The Art Uytendaal story is one which starting at the end, sees Art, still ever competitive with his passion now being his racing pigeons and living in the most idyllic setting on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia with his wife Kerry.

We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon in the company of a legend, who reminisced about his time as one of Australia's top showjumpers - our best who was left off Olympic teams because he was deemed a professional at a time when professionals were not permitted to compete at Olympic Games.

It was during our leisurely afternoon that we asked Art's wife Kerry whether she would write the "Art story" for us and she kindly agreed and also agreed to allow us to bring to our readers the images which went with the time.

The following two part story comes from Kerry Uytendaal, herself an accomplished horsewoman:

On the 10th January, 1956 Art arrived in Australia on a Dutch migrant ship, The Subayak. He was 25 years of age.

His family in Breda, Holland was a large one. He was one of 17 children, his mother in fact had 21 pregnancies - but some were still born or died in infancy. The years were hard in Holland with the war in full swing and a family of this size. His father would keep a pig in the centre of a hay stack in hiding from the Germans, and Art would ride his bicycle to the hospital to pick up the food scraps to feed it. Despite these hardships he managed to keep the family together.

The Uytendaal family was a very big equestrian family. His grandfather and great-grandfather were in the same business which provided riding instruction to clients, teaching the cavalry riders and providing horses for them. At this stage Indonesia was under Dutch control and many soldiers came to them for instruction.

After the war his father Nico started showjumping again as this was suspended during the war years. It was a big family business and all the boys were expected to go into it, whereas, the girls were not allowed, despite one sister who would ride behind her father's back when he was away. This, of course, made the boys 'professional', and at that time the Olympic Games and international showjumping was strictly for amateurs. Having such a large family, two of the boys were allowed to be amateurs (the eldest). The others, if they wanted to compete at forthcoming Olympic Games would have to be out of the sport for 2 years and then they could get their amateur status back.

"This, of course, made the boys 'professional', and at that time the Olympic Games and international showjumping was strictly for amateurs."

Art - pictured left - showjumping as a boy in Holland

Art decided to visit the New Zealand Consulate regarding immigrating there, as he had met a farmer at Rotterdam Show, who had showjumpers, and he offered him a job riding them.

At his first interview he was told that showjumping riders were not required in New Zealand only engineers, lawyers, builders etc.

Thinking he would see another interviewer he set out several weeks later and this time say that he was 'a sheep farmer'. Unfortunately, the same man was sitting at the desk and he said 'if you really want to go to New Zealand, immigrate to Australia and then just go to New Zealand.

So off he set, with several Dutch friends on a £10 migrant ticket with the sole intention of going on to New Zealand and then to stay for only 2 years!

On arrival at Melbourne, he and a friend were picked up by Dutch immigrants (formerly equestrian riders known to them). They were potato farmers in Gippsland. Within hours they were picking potatoes and being paid 5 shillings per bag, which was quite an amount of money then.

After several months this work ran out so they headed for Keith in South Australia as fencing contractors. Bear in mind there are very few fences in Holland but it wasn't long until they were doing mile after mile of fencing. Gelignite was often used to get through the rocks.

It was during this time that the farmer sent Art off to Keith in a car to get his license.

It was quite a distance to the police station and as he headed down the road he saw a car coming straight toward him - he was on the wrong side of the road! Somehow the car managed to avoid him. The policeman filled in the license papers as he could barely write English, he signed on the dotted line, and he was presented with his license. He never forgot which side of the road to drive on after that.

When the fencing was completed they decided on a trip to Queensland, gathered up their other friends and headed, by train, to Tully.

They were told that the cane farmer would pick them up at the station, so be prepared when the driver blew the whistle, to disembark. The train came to a stop, the whistle blew, but there was no station. They remained in their seats. Not long after an irate train driver came through the train to announce 'this is the station'. They had never seen a station like this in Europe.

Here they were met by the farmer and all were bundled into the back of an old ute and driven to their quarters. Food was supplied but he advised them that the money would be deducted from their wages and that they would start work at 6.00 a.m.

The next day they were taken to the cane field that they had to cut - it had already been burnt. They were shown how to cut and stack the cane on the train, so divided themselves up to do the work. Nothing prepared them for this job.

The heat, the soot, the stickiness - but they got to work.

For some reason the cane was difficult to stack, but they perservered and after two weeks' of back-breaking work the farmer announced that they had only made enough money to pay for their food. That was enough, they decided to leave!

On their way they noticed Italian gangs - with their trains laden with cane. On closer observation they noticed that it was straight! The cane they had cut had been hit by a cyclone. It had grown along the ground before growing up. No wonder the poor Dutch gang ended up with it.!

Following this experience Art and his friend went to a cattle station. Here they chased cattle for several days, and when you've always ridden with your legs beside the girth, it didn't take long for him to realize that the only position for a stockman's legs was infront of the saddle.

The advice the chief stockman gave was readily accepted. To his amazement after many hours riding, this stockman who rode barefooted, got off his pony, put his bare feet in a cow pat and announced that they would not be far away as it was still warm!

Time had rolled on and it was nearly time to return to Holland, without ever getting to New Zealand, so he returned to Melbourne with a few weeks to spend before the boat was to leave.

He ended up working for a dairy farmer in Gippsland, who happened to have horses. His children had show horses and Art started to teach them. He was given a horse to ride and in no time he was winning showjumping classes at many of Gippsland shows. The two boys became top riders winning champion rider classes to Melbourne Royal Show.

A new chapter was about to start!