US International dressage rider Courtney King Dye has awoken after nearly a month in a coma.

Courtney was taken to hospital on 3 March 2010 after the horse she was schooling slipped and fell at home in Loxahatchee, Florida. She suffered a fractured skull and small brain bleeds and was airlifted to hospital in North Palm Beach.

Last week she was transferred to the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, New Jersey.

An update on her website on Monday night (29 March) read: “While Courtney is no longer in a coma she still needs more time to fully emerge. The head of the brain injury department has described her current phase as being at the higher end of a ‘minimally conscious state’.

“She has some awareness of her surroundings and responds inconsistently to requests.

“The recovery from a brain injury is much like training a top-level dressage horse — both take patience, determination, a highly-skilled team of people and time.”

Source: Horse and Hound