She has also participated at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta (as a swimmer) and as a horse rider in Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2008.
Moller, who was born with spina bifida, has again qualified for the Paralympics (Rio 2016), after winning two of the three events in which she competed at a FEI CPEDI 3* international competition, held in Kyalama, recently.
She finished as the victor ludorum on her trusty 25-year-old horse, Willows Rafiki, who is stabled at Tannenhof Stables.
The experienced rider and Willows Rafiki won the team test and musical freestyle events and placed second in the championship test.
Although qualifying for Rio is an exciting achievement in itself, Moller faces a number of challenges if she is going to represent South Africa in Brazil, next year.
As in London, Moller will again have to ride a borrowed horse, due to the stringent movement and quarantine protocols placed on African horses, due to African Horse Sickness.
In 2012 she rode “First Lady” a borrowed horse stabled in Belgium, who is still available to her, as well as two horses in the USA.
The former Hoërskool Brandwag pupil is fortunate that she can ride overseas, but she must get there first and that is a costly exercise.
She is hoping to secure sponsorship from SASCOC and the South African Equestrian Federation in her bid to ride in Rio.
Building a strong bond between horse and rider is another factor that plays a role in how well she will compete, and that is where the international riders often have the big advantage.
In the meantime, Moller is training at home on her horses, getting and staying fit and working on raising funds to take herself overseas and training ahead of Rio.
“It is all extremely exciting to qualify for Rio, but I don’t want to get my hopes up just yet,” she said.
“I will have to see how it goes with SASCOC and the SA Equestrian Federation.”
