Meet Montana: The Big Brown Couch
Don’t let his nickname fool you, Montana is a superstar in his own right!
You all know him from so many videos in the Academy - he is the Grand Prix horse who can do it all and happily “does it for the people” when I ask.
He does have a fun story about how he came to me though.
Bred by Oak Hill Ranch, Montana was purchased in utero by Claude and Brenda Duet. His sire is the famous Danish Warmblood, Rambo. The Duets were so impressed with Montana, they chose to repeat the breeding and produced a full brother, Dakota. I was fortunate to be able to campaign both of them. We affectionately called them the Duet Brothers.
Montana has successfully shown at every level up until his retirement from competition in October of 2020. He’s been to all of the big shows and venues: Global, Regionals, Nationals, Col. Bengt Lundquist Championships, and the Festival of Champions. Some of his more notable wins include winning the CBLMs in 2017 at both I2 and Grand Prix. He also took 3rd in the I1 Championships in 2016 at the US Dressage Finals.
The Duets had both Montana and Dakota with me in training at the same time. They were unable to keep both of them in full training and asked me to choose which I’d keep; of course it was Montana. Dakota is special but Montana has been my horse from the minute I sat on him. Brenda decided to take over the ride on Dakota and brought him home. I really wanted to buy him but knew it was out of my budget to purchase a finished and accomplished Grand Prix horse of his caliber. The Duet’s made it all possible by selling him to me for $1, and I am so grateful to have him with me for his next chapter.
In 2020, I decided that he didn’t owe me another thing in the show ring and decided to retire him from competition. That doesn’t mean he’s retired though! He is still in the program and is my first horse to ride every day. He has big, lofty, but comfortable to ride gaits, and a happy, sweet temperament that helps me warm up and get the day started in a good way.
He is just so much fun to ride and be around! He LOVES his food (as we can all see, haha!) but his favorite treat is bananas.
Not only is he the anchor horse for the Academy, he is a fantastic schoolmaster. Kind and polite, he will do exactly what is asked of him - nothing more and nothing less. If the rider doesn’t ask correctly, he just doesn’t do it, but he doesn’t do anything wrong if you don’t ask right, either.
There are times when he gets a bit lively in the paddock. We all laugh because he puffs himself up like a Macy’s Day Parade Blimp! It never lasts for long and he is too much of a gentleman to ever do anything like that under saddle, but it is fun to see when it happens!
Montana is a treasure that I feel so lucky to have in my life and share with you all. So the next time you see him in a video, now that you know more about BBC, I hope his kind sweet self makes you smile and brightens your day too!
