Jeroen Houterman celebrates 30-year anniversary: “If respect doesn’t improve, there will be no sport left”

Jeroen Houterman started course designing at national driving competitions in 1995. This September, he attended all three major championships as an official: the European Four-in-Hand Championship, the World Para Driving Championship, and the World Pony Driving Championship. A perfect reason to visit Jeroen at home and ask him how he looks back on his career and what has kept him motivated over the past thirty years.

Jeroen no longer has a bucket-list event or dream competition he would still like to course design. After all, he has already worked at virtually every major competition and championship. The only exception is the World Championship for Single Horses, because that would create a conflict of interest if his daughter, Eline Houterman, were competing there.

“So that championship doesn’t need to happen for me. I would much rather see my daughter competing in it,” he says with a smile.

Options for all competitors

“Look, I absolutely love designing courses and working as a Technical Delegate at both national and international driving competitions. I enjoy working with people, helping drivers showcase great sport, and being part of a strong team. Whether I’m designing a course for a national event in Kronenberg or for a World Championship doesn’t matter to me at all.

As a course designer, your goal is to create options for every competitor, to make people think carefully about why they choose a particular route. Creating that perfect balance is like solving a puzzle that, in my opinion, can never be completed perfectly. Even after thirty years of experience, there are still situations where drivers find a route that neither I nor my team of assistants had spotted beforehand.”

Course designer or Technical Delegate?

“Course designer, without a doubt. That’s where my heart truly lies. I’m married to Annemiek Klessens. Her twin sister Rian used to compete in four-in-hand driving. Back then I played football and mostly enjoyed the social side afterwards! But through Annemiek I got involved in carriage driving, and so did my daughters Eline and Anouk, as well as their cousins Maud and Daan Peters. Some people say the Houterman family breathes driving sport, but in reality it’s the Klessens family that does! I quickly discovered that I enjoyed course design. I like being physically active and helping event organisers.”

“As a course designer, you are responsible for the marathon and cones courses and everything that comes with them. As a Technical Delegate, you are responsible for ensuring everything is checked, including whether the courses comply with the regulations.

A TD tries to solve problems before they actually become problems or before anyone complains about them. Both roles require extensive knowledge of the rules, but personally I prefer the practical work of course design, which is much more behind the scenes than being a TD.”

 Photo: Melanie Guillamot

Competing with Eline or working as a course designer?

“With Eline, again without a doubt! As I mentioned earlier, I love working as part of a team. That’s one of the things I enjoy most about being an official. The social side of sport that I loved when I played football is something I try to maintain at competitions as well. I think it’s important that officials get together after the competition, have a meal, share a drink, connect with one another and evaluate the event.”

“But when you attend an event as an official, everything is very serious, and the cooperation is not always as I would like it to be. When I spend a week away with Eline, it’s completely different. Then it’s a family trip. We always have fun. Everyone knows their role, everyone knows what they need to do, and there’s still time to enjoy ourselves. There is nothing better than sharing your passion with the people you love.”

When is a competition successful for you as an official?

“That depends on the role. If I have been the course designer, I hope that five years later people still remember that I designed that particular event. If I have been the TD, a competition is successful when people have forgotten who the Technical Delegate was within two months. As a TD, your responsibility is to solve every issue before it becomes visible. You are the point of contact for the organisers, competitors, judges and course designer. So if people no longer remember who the TD was, you did your job well. If people still remember the course designer, it usually means you created a challenge.”

People who work with you know you don’t avoid difficult truths. Is that intentional?

“Yes. Rules exist for a reason. They apply to everyone and are there to keep the sport fair. If you make an exception for one person simply because you like them, you may not be directly favouring them, but you are disadvantaging everyone else. Whether officials, competitors or organisers agree with the rules is irrelevant to me. I believe they should be enforced equally for everyone. Otherwise, what is the point of having regulations if exceptions are constantly being made? I also dislike it when issues are not discussed openly within a team. My wife and I run a plant nursery with six employees. Whether I’m talking about my team at home or a competition organising committee, I find it difficult when concerns are left unspoken and only surface after the fact.”

Photo: Wilco van Driessen

Being critical is different from expressing an uninformed opinion

“We don’t all have to agree, but I do think it’s important to discuss things, learn from one another and be willing to look critically at ourselves. That can only happen if issues are openly discussed and both parties are aware of them. At the same time, there are plenty of situations where competitors speak to officials in a very unfriendly way, sometimes even angrily or with offensive language. Those people are not looking for a conversation; they simply disagree and want to be proven right. I can’t do much with that.”

“Ask questions. Try to understand each other. Respect everyone’s role, qualities and decisions. I don’t sit at the dressage arena handing out scores, so I believe I should be careful not to interfere too much with matters that are not my responsibility. Asking questions and being critical is very different from expressing an opinion without nuance. I am convinced that if respect from competitors towards officials and organisers does not improve, there will come a time when we no longer have a sport left to practice. We all have to make this work together.”

You have worked at many events in 2025, both indoor and outdoor. Earlier you mentioned wanting to slow down next year. Why?

“Because of exactly what I just described. The lack of respect is increasing, and I find that deeply disappointing. I have a thick skin and I’m used to a lot. But even I work incredibly hard before and during competitions. I do that for the organisers and the drivers, but if you don’t receive any respect in return, a large part of the enjoyment disappears. I was the course designer for both the European Four-in-Hand Championship and the World Para Driving Championship in Lähden. At the World Pony Driving Championship in Le Pin au Haras at the end of September, I worked as Technical Delegate. After that, I have no immediate plans. I will definitely be at the 2026 World Four-in-Hand Championship in Aachen as a TD—that’s already arranged. But if I’m away from home for that many weeks, I need to enjoy it and feel that my sacrifices are appreciated.”

If I say we shouldn’t worry about the future of equestrian sport, what would your response be?

“If that’s true, then I’m the one who will start worrying!” he laughs. “I’ve mentioned respect enough already, so let’s leave that topic aside. I also think we need to look critically at where investments are being made within the sport. Single ponies and single horses are seeing growth in participation numbers. Shouldn’t those be the classes we invest in? The classes where we increase prize money and try to keep entry costs as low as possible? Those are also the divisions where the differences among the world’s best competitors are the smallest. What could be better than that? Having more than five drivers who genuinely have a chance of becoming World Champion is fantastic.”

“I think that’s also great promotion for the sport to outsiders. You can see that the largest crowds attend the marathon, followed by cones and then dressage. To make dressage easier for newcomers to follow, I would like to see scores presented as percentages. A score of 70% means far more to the average spectator than a score of 41 penalty points. I would also like to see the marathon count for more in the overall standings. It’s the phase spectators come to watch, so why do we see so little movement in the rankings after it? Those are the kinds of things I see as potential threats to the future of the sport.”

Photo: HORVATH KRISZTINA

What would you say to people considering becoming a course designer?

“Go for it! There is so little new talent coming through, and we really need new people to keep the sport alive. I spend a lot of time trying to share my knowledge with anyone interested. I teach FEI course-designing courses as well as courses for the KNHS, and I always try to help fellow course designers whenever they ask. The team working alongside a course designer often consists of course designers who are still at a lower certification level. When we design courses before a competition, I try to explain as much as possible about my experiences and why we make certain decisions.”

Sharing knowledge

“I try to share my knowledge with as many interested people as possible. They also learn a great deal simply by being part of an event, seeing how courses work in practice and identifying what could have been done better. Every obstacle is different. Even if you know an obstacle from previous years, the ground conditions may have changed. That alone can influence how you design it, and that’s just one tiny example of the many factors involved. So to anyone interested in becoming a course designer, I would say: go for it. Get involved. Reach out to people. Attend events. Ask questions. Follow your passion.”

Text: Meike Paridaans | Photos: Wico van Driessen, Melanie Guillamot & Krisztina Horváth

This article originally appeared in MenSport & Showpaard and is available online exclusively to members