March is always one of my favorite months because of the start of spring and new beginnings. And it’s the month of my birthday. 😉

We started off March getting Athena ready for our upcoming show season. Athena is a rescue and came from a rough place. You can read all about how I found her, how she overcame a deadly leg injury, and our journey to the 2018 PtHA World Show HERE.

I had a feeling her teeth had never been floated. Considering we think she is about 7-8 years old they definitely needed to be done! We got her coggins in order, all of her vaccinations, and her first dental!

Since it was my birthday, I was spoiled by some new tack and show stuff for Athena and I! I really wanted a new show halter for Athena. I wanted something classy and not trendy, something unique and simple. I finally found what I was looking for in this Circle Y Show halter! It has little gold flowers on it and the leather is more red and light. It is PERFECT for Athena!

I also got us some new polo wraps in our show colors, and some new hunt seat clothes. I went a little overboard, but at least most of our stuff is ready for the world show next year!

Athena and I took notes from our last show in December to start working on stuff for our upcoming show. We had a lot of work to do with showmanship, particularly her setting up and pivots. I also needed to get her on a loser rein, work on our canter, and work on our pivots and turns on the forehand.

The week of the show I was so busy! Between running show errands, and coming home from a short vacation in Charleston with my husband, I was swamped! But we got ready as best we could and I was genuinely excited for our first show of 2017! The morning of the show, Athena had rubbed some of her braids out. I wanted to bang my head against the stall wall! Haha! Now I know to do them a bit tighter so they stay together. We got her polished up and got her ready to load on the trailer. We really need to work on that too! Haha!

We got to the show grounds and it was chilly. I walked Athena around and then started lunging her. It didn’t take too long and I was comfortable warming her up in the saddle. She always does so good despite being so green. She handles things better than some of the seasoned show horses! I could not be more proud!

We showed in several huntseat walk trot and GYAP classes, and she did so great! The very first class she won first, the second she got third, the third class she got sixth (she broke gait to poop RIGHT in front of the judge! Ah Athena!), and got third in her fourth class. Athena kept doing this weird thing at the show (she has never done it before!) where she would take her head and drive it down really low. In the classes that the judge saw that we would place third, but otherwise she did very well. It is hard to prepare for everything when the horses don’t behave a certain way at home, but we will do our best to mimick the situation to correct her breaking gait and her driving her dead down.

Next up was halter and showmanship, where we got a 1st and 2nd! Sherry taught me some new halter tricks about getting her perfectly square and showing off her body. It helped so much! Showmanship was great. Athena wanted to break gait at the trot and she shouldered out just a little during her pivot, but overall did so good!

Although we had some hiccups, I was very pleased with our first show of the season (Athena’s third show ever!). We definitely have a lot to work on before our big show in Raleigh, but I am thankful that we were able to learn what we need to work on at this show before we start heading to some of the bigger shows.

Athena received so many compliments about how pretty and well behaved she was.  A few horses seriously misbehaved during warmups and classes, and Athena plodded along past them like nothing was going on. We walked around the show grounds and although alert she never spooked or became hot. Athena really has a great, calm mindset to make a wonderful show horse, and for that I couldn’t be more proud of her!

Sherry, Maddie, and my lovely husband were there to help us the entire show. I am so grateful for Sherry’s knowledge and all of her tips that she shares with me. I am also so very grateful for my human mounting block, my husband, and for all he does to help during the show day.

Thank you for reading and being so supportive of Athena and I!

Read more about our journey together by CLICKING HERE! You can read how I found her, how we overcame an injury that most said she wouldn’t recover from, and how she went from an aggressive and scared rescue to a stunning and loving friend and show horse!

Want to follow our journey to the Pinto World Show? CLICK HERE so you never miss a post and are the first to receive updates!