Born in Michigan, Courtney Dye began riding at the age of nine years old. By the time she was fifteen, she was a student worker for two-time Olympian Lendon Gray. Her performances in the 1998 and 1999 North American Young Riders championships alerted the equestrian community that a new star was on the rise. In recognition of her many wins, renowned dressage announcer Brian O'Connor called her "the Tiger Woods of dressage."

Dressage is a complex form of horsemanship, requiring high levels of physical, artistic, and intellectual abilities, as well as more esoteric qualities. Few who undertake study in dressage achieve at the level of Dye. Her dressage training included six years as Assistant Trainer to Lendon Gray, six months under Conrad Schumacher in Germany, and clinics with trainers including: Henk van Bergen, and United States Olympians Michael Poulin and Debbie McDonald. She also has trained under U.S. Olympian Steffen Peters, Klaus Balkenhol, and others. She has continued to pursue the finest training available to continue refining her skills.

Dye's show career has been nothing less than stellar. She has one United States Dressage Federation Regional and Reserve Championships, from Training Level through Grand Prix, USDF Horse of the Year Awards and Year-End Championships from the New England Dressage Association. She has rarely left a show without a significant number of blue ribbons. Perhaps her biggest winning year was 2007, when she qualified seven horses for the USDF Regional Championships and was Champion and/or Reserve at every level except Second. In April of 2007 she and her horse, Idocus, represented the United States at the World Cup in Las Vegas. She placed sixth in a competition against thirty world-renowned riders. Later that year, she and Idocus placed second at the National Grand Prix Championships in New Jersey. The next year she competed in the World Cup in the Netherlands, as well as at the Olympic Games in Hong Kong.

Dye is known not only for her advanced dressage skills, but in the way she performs them. She has a reputation for elegance, and often serves as a Demonstration Rider at prestigious clinics, where her advice is often sought. Despite her care and hard work, tragedy found Dye in early 2010, when she fell from a horse and sustained a skull fracture. She was not wearing a helmet at the time. She remained in a coma for one month and as of January 2011 was still undergoing rehabilitation. Her accident continues to draw attention to helmet requirements for all equestrian activities.