Most equestrians will experience an injury at some point in their lives. Nearly everyone remembers sitting in a doctor’s office, anxiously awaiting the verdict that determines how long they’ll be sidelined, and perhaps more painfully, how much time they’ll spend away from the horses they love.
For some, an injury means pressing pause on a dream. For others, it forces a reevaluation of long-term goals. Sometimes, it's simply time away from a place that feels like home.
For Libby Montgomery, it was all three.
A freak riding accident left Montgomery hospitalized with three bone bruises, a microfracture, and extensive damage to her tendons and cartilage, all in her ankle. In an instant, the hunter/jumper rider’s life changed dramatically.
“I had to have three surgeries to try and repair it,” Montgomery said. “It was rough because after the first one happened, it was a nine-month period before they could reevaluate me.”
Once that time had passed, the news was not what she hoped to hear.
“I was still in so much pain,” she said. “I knew going into that appointment that things still weren’t right.”
Doctors determined that additional surgeries would be necessary. Physical activity was severely restricted, and the future she had always envisioned suddenly looked uncertain.
The realization was especially difficult for Montgomery, whose life had long revolved around horses. Before the accident, she lived on a 10-acre farm in Virginia and spent most days in the saddle. Like many equestrians unwilling to give up hope, she attempted to ride between surgeries despite medical advice to rest.
“I tried to get back in the saddle, and it was pretty clear it wasn’t going to happen,” she said. “I would get on for 15 minutes and then would be limping for a week afterward because it hurt so much.”
Learning to Let Go
Knowing the recovery process was going to be long and uncertain, Montgomery made the heartbreaking decision to sell the farm and her horses, stepping away from the lifestyle she had always known.
“It was so hard,” she said. “It was the only thing I've ever loved to do. From the time I was a kid, horses have been my life. It took a lot of therapy to just be OK with the fact my life was changing.”
Following the third surgery, Montgomery redirected her focus to a new pursuit. She enrolled in graduate school and earned her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. Writing, she hoped, would fill the void horses had left behind.
“I’ve always loved writing,” Montgomery said. “I thought, if I can’t ride, maybe I'll write, and I threw myself into it. But in my heart, I always wanted to get back in the saddle.”
Several years after her last surgery, Montgomery couldn’t take it anymore. She had to find a way to make horses part of her life again.
Finding Her Way Back
When Montgomery and her husband relocated to Indiana, she decided it was time to finally see whether horses could once again have a place in her life.
“I started researching barns, found a trainer, and took a lesson,” she said. “Pretty quickly I was in two to three lessons a week.”
Even now, Montgomery understands every ride is a gift.
“I’m not going to take anything for granted,” she said. “Realistically, another bad fall could damage my ankle and I could be back to where I was before or worse.”
Due to the nature of her injury, returning to the hunter/jumper discipline she grew up competing in was no longer realistic. Instead, she found a new challenge in dressage.
“I took a couple of dressage lessons, and it was much more sustainable for my ankle,” she said. “I love a challenge, and the swap of discipline was new and exciting.”
An Unexpected Introduction to Arabians
The new chapter led her to Especially Wynsome MW, affectionately known as “Blaze.”
The 18-year-old Arabian gelding (Wyndston B x Adiyat Specialluv) is owned and loved by Montgomery’s trainer Morgan Van Soest.
“I was exposed to Arabians for the first time when I went to train with Morgan at Empire Farms,” Montgomery said.
Empire Farms is one of over 250 AHA Discovery Farms, a free program designed to introduce people to Arabian horses and educate them about the breed. As a passionate advocate for the breed, Van Soest was happy to share her love of them with Montgomery.
“She’s taught me so much about Arabians,” said Montgomery. “They have so much heart and are so intelligent. Every single one I've met has a ‘let’s do it’ attitude.”
Blaze was the first horse Montgomery rode since her entrance back into the sport. Together, they’ve made impressive progress in dressage, and even dabbled in some low jumping, developing a partnership built on trust and confidence.
“He has always had my back,” she said. “He’s such a good boy but is not afraid to make me work for it. He’s taken so much care of me.”
Their partnership is especially meaningful because Blaze is not a lesson horse. He is Van Soest’s personal horse, making Montgomery’s opportunity to ride him one she doesn’t take likely.
“I am so thankful to Morgan for letting me ride him so much this year,” Montgomery said. “Blaze has been her baby his entire life and I’m honored that she chooses to share him with me.”
A Comeback Season
The duo is preparing to show at the Arabian and Half Arabian Sport Horse Nationals, in the 2’ hunters.
For Montgomery, returning to the show ring over fences, even in a different capacity than during her hunter/jumper days, feels like a fitting conclusion to what she calls her “comeback season.”
“I’m not jumping nearly as high as I used to, but that’s not what this is about,” she said. “Blaze likes to jump, and I'm here just to have fun and see how far I've come in my recovery.”
Montgomery is also bringing her 3-year-old Half-Arabian gelding Amerikhan Graffiti (PA Kid Khan x IM Charlie Maid), known around the barn as “Kenny.” He is the first horse she purchased since returning to the sport.
When Montgomery decided the time was right to start searching for another horse to call her own, it was no question that it needed to be at least Half-Arabian, if not purebred Arabian. Her goal was to find a young horse she could grow with and one ideally with the potential to succeed in dressage.
Kenny’s personality won Montgomery over right away.
“He’s the sweetest,” she said. “He just wants to be around people and is up for any adventure. It’s something I've always loved about Arabians. I’ve never met one that wasn’t personable and happy to be with you.”
Montgomery understands that developing a young horse requires patience, something she and Kenny have in common.
“I’m learning a whole new discipline and Kenny’s only 3, so he’s very green,” she said. “It’s just a fact of my life now that I live with chronic pain, and taking our time will be beneficial for both of us.”
At Nationals, Kenny will compete in the sport horse in-hand classes while gaining valuable experience into the life of a show horse.
“There’s no pressure on him this week,” Montgomery said. “This is just an experience, and I have zero expectations. It means the world to me just to be here with him.”
The Victory is Being Here
Competing at Nationals has given Montgomery an opportunity to reflect on the winding road that brought her back to the sport she once feared she had lost forever.
“The biggest thing the whole experience has taught me is that I'm not taking anything for granted anymore,” she said. “I used to show all the time in Virginia, and I always assumed it was forever going to be a part of my life. Then I lost all of it and it was hard.
“I thought I was never going to ride again and then I did and I wasn’t hurting. I thought I was never going to show again and yet we’re here. My dream as a little kid, as soon as I realized hunters weren’t in the Olympics, was to win a National Championship.”
Earlier this week, Montgomery arrived at the show grounds in Wilmington, Ohio. As she guided Blaze around the Sanctuary Arena for schooling, emotion caught up with her.
“Just being here on this horse at this show is the victory,” she said. “This is all I need. It’s a dream come true to be a part of this because, for a long time, I thought it was all gone.”