Janneke was born the second daughter in the family of former military rider Gert and his wife Ria Boonzaaijer. Outdoor child Janneke could soon be characterised as “handy and brave”. “I would just cruise around with my pony and then come chasing by again, I loved it,” laughs Janneke, “I got hooked from a young age and got into it.”
At 14, Janneke switched to horses.
Riding continued to be great and so the first European Championships eventing at junior level already beckoned. In 2011, she finished fourth at the Dutch Championship juniors on home ground in Renswoude and was then delegated with the junior team as the youngest participant to the European Championships in Vale Sabroso, Portugal. That experience only encouraged more. Of what followed, as a junior we mention bronze at the DC eventing in 2012, gold in 2013, all with Torontra. Then in 2016 came ACSI Campbelle WS with gold at the DC eventing YR, participation in the European Championships and winning CCI2* Bad Harzburg. In 2017, Janneke and ACSI Campbelle were part of the silver European Championship YR team in Millstreet. In 2019, she participated for the first time in the CCI4* in Boekelo with ACSI Champ de Tailleur. In 2021, a year into the four-year Olympic cycle due to the corona epidemic, she was one of two Dutch competitors in eventing at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. In 2022, Janneke and Bouncer became Dutch eventing champions in Boekelo.
Janneke completed her degree in Sports Marketing in 2016. She continued full-time to work with horses in her parents’ own business De Schalm and with her own equestrian career in eventing, In addition in 2023, Janneke also started her own business: jans.life. A website went live where anyone can book lessons online.
Janneke concludes, “Always at the right time the right people came on my path who shared their knowledge with me. They regularly held up a mirror to me with only one goal: my personal development to help me grow. I am happy and grateful that I got those opportunities! I learned from them that the basis of top-class sport is always to ride a horse with feeling. You can always fall back on that system. Now is the time when I want to be that right person at that right time for others too.”