Tell Niki van Buuren she can't do something and she will do it just to spite you. Had it not been for van Buuren's sheer stubbornness, she may never have survived her 10-month hospital stint after being severely burnt in the 2003 firestorm that ripped through Canberra, killing four people and destroying hundreds of homes.
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The 29-year-old received burns to 66 per cent of her body, lost all her fingers bar one thumb, and her elbows and shoulders are almost completely immobile. During her time in intensive care her chance of survival was ''touch and go''.
Despite this, the gutsy and determined Kaleen resident will be representing Australia at the para-equestrian world driving championships in Holland later this year if she raises the $50,000 needed to get there.
Finding a passion for carriage driving has given van Buuren a new lease of life. She remembers telling the nurses when in hospital years ago to ''just let me die''. She also remembers saying she didn't want to own a horse again after losing her beloved horse Drew in the fires.
''During the first few months in hospital I was too upset to even consider riding again,'' she said.
''In hospital the nurses would walk me down the hallway, which overlooked a horse paddock.
''I would spend at least 30 minutes looking at the horses, which made me rethink it all.
''Once I decided I was going to ride again, no one was going to stop me, not even the doctors, who weren't particularly impressed.''
Van Buuren is a teacher by day at Narrabundah College, but by night she trains hard with her coach Max Pearce and the carriage driving world champion, Australian Boyd Exell.
Though not well known in Australia, carriage driving has a big following overseas. It also requires great strength and skill.
Van Buuren relies on voice commands to instruct her horses, because she can't hold a whip, and steers them with a modified rein.
''A lot of carriage driving requires a whole lot of arm strength, which I don't have,'' van Buuren said.
''For somebody like me it's doubly as hard to perform in the sport.''
Had it not been for that horrendous day on January 18 when van Buuren and her mother got caught in the firestorm while attending to horses at the Chapman horse paddocks, she may never have found carriage driving.
Before then van Buuren, who started riding at nine, described herself as a glorified pony club rider. She started riding again about 15 months after the fires, at the local riding centre for the disabled, Pegasus.
''I realised there was more opportunity for me to get to a higher level as a para-equestrian rider than an able bodied rider,'' she said.
Her initial ambition was to ride at the Paralympics, but her fear of losing control of the horse because of her crippling injuries set in, and her dream quickly faded.
Last year, by chance, she was introduced to carriage driving.
''As weird as it sounds I picked it up really easily and found it was a lot of fun,'' she said.
''It's been a real breath of fresh air to be able to do something with a horse and not feel so nervous.''
Though she's the only competitive disabled driver in Australia and competes against the best able bodied drivers in the country, van Buuren will be up against others with similar disabilities in Holland, performing a series of complex movements around obstacles, which will test the speed and stamina of her and her horses.
''It should be interesting to see the level I'm up against,'' she said.
