Dressage stable Tristan
The word 'paardje' is Dutch for 'little horse' and was one of the first words that Jan was able to say as a child. Shortly after that, he started "saving" to buy a pony. When he was 7 years old, his parents, who had no history in horses, decided to buy a shetland pony for him. Although this wasn't a huge success (as the pony got sold very quickly) horses have always been an important part in Jans live ever since.
Jan started his competitive career with pony racing on the 'wild track' and later he performed at competitions in dressage and showjumping up until 3th level. In 1976 Jo Rutten gave a demonstration with Banjo at the NKB championships, just after returning from the Olympic Games in Montreal . That demonstration made a big impression on Jan: "This is wat I want". In 1981 Jan finished his ORUN education (to become a instructor) and in those days you had to do both showjumping and dressage at 3th level for the final exams. After that, Jan completely turned to dressage and from that moment on, he went to train with Jo Rutten. Up until today, he's being trained by Bert Rutten
His most famous horses include Durban (Pretendent x Safari), Tristan (Havidoff x Wisconsin) and Kenwood (Clavecimbel x Chronos). After being sold, Durban became Grand Prix in America under Robert Wilson VI and Tristan became Grand Prix in Germany with Hubertus Schmidt. Jan showed Kenwood himself at Grand Prix level before he got sold to Rachel Ivstan from Great Britain.
His next horse was Dodi (Zidane x Concorde) who he competed at Small Tour level. Till the end of 2019 he was competing with Espléndido (Negro x Flemmingh ) in the Prix-St George before he was sold to Japan. Currently he rides 3th level with Little Rock ( George Clooney x Johnson) and Small Tour with Häkkinen (by Diëgo x Lord Leatherdale).
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In 2015, Jan completed successfully the KNHS/NOC*NSF-course Trainer-Coach 5 and therefore he is certified to teach riders up to and including Grand Prix level.
As a consultant, Jan is concerned with, among others, horse and horsesport related issues. In this context, he is the author of the Limburg Equestrian Plan for the Province of Limburg, the Core Sports Plan for Equestrian Sports for the Province of Gelderland and the Equestrian Accomodation Plan Brabant for the Province of North Brabant. Furthermore, he was the president of the Dutch Orun and member of the Dutch working group 'Werkgroep Onderwijs van de Sectorraad Paarden'. The KNHS gave Jan a golden award on 15 may 2018 for all the work he did.
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