AT HOME WITH VINCENT VOORN Text: Jenneke Smit | Photography: Remco Veurink 26 <strong>DSHS</strong> | The <strong>2022</strong> edition DUTCHSPORTHORSESALES.COM
At home with Almost ten years ago, Vincent Voorn and Jonna Sundblad settled in Weert, located in the western part of the province of Limburg. Step by step they have managed to improve and upgrade their domain into a fully equipped equestrian complex. It’s about time for an 'at home tour' with this successful duo that focuses on training. Their GDS Training company accommodates several top level riders, who are intensively supervised by Vincent and his partners. Vincent Voorn has a worldwide reputation as a trainer and rider. From an early age he has successfully focused on showjumping. That has resulted in participation in several European Championships, including in Mannheim where he contributed to the senior team gold with Alpapillon Armani, as well as the Olympic Games in Hong Kong in 2008. With these achievements he follows the footsteps of his father, Olympic medalist Albert Voorn, but it has been far from a road without ups and downs. Friend request But 'what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger' and all the experiences over the past two decades have made Vincent into the person he is today. As a rider he was part of the Dutch team many times and as a trainer he contributes to the success of a series of riders. Over the years, the now 38-years-old Vincent has focused more and more on training. His own experience forms an important ingredient in this, because he knows what it’s all about in the sport and what participating in global and national championships entails. Together with his wife Jonna Sundblad, he built up an impressive company. “In 2010 I met Vincent at the international competition in Lummen. I competed in a few international competitions per year and he immediately caught my attention when I saw him. After I sent him a friend request via Facebook on the spot, we got in touch”, Jonna looks back. “We first had a long-distance relationship and then I came to the Netherlands for the summer to work for Malin Parmler.” She never returned to Sweden, Jonna decided to work at Eric Berkhof’s Margaretha Hoeve, to accompany Vincent. “I initially focused on riding the young horses there, but at a certain point I became a full stable manager. That lasted for a year and a half and that laid the foundation for all the work that I now do here at our own stables,” tells Jonna. 'We have invested again and again and most wishes have now been fulfilled.' Perfect location After more than eight years of employment, Vincent started his own business in January 2013 together with Jonna. “At Audi I have had a fantastic career and actually achieved everything I could have dreamed of. In 2013 I felt like it was time for the next step. First we rented 25 stables at the former location of Eric and Maikel van der Vleuten in Mierlo. I had three clients at that time and we wanted to build it up slowly. But after six months, that location turned out to be too small,” says Vincent Voorn. “This location in Weert was offered for quiet sale and Yves Houtackers tipped me about it. At the moment I went to see the place, I immediately knew that this was going to be it. It was partly outdated but the possibilities were endless. A big advantage was the separate apartment building which can accommodate eight riders and/or grooms, that had just been completed. It had all the possibilities that we could wish for.” In the years after moving to Weert, Vincent started to focus more and more on training students and this stable was ideal to accommodate several riders with a certain number of horses. “In the beginning Jonna and I had thirty horses under our care here, with only one groom. Those were very long days, but fortunately neither of us were ever afraid to work hard.” The accommodation could be expanded step by step and the stable now has forty boxes divided over several units, two large outdoor arenas, a covered horse walker, two racetracks and a number of fields and paddocks. GDS Training is the home of riders like Emma Augier de Moussac and Ida Selin. Own design With a great eye for detail and horse welfare, Vincent and Jonna have expanded their seven-hectare domain into a fully equipped accommodation. “We have invested again and again and most DUTCHSPORTHORSESALES.COM <strong>DSHS</strong> | The <strong>2022</strong> edition 27
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