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118 SIDELINES FEBRUARY 2011 FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE D R E S S A G E

By Erin Gilmore

There was the before, and then there was the after. Before, she basked in the thrill of cantering down centerline at the Olympic Games. After, it was a thrill to move her own feet, one in front of the other. Before, she rode half a dozen elite horses per day. After, climbing atop a 22-year-old therapy horse was a task worth celebrating. Before, she left her helmet in the tack room. And after . . . well, we all know the answer to that.

In an instant, Courtney King-Dye’s life was split into the before and after. After the horse she was riding on March 3, 2010 tripped and fell, taking a helmet-less Courtney with him to the ground, the 2008 Olympic dressage veteran lay in a coma for more than three nerve-wracking weeks, with a cracked skull and swelling to her brain. And when she woke, it was to the mystery of brain trauma, where the rehabilitation process is lengthy, and there’s no guarantee of a complete recovery.

But in the eleven months since her fall, Courtney has not only made signifcant steps towards a full recovery, she has become the catalyst for an industry-wide change in perception on helmet use.

No Day the Same

Courtney awoke from the coma last April with husband Jason Dye and longtime mentor Lendon Gray at her side. Immediately, her focus was on getting better. As she graduated from a hospital room, to rehabilitation at the Kessler Institute in New Jersey, to fnally living at home full time, riding dressage again was never a question for Courtney. It was just a matter of when. Today, her routine is packed full of activities with one big thing in common – to help her meet that goal.

“Every day is different,” says Courtney. “I always wake up by 5, and just do emails till my husband wakes. Then I do physical and occupational therapy or work out on my own for a couple hours. Three days a week I take speech therapy, once a week a therapist walks with me, one evening a week I do hippo therapy, and one morning I do yoga.”

Courtney’s speech, balance and coordination were all severely affected by her injury, but “If anything, with how badly my brain was damaged, I’m damn lucky it’s not worse,” she says.

As soon as she was able, Courtney began candidly documenting her progress, blog-style at courtneykingdressage.com. “I just think there’s been so much caring; the least I can do is let people know about my journey if they’re interested,” she explains. Undoubtedly, the horse world is interested.

Since last March, Courtney’s fall has been used to support everything from National Helmet Awareness Day to an eventing helmet rule change. In her own sport of dressage, the collective shock at the severity of her injury brought about that change in perception among other top dressage riders, who began wearing helmets in competition the week after her fall.

The most visible show of support for helmets in dressage came last fall, when Courtney’s friend and fellow Olympian Steffen Peters donned a helmet during the awards ceremony for his bronze-medal winning freestyle at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, and dedicated his ride to Courtney.

“I’m happy that Steffen’s wearing a helmet brought so much respect to wearing one,” she says. “It meant so much to me that he wore one, to me personally as well as that I realized from WEG that the top riders are role models, and he was showing it’s ok to wear a helmet.”

Progress Is Getting Better

Last July Courtney began hippo therapy sessions, and although the older, rock-steady mounts are a far cry from her own horses, she explains, “Just being around horses feels sensational. I love loving them to bits and get a ton of joy just breathing them in!” While Courtney is itching to ride her own horses again, she won’t take the chance of riding them before she feels 100% ready. Assistant Jen Marchand keeps her business going until Courtney is ready to return full time. These days, Courtney teaches Jen from the ground and visits her horses at least three days a week. The barn is in Florida for the winter season, and Courtney is searching for a grand prix horse to lease to help her return to competition. “Progress is getting better, closer to your goal,” adds Courtney. “I intend to ride the same as I did before, and continue to progress my riding from there. The 2012 Olympic Trials are something I’ll strive for. I hope to be ready by then.”

And when she returns to the ring, one thing is a given. Courtney King-Dye will be wearing her helmet.

Supported by Lendon Gray to her left and good friend Betsy Tyler to her right, Courtney leaves the stadium at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games after watching Steffen Peters’ test in the Team Grand Prix

Photo by Selena Frederick/Cheval Photos

Life As She Knows It: Courtney King-