Pam Svane: "We Can Do This Together"

-- Text by Silke Rottermann for Eurodressage - Photos © Rottermann, private

I love getting to know para riders who are not yet in the big spotlight and about whom not much has been written yet. So every time I go to an international para-show, I study the starters lists on the lookout for an interview partner the readers and I do not know well or at all..

When the masterlist for the 2025 European para championships was published, I browsed it carefully for new names. Para dressage, just like able-bodied, is a sport where new kids on the block are rather rare, let alone at young age.

So when I saw the Swedes had three very experienced riders on their team, but also a name unknown to me,  I googled it: Pam Svane. I only found a few results, saying that Pam and her mare Raja have started first internationally in April and that Pam is just 21. 

Meeting Pam and Raja in Ermelo

I first saw Pam on the morning of 2 September 2025 when the vet-check was already in full swing. The Swedish team was waiting their turn with their impressive bunch of horses. Pam’s mare Raja stood out for several reasons.  The highly elegant mare with the drop dead gorgeous head was showing nerves, dancing and prancing when she waited at the entrance to the jog strip with Hanna Etzner, daughter of Swedish team member Louise Etzner Jakobsson who expertly trotted up all Swedish team horse. I stood a meter away and could hear Pam, sitting in her wheelchair next to the tall Raja, talking to her mare endlessly, soothing, calming words full of warmth which, as a non-Swede, did not understand.

Finally it was Raja’s turn and everybody could see, if not sense that she was almost trembling with nerves, not knowing where to look first. She still focused and passed with flying colors. Then she had to wait on the lawn next to the jog strip with Pam’s mum Katarina Svane for the other team horses to pass, before the obligatory team photo was taken. While one could easily realize the sensitive and very expressive mare was at the edge of exploding, she did not and was apparently kept at bay just through the presence of her trusted handler at her side. When Raja finally left I wondered how this bundle of nerves who seemed so impressed by the whole scenery a vet-check presents would handle herself under the saddle with a wheelchair-user who looked petite. Would it be another example of too much horse for a para rider in an attempt to impress the judges? I was proven wrong in the days to follow…and in hindsight  I could not be happier about it.

The individual competition of Grade III in which Pam and Raja started took place on the first competition day, Wednesday, 3 September 2025. The weather was wet and windy and when the Swedish pair entered the arena, my first thought was: That mare is on fire. What followed was a ride with a horse very much forward, but listening. There was hardly an aid to be detected and Raja with her expressive trot seemed to float through the 20x40 arena. It was a nice picture of horse and rider in harmony.

When Pam saluted the judges at the end of her ride and wanted to turn Raja to head towards the exit at A, Raja threw her head in the air out of the blue, perhaps having seen something in the 10-minute-ring. I held my breath if she would explode and mentally was shortening the reins for more control, but Pam just patted her, gave her the reins and Raja thanked this trust with heading towards A. It was a small moment and one which perhaps other spectators did not  even pay attention to, but for me it was an indication that here a rider trusted her horse and vice versa. Perhaps this was more important than the fact both had not at all disgraced themselves at their international championships debut, instead had shown glimpses of what the future could hold for them.

Pam and I agreed to have the interview during the short lunch-break on the next day between Grade IV and Grade V. When I asked her for the interview two days before,  she left a first impression to be really shy and I worried if I would have to worm everything out of her. I shouldn't have worried. As so often, as soon as riders can talk about their horse, the ice breaks and they chat happily away. It was no different with Pam, so we had to continue the interview between Grade V and the prize givings of the day and even after them we were not finished yet.

I usually do not prepare interviews to the tiniest detail, I just have the most important info about horse and rider and ask them to tell their story. That way I leave it to the riders how much of that story which usually is very personal and quite often includes painful life experiences they want to share. It is a fine line between pitifulness none of these riders want and understanding of their situation which makes them part of the para family

Pam made it easy and gave me one of the most honest interviews I have ever experienced, leaving me very pensive and at the same time full of respect for her. Most importantly, I once again and very clearly realized what Pam had brought home to me: we owe so much to these wonderful creatures, more than we can ever return to them.

Eurodressage (ED): You broke onto the international para scene this year. Tell us more about your horsey background.
Pam Svane (PS): I am 21 years old and come from Västerås in Sweden which is about an hour from Stockholm. My family is really horsey and we run a farm between Västerås and Enköping which is home to about 30 horses. We also breed on a small scale. My mum was an international jumping rider until an injury forced her to stop in about 2013. Her brother Peter Lundström works as an international course builder and my older brother Aaron is an amateur eventing rider who competes up to 3-star-level (editor’s note: Aaron Evertsson Svane was on the Swedish YR team at the 2022 and 2023 Europeans). So I come from a very horsey family and began riding at 3 when I got a Swedish pony. It all came very natural.

ED: Sounds like you come from a family where dressage is not the focus…
PS:

No, when I began competing as a child I jumped, but soon found it kind of boring and changed to three-day-eventing where the three disciplines were much more interesting. I had a few starts on the Swedish national pony team before I switched to horses and started internationally in 2-star-events with Shiralee Imperial, a Swedish bred grey gelding who is now competed at 2-star-level by Aaron. Though I evented I struggled with weak muscles since I was 11...only we then did not know why. Things were not thoroughly checked because everyone said it was just growing pains, so until my disease was diagnosed (myopathy) it became chronic which it didn't have to be.

ED: Which effects does it have on your body?
PS: It is an inflammatory muscle illness which affects the nerves and muscles. I do not have any feeling in my legs, but I do have nerve pain from my neck down which constantly feels like my body is on fire. My muscles are really weak and get tired easily. I feel my seat bones and that’s it. If I use my body too much my muscles get very tired and I have periods when I run a 40 degree fever as my body tries to destroy itself. When the disease deteriorated in 2022 I gave up eventing. The same year I got classified a Grade V para rider, but a reclassification was necessary and I am a Grade III para rider since September last year.

ED: You and Raja really rode yourselves into the spotlight since then. Since when have you been a combination?
PS:

We have Raja for about 1,5 years. A former trainer had her and asked us if we can take her in our stable when she could not train her due to an injury. In the end we bought her. She was bred in Germany (author’s note: Raja is a Bavarian warmblood mare by Rock Forever II out of a dam by the Rubinstein-son Revan, bred at Gut Weiglschwaig in 2014) and was in Denmark for training, but she found her home with us.

ED: Raja looks equally beautiful and talented as she seems sensitive and reactive.
PS: Raja is difficult, but she has a really warm personality. From the start, when she was scared and she was scared of many things, she still tried to trust me and as we are quite alike we understand each other. Raja is always looking for people to thinks will trust her. If you want to get along with her you have to trust her first, then she returns it after a while. With time we understood that Raja is also afraid of being left behind. She was in Germany and in Denmark for training and left behind there, so we reassure her constantly at a show that we will not leave her behind.

ED: You got Raja as a 9-year old. Was she a ready-made dressage horse then?
PS: In a way yes as she was trained to a higher level, but she came with some issues which made the beginning a challenge and she still is a challenge. At the beginning my mum took us on the lunge line for about 3 months. (Laughs). I was not strong then and equally stupid. I am generally afraid to fall off, but I was never scared of Raja because she never gave me a reason for it. At first my mum was terrified for me to ride Raja and she even asked me not to... but as Raja was really putting her faith in me I had to do the same with her and so we comforted each other in the process when we got to know each other.

When I began riding Raja off the lunge line she was quite excited and I was unable to walk her. She was on her hind-legs and in the air, turning and she was trying to throw me in the wall. Mainly she was struggling with the bit and shook her head so much that sometimes her bridle flew off. We have very loose nosebands with no pressure at all.

As she was so sensitive in general and in her mouth in particular we sought the advice of several vets. They found out that she has 4 teeth which show damage, but we don’t know the reason why. The cause is unknown, perhaps it could be from pressure, trauma, the bit…we don’t know, but we have to deal with the result of it. I ride with looped reins now as my hands are so weak, but the first six months we used normal reins so she could pull herself free if she felt like she needed it and to give her the feeling she was not controlled. Even if I moved my hands only slightly she would throw her head and go on the hind-legs at the beginning. It took months until she trusted my hand. Now I use looped reins since six months and at the beginning she was very afraid of the looped reins, even if I did not have a contact.

ED: You’ve come a long way...
PS:

Now she trusts my hand and we trust each other which is the indispensable precondition we could take her to a show. We initially thought 2025 would be a year in which we train Raja to go to shows and get her used to the atmosphere and situation. What had happened until now has exceeded our expectations by far; the way Raja deals with the new situations and how she puts her faith in me when we are in the arena and have to perform.

ED: How is the experience to be on the team at an international championships for the first time?
PS: When we drove here Raja probably thought she would again be left behind, she was really terrified. When we unloaded her she was shaking and in the stables she would not take her head off mine. That is what I mean that we to comfort each other. I am also a sensitive person and deal with worries. Raja always senses if I am not well. Then she comes to me and puts her head on me and cuddles, sometimes for hours.

At the vet check with all the horses around her and the atmosphere she was scared, but she is also not very experienced yet. We had our first international start in Ypäja, Finland, in April 2025, then went to Borge in Norway and had the Swedish para championships which to my utter disbelief we won. When we were nominated on the team I was very surprised. We had done some competitions at home at 77%, but still…

Everybody here is friendly to me. Louise (Etzner Jakobsson) is more than 40 years older than I am and I am by far the youngest, which in a way is comforting. If I have questions I can just ask them, which is nice.  Ermelo is a calm place and not so many things going on around which is good for us. It is Raja’s 4th international competition so it is a great way to gain experience. Raja was trying her heart out at the first competition here yesterday, but she is always doing the best she can. I am ever so proud of my horse, but in comparison to her abilities I never feel good enough.

When she is terrified in the arena I am talking to her all the time: I am here, you will be okay, we can do this together. And she then is putting her faith in me which is really beautiful. I do really appreciate having a horse like her, even through it is a challenge.

ED: To form such a close bond with a horse so sensitive, and in a way difficult, takes a lot from you. Do you feel you are getting back what you put in?
PS: Raja and I are in a way very much alike. I am quite reactive and she is reactive, too. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed and then I go into her stable or paddock and she always comes and puts her head on mine or my shoulder. We understand each other and really are on the same wavelength. She means absolutely everything to me.

At home I spend a lot of time with my horses in the stable. I do not live on the farm anymore as it is an old house which is difficult to live in with a wheelchair so I moved in an apartment not far from, but I go to the horses every day. Beside Raja I have a foal and a 3-year-old mare by Glamourdale which is not ridden yet. She is really clever, has a big heart and is careful and caring, so she has a sweet character. We are just getting her used to the wheelchair.

I am specific about my way of horsemanship and what I want to have in my everyday training. The horsemanship we practice at our farm is based on veterinarians and research and we are very particular with that. Our horses go out with friends, never alone, usually from 5:30 am to 10 pm. I ride Raja 4-5 times a week, sometimes also 6.

ED: What does her training look like here in Ermelo or at competitions in general?
PS: I always warm her up for more than an hour. It is not to make her tired because she still has so much energy after the warm-ups. It is to relax her mentally. The first 20 minutes I only ride walk, then a bit trot, then back to walk and some trot again. Then I do some lateral work. At the beginning I let her stretch a lot. We work her in a longer frame so she really relaxes into the bit which is crucial with her prehistory. It is getting better and better, but it is a process. Raja is naturally very forward, but if she gets tense she is not hiding behind my legs or seat or hands. It is a choice entirely she makes because I am unable to put any pressure on her. 

ED: How do you exactly communicate with her?
PS: I have two whips, magnetic stirrups which are secured to the girth and velcro on both my thighs as compensation aids, but I mainly ride with my voice. Only if Raja does not respond sufficiently I use a whip on her shoulder. I cannot tap her as she would freak out, so instead I use the whip to apply pressure. Luckily Raja is very forward by herself so I am not in need of the whip to replace my legs to make her move forward. She is so sensitive that if I want to ride canter on the right lead I just have to tilt my head to the right. For a turn on the haunches, which is required in the Grade III programs, I put both my hands to the side she needs to move and use my voice. The pressure on her neck initiates the turn.

ED: What do you aim for in 2026?
PS: I am not aiming for anything competition-wise at the moment; what I am aiming for is having Raja more relaxed and enjoy competing. My main goal is to make her a happy horse, this is the most important thing for me.

You know I do believe that Raja in a way is indispensable for my life. With an illness like mine, which comes along with a lot of pain and restrictions, what really helps me is to think of Raja and knowing that she is waiting for me every day. That horse truly means the world to me. I have the outline of her head tattooed on my upper arm so we are always together.

Raja is the best friend I could have ever asked for. I’ll never meet a horse like her again, she truly is once in a lifetime for me. Yes, she is also my dance partner, but even if she could not be competed and not be ridden anymore and could only be hand-walked, I would do that with a big smile on my face. 

Silke Rottermann interviewed Pam Svane on 4 September 2025.

Related Links
Scores: 2025 European Para Dressage Championships
Czech, Norwegian, Irish, Swedish Teams for 2025 European Para Dressage Championships