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.