Justin Verboomen Receives Ride on Djembe de Hus

Dressage

Belgium

Belgian Grand Prix rider Justin Verboomen has received the ride on the French owned Djembe de Hus.

Djembe de Hus is a 10-year old Oldenburg gelding by Damon Hill out of Elfe (by Argentinus x Fahnenträger II). He is bred by Xavier Marie by embryotransfer.

French Young Horse Champion

Djembe de Hus was trained from young horse level to Grand Prix by Jessica Michel

The pair became the French Young Horse Champions in 2019 and 2020, finished fourth in 2021. They represented France at the 2021 World Young Horse Championships in Verden, where they finished 12th in the 6-year old finals.

Djembe was sent to Germany to Marcus Hermes who helped put the Grand Prix buttons on the horse. He tried qualifying the gelding for the 2022 German WCYH team but didn’t make the cut. The horse was in Germany for 1.5 years and between June 2022 and February 2023 Hermes showed him in a three national tests: one S* level class and two S*** level classes, each time with scores well in the seventies.

Michel made her international show debut on Djembe at Grand Prix level in March 2024 at the CDI Ornago, followed by Aachen, Hagen, Exloo, Le Mans and Jardy. They were selected to represent France at the FEI Nations Cup in Falsterbo and conclude the year in Ermelo. The Olympic dream of Paris was alive, but scores were not high enough yet for team selection.

De Hus Clearance Sales

After twenty years of operation, French millionaire Xavier Marie called his horse project Haras de Hus quits and sold his entire stock with a few exceptions in a clearance auction. Djembe was not auctioned.

Instead Marie sent the chestnut to Belgium to get ridden by Alizee Froment in order to be sold. Froment never competed Djembe and a sale didn't take place.

Justin Verboomen

One month ago the ride has been passed on to the Brussels based Justin Verboomen, who since December 2024 and in a few months time became a shooting star on the Belgian dressage scene, breaking all Grand Prix score records with Zonik Plus.

Verboomen and Djembe made its public debut at the CDN Laakdal on 11 May 2025, where they rode a Grand Prix test hors concours scoring 72%. Justin plans on showing Djembe in the Belgian Dressage Championships at the end of the month.