"Guy Roux let me leave the hotel in the morning to go see my horses," says Lionel Charbonnier

“People think it's a passion.

This is not the case.

Football is a passion, horses are a job.

And it's a world champion footballer who tells you that.

Holder of the most beautiful selection trophy with the France team, Lionel Charbonnier is very often not the first name that goes back to our collective memory when we remember France 1998. Blue in a cape in June 1997 put himself at the service of others to shine in the round ball.

A self-sacrifice also cultivated in the world of horses, his second life forever.

“It can't be invented, you have to know where you're stepping.

I've been living among horses for so long, that I know the world of the trotter, the galloper, the jumper by heart..."

Stud farm, training centre… nothing is left to chance

And for good reason.

Retired from the grounds since 2002, he has lived for more than 20 years in the heart of a huge 30-hectare complex, consisting of a stud farm and a training center, which he himself had built in the southwest. from Auxerre.

A formidable tool, where a large staff is busy daily: local veterinarian, medical staff and technical staff, including Thierry Pomel, former coach of the France CSO team.

“It's not a one-day fad, a 'star thing' as some may say.

It's something that we do seriously, "insists this enthusiast, invested from morning to evening in his field when he is not on the move for his other activity as a consultant for RMC.

Our Petit LANCELOT HDT 8 months, gives us a glimpse of its future strengths.

Endowed with a very good mind, he got to know Donatello who arrived recently. Son of Quidam de Revel, of a mother by Diamant de Semilly. Ass6ej77nt

— lionel charcoal maker (@liocharbo) January 10, 2022

Lionel Charbonnier threw himself into the equestrian adventure when he initialed his first professional football contract in the late 1980s with Guy Roux's AJ Auxerre.

“Combining my daily life as a goalkeeper with that of a thoroughbred trainer brought me a real balance at the time, to escape a little, even before European matches.

Guy let me leave the hotel in the morning to go see my horses.

I was up much earlier than my teammates after all, and then arrived fresh in my head for breakfast with them.

It didn't affect my group life in any way.

»

“Lemaire is a bigger star than Neymar in Japan.

But no one knows that here."

Charbonnier was still unable to do without his own "oxygen", even at the heart of a major footballing event.

“When I was in the France team, at the time of the 1998 World Cup, (Alain) Boghossian was in my room in Clairefontaine.

He saw me every day watching videos sent to me of my horses.

I heard them breathing in my big phone at the time.

It allowed me to guide them from a distance, it was already a kind of teleworking!

(Laughs) Alain was a little drunk, he said that I was always with my nags.

»

The 55-year-old former goalkeeper, who traveled quite a bit once his crampons were put away

, would like the horse to get more space in the sports and media landscape.

With 664,178 licensees listed in the summer of 2021, a figure up by 60,000 members over one year, the Equestrian Federation is the third largest behind football and tennis.

“However, if we say horse, everyone thinks horse betting.

It's not just that for me.

There is miscommunication.

We had a driver who was on top of the world, whose name is Jean-Michel Bazire.

If you ask people in Paris who it is today, no one will tell you.

Christophe Lemaire is adored all over the world, a bigger star than Neymar in Japan.

But no one knows that here.

»

A new Japan Cup for @christo68914587 https://t.co/KgQ06u005c

— The Parisian |

turf (@leparisien_turf) November 29, 2020

“Our first Olympic medals, they very often come from French riders”

He also wants, for example, the importance of the equestrian sector during the Olympic Games.

“Our first medals very often come from French riders and stud farms… And we only talk about it on D-Day!

All this shows that we don't have a horse culture in France.

If we want to communicate for the good of the races, we should not call Antoine Griezmann to advertise.

That's not the way to go about it.

Even if it remains a fairly expensive sport, and it can be a hindrance for the public, we still have our heads upside down", he believes before recalling that horse riding is the sport "where women are the most represented”, with 8 licensees out of 10. Her daughter Stella is one of them.

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A post shared by Charbonnier Stella, HDT (@stella_charbonnier)

Now the cornerstone of the Auxerre complex, which her father refurbished to dedicate it to the practice of show jumping, the 19-year-old rider is playing at a high level in show jumping.

“She got into it five years ago, after being French horse-ball champion and riding a few thoroughbreds,” says the father of the future champion, who is already regularly involved in international competitions.

"And she's always the youngest.

With her horse, Jonami, Stella has become a true competitor.

She was fourth at the Chantilly International Jumping Masters: the fifth was the silver medalist at the Olympics.

That puts you a little bit my daughter.

I believe that the succession is assured.

This time, it's a rather proud dad who tells you.