A familiar name is in the news today: American dressage rider Courtney King-Dye has been awarded the FEI’s “Against All Odds” Award at the 2012 FEI General Assembly in Istanbul, Turkey.

As the FEI tells it:

Courtney King-Dye took to the saddle when she was nine. Years later, she represented the United States at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, and at the FEI World Cup? Finals 2007 and 2008. Along the way, she became a USDF-certified Dressage instructor and trainer and graduated from Columbia University with a degree in literature.

In 2010, a horse Courtney was schooling tripped and fell. Courtney, who was not wearing a helmet, fractured her skull in the fall and suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury. After four weeks in a coma, she spent three months in hospital re-learning how to walk and talk and the accident still severely affects her coordination and speech.

Courtney?advocates educating equestrians on the benefits of wearing helmets through the Riders4Helmets campaign.

Although?she is still undergoing rehabilitation therapy,?Courtney qualified for the US Paralympic Team Selection trials for London 2012. She decided to wait and?now aims to qualify for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games? 2014.

Here’s a video Courtney made in 2011 to promote the Riders4Helmets campaign:

[VIDEOSINGLE type=”youtube” keyid=”awJDYBhBPzk”, width=”560″, height=”344″]

Congratulations, Courtney!