the individual contests. But the trio of Carl Hester, Becky Moody and Lottie Fry proved what strength in depth there is the British ranks; all three completing in the top 10 in the freestyle. Becky finished fourth and the highest Brit with Jagerbomb, and promised there is more to come.
Carl rounded off his 13th European Dressage Championships with his third high-quality test of the week. Carl blamed himself for an uncharacteristic blip in the two-time tempi changes; his “in-tune” stallion read his mind as Carl was wondering if he had enough room and offered an unscheduled one-time. Carl “goes home happy” after what he described as a lucky 13th championship appearance, finishing seventh.
Lottie Fry unveiled her long-awaited “Glamourdale airlines” freestyle floorplan, complete with Lottie’s voice making airport-style announcements. Unfortunately, the stallion was surprised by the volume of the music in the early part of the test and his marks suffered until he got used to the noise. Their canter work was, as ever, supreme, but they couldn’t reclaim the lost marks and finished 10th.
As the championships are done and dusted, it’s exciting to hail a new dressage superstar in Zonik Plus and his humble rider Justin Verboomen. We can’t wait for the competition to resume next year at the World Championships in Aachen.
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Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
