2012 Para Driving Singles Championship

2012 FEI World Para-Equestrian Driving Championship for Singles

Breda, The Netherlands August 30–September 2, 2012

The following drivers have been named by the United States Equestrian Federation to represent the U.S. in the 2012 FEI World Para-Equestrian Driving Championship for Singles.

Cover Photo: USEF Archive

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Karen Gorham Team Member Born: January 11, 1946 Residence: Burnet, TX Grade II

Karen Gorham grew up riding horses at her childhood home in Michigan. Both Gorham and her husband Bill enjoyed riding, but when Bill was taught by Milo Measel to drive, it would be the start of a future career with the driving discipline. After a move in 1967, the couple settled in Texas. After witnessing Bill Long, an elite driver, in the Four-in-Hand World Championships and numerous other fantastic drivers, Karen and her husband were hooked on the driving discipline. Gorham and her husband spent most of the 80’s and 90’s driving horses, raising their children, and traveling to Combined Driving Events where Bill was a Technical Delegate.

In 2005, when Hurricane Rita came barreling towards Texas it would not only be recorded as one of the most intense hur-

Equestrian Dressage rider. As Bettina Eistel rode her horse athlete’s determination. She noted, “I thought that if she could

would be a turning point for her future equestrian career as a Para-Equestrian Driver. After a tragic incident involving a truck prosthetic left arm.

Games in 2010 when Karen would see her first video of a ParaFabuleax 5 with only her toes, Gorham was awestruck by the

ricanes in weather history, but for Gorham and her husband it

and horse trailer, Gorham would live the rest of her life with a

It would be just after the Alltech FEI World Equestrian

ride with her toes in Dressage, I can surely drive.” From that moment, Gorham knew it was her turn to compete.

Gorham has traveled the country competing, training, and learning from the top drivers in the world. Throughout the week she is consistently training including daily drives with her six-year-old Welsh pony O’Charley, conditioning to keep her horse and herself in peak shape, and attending clinics and horse shows.

2012 FEI World Para-Equestrian Driving Championship for Singles

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Pam Johnson

Team Member Born: June 1, 1957 Residence: Pleasant Hill, MO Grade II

Pam Johnson and her husband Kelly are the owners of K Bar J Ranch in Pleasant Hill, MO, where they give horse-drawn hay rides at various events. Johnson has been involved in an array of different disciplines over her life, competing in everything from Three-Day Eventing to Team Roping. Being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis put an end to those days, but that didn’t stop her. Johnson put a carriage and harness on her Christmas list and began driving. After volunteering at a local CDE, she was sure with her vast eventing experience that Combined Driving was something she could do. Johnson felt Combined Driving Events were just the ticket to keep her moving and motivated. Driving fulfilled her desire to still be involved with horses, allowing her to continue to be competitive. Now, fifteen years later, she is still going strong. Johnson competed as an individual with Team USA in the 2004 IPEC World Championships for Carriage Drivers with Disabilities held in Scotland.

At the 2007 Iron Horse CDE, she finished fourth in the Training Single Horse division against able-bodied drivers.

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Diane Kastama

Team Member Born: June 15, 1967 Residence: Arroyo Grande, CA Grade I

In 1991, a car crash left Diane Kastama paralyzed from the waist down. Although a lifelong horse person and dressage enthusiast, riding without the use of her legs was not much fun and she soon turned to driven dressage and then the exciting sport of combined driving. Her relatives and friends thought she was crazy for taking on a sport that involves sitting atop a

in Aachen, Germany. She is always willing to share her skills and

tall carriage, pulled by a horse going “hell-bent” for speed.

Kastama started competing with her home bred Appaloosas but now she competes with a pair of Section D Welsh Cobs, Rupert and George. She drives them single, pair, and tandem.

Kastama competes against able-bodied drivers all over the Western United States and occasionally on the East Coast at the Intermediate and Advanced level. She has also demonstrated her skills at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by Bridgestone in Lexington, KY, the Horse Expo in Sacramento, CA, the “Night of the Horse” in Del Mar, CA, and the Equine Affair and various therapeutic horse programs throughout California. Kastama has also participated in the closing ceremonies at the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games

knowledge and bring driving to the forefront of equine sports.

Kastama has been very successful in international ParaEquestrian competition, coming home with an Individual Silver and Team Bronze driving a borrowed Welsh Cob Stallion in 2002 in Greven, Germany. In 2004, she placed fifth with a borrowed Welsh cob in Edinburgh, Scotland. Kastama won Individual Gold driving her own Welsh cob gelding Jasper in 2006. In 2008, she earned Individual Bronze and Team Silver driving Jasper once again.

In national competitions, Kastama has also found success against able-bodied drivers. In 2007 at the CAI-B Shady Oaks, she drove Jasper and Rupert to a third place finish in the FEI Horse Pair division. Kastama had a big win in the 2008 Dr. Henry Boyd CDE, driving Jasper and Rupert in the Advanced Horse Pair division. In 2009 CAI-B Shady Oaks, Kastama partnered with Rupert in the Single Horse division to take second place. She and Rupert again paired up in 2011 at the CAI-B Shady Oaks in finish third in the Advanced Single Horse division.

2012 FEI World Para-Equestrian Driving Championship for Singles

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Marie de Ronde Chef d’Equipe Born: April 18, 1965 Residence: Zwartewaal,

The Netherlands

Elizabeth Staller Team Leader Born: November 7, 1966 Residence: Bedminster, NJ

Elizabeth “Lizzy” Staller has been involved in equestrian sports since the age of 10 when she began riding with Sally Graburn.

Marie de Ronde has years of experience in the sport of combined driving. She is the wife of Dutch Four-in-Hand driver Koos de Ronde, with whom she collaborates as a groom. From 1994 to 2007, she was the Chef d’Equipe for the Dutch national pairs team.

In 2008, de Ronde took on the job of Show Secretary for the 2008 FEI Four-in-Hand World Championship in Beesd, The Netherlands. Her various experiences in the world of driving will help her guide the U.S. driving team to success.

Although her chosen sport was eventing all of Graburn’s students were taught to drive a pony. After completing school, Staller rode and trained with noted Canadian eventer, Lorraine Laframboise.

An equine radiology and endoscopy technician, Staller worked at the University of Pennsylvania’s Large Animal School of Veterinary Medicine New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, PA. After moving to New Jersey in 1992, Staller spent several years with well known Four-in-Hand driver James Fairclough and had a formal introduction to driving. She was taken with the sport and helped Fairclough with his team, grooming horses, assisting at vet checks, and riding on the carriage. She went to many combined driving events in the U.S. with the Fairclough team, and in 1996 assisted him at the World Championships in Waregem, Belgium.

Staller worked at the USET Foundation in 2004, fundraising for the Olympics in Greece.

In the spring of 2009 she joined the USEF as the Director of High Performance Driving Disciplines.

With her husband, Bill Denney, Staller keeps a home in Philadelphia as well as in Bedminster, NJ. Staller and Bill have three children between them, Andrew, Will and Sophia.

Photos: USEF Archives

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