It’s safe to say that Amateur competitor Meg Pye likes pretty horses. She even owns one that’s “Prettiest Of All.”

After showing Hotroddin Ona Harley for five years, earning a National Snaffle Bit Association World Championship and Quarter Horse Congress Reserve Championship in Western Riding and hundreds of American Quarter Horse Association points in all-around events, Pye, spent the later part of 2020 and early 2021 searching for her next perfect show partners. She found two in Dont Think Twice (Marley) and a stunning 2019 bay mare by Allocate Your Assets out of Art I Pretty, aptly named Prettiest Of All.

Meg’s longtime coach, Clint Ainsworth had been quietly searching for a tough all-around contender for her since she sold Hotroddin Ona Harley to Robin Hill Sowell of Greenville, South Carolina.

“When I arrived at the NSBA World Show that year (2020), Clint asked me to put my boots on and take a ride with him,” Pye recalled. “I was clueless about where I was going, but even more shocked when I was asked to jump on Marley in the practice pen.”

Pye had admired the 2014 chestnut mare by RL Best Of Sudden and out of KMWeKnowShesBest. Florida trainer Rusty Green started her in Western Pleasure and she had helped Kent Ray Taylor return to the show pen, earning success in Amateur Select All-Around classes while his trainer, Blake Weis, showed her in open events.

“Five minutes into the ride, both Blake and Clint stood smiling in the center of the pen, nodding their head,” Pye said. “Seems we hit it off.”

“Marley is quite spicy and Meg is a really soft, forgiving rider so I always thought they would be a good match,” Ainsworth said. “Once it became clear Marley might be available and we tried her my suspicions were confirmed.”

An agreement was reached for Pye to take ownership after the AQHA World Show in November. Pye said that was a great plan since just days later Marley and Weis won an NSBA World Championship in Trail. By the time she became Marley’s new owner the mare had become a four-time Reserve NSBA World Champion, a Reserve Congress Champion and had logged $35,000 in earnings.

Since then, Pye and Marley have established themselves as a serious threat in Amateur All-Around events. They placed in the top 10 at the 2021 NSBA World Show in Western Riding and Horsemanship. At the Quarter Horse Congress two months later, they placed in the top 10 in Amateur Western Riding and Performance Mares and in the top 15 in Amateur Showmanship. At their very first appearance together at the AQHA World Show that November they earned a top 10 in Horsemanship and were finalists in Amateur Performance Mares.

“Marley and I have only been a team for a year and half, but we’ve put on three superiors in Showmanship, Horsemanship and Halter and she has an Open Superior in Trail, as well as a dozen Open and Amateur All-Around Titles,” Pye said. “She’s the princess, she’s spoiled, and she knows she’s pretty.”

Ainsworth admits Marley has a unique personality.

“She’s really very funny in the barn,” he said. “She will pin her ears as you walk past her stall but then put them right up if you go in to pet her. We like to say it’s a game for her where she wants to be the center of attention all the time.”

Pye admits Marly can be challenging at times but it’s “only because you have to keep up with her,” she said. “I enjoy showing her because she enjoys it. Her ears are always up and happy sometimes too up but she very much loves to show.”

Plans for the rest of the year include competition at the Redbud and Big A AQHA circuits; the NSBA World Show; the Quarter Horse Congress and the AQHA World Show. In addition to Amateur classes with Pye, Marley will compete in Senior Trail with Weis and Senior Western Riding with Ainsworth.

“She (Marley) is incredibly talented in Horsemanship and Trail, as well as in Western Riding, but she is probably one of the nicest Showmanship horses I have ever had in my barn,” Ainsworth said.

That’s a bonus for Pye who says Showmanship is her favorite event.

“Marley is by far one of the best Showmanship horses I’ve had,” she admitted. “She can back for miles, trot fast corners and does it all with her ears up! I have to keep up with her, it’s always my cardio for the day.”

Ainsworth said Marley and Meg have a very special relationship and are becoming a stronger team with every show. His hope is for them to become real contenders in Amateur Trail. He’s been coaching Pye for eight years now and says she’s very easy to work with.

“She’s an excellent student,” he explained. “She’s on top of it when things are going right and she’s willing to listen and adjust when things don’t go right.”

Another young show contender that has Meg excited about this year’s season is Prettiest Of All (Kate). Tony Bladen had been showing her in Non-Pro Hunter Longe Line classes in 2020 and Gavin Pope was showing her in Open Longe Line.

“Tony had won everything with her that year and you could tell by looking at her that she was a great animal,” she said.

At the end of the year Bladen sent Kate to North Carolina trainer, Keith Miller to get started under saddle. Miller has worked with Pye over the past 13 years and knew she was on the hunt for her next hunt seat partner. He put the transaction into motion.

“This mare is obviously beautiful, but she can trot and canter so well, which is not always easy to find,” Miller said. “She has a long, ground-covering trot. And the canter is so balanced and has so much lift up front.”

Prettiest Of All made her debut under saddle at the Championship Show in Ocala last October, where she placed third in the 2-Year-Old Open Hunter Under Saddle with Miller in the irons. Then it was on to the Fun In The Sun Futurity in Venice, Florida, in January where she competed in Junior Hunter Under Saddle with Miller and Pye showed her for the first time as well.

“Both Keith and I won in Venice which has me excited to continue showing her,” Pye said.

At The Sudden Impulse Futurity in Ocala, Florida last month, Miller piloted Prettiest One Yet to a third-place finish in a very competitive Open 3-Year-Old Hunter Under Saddle and she and Pye placed fifth in the 3-Year-Old Limited Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle and in the top 10 of the Open division of that class.

“Our plan is to hit all the big shows this summer and fall,” Pye said. “If my work schedule allows me to show enough to get qualified for the World Show, I’ll go there.”

Pye said she thinks Prettiest Of All will develop into her next Amateur horse because she has all the qualities she looks for in a show partner. And eventually she would love to raise some babies out of her.

“I would love this mare to make a great show partner for Meg, and go on and produce some great babies,” Miller said.

But until then, Meg has plenty to keep her busy. Over this past winter, she purchased Side Piece (Minnie), a 2021 AQHA/APHA mare by Awesome All Night out of BMQ A Diva Forever from Keith and Sydney Miller. Sydney showed Side Piece to a Reserve Championship in Amateur Longe Line at the 2021 APHA World Show.

“She’s a super fancy mare, and is so great-minded,” Miller said. “The plan is for Meg to show her at the APHA World Show and then the 2-Year-Old futurities throughout the summer and fall.”

After working with Pye this long the Millers consider her more like family.

“Meg has always been great to work with, and I truly think it comes down to the fact that we all trust each other so much,” Keith said. “If I call her and tell her something, she always knows to believe me at face value- and vice versa. I never feel like Meg has an agenda, she wants her horses to be well taken care of, prepared well, and enjoy showing them. She understands that horses aren’t machines, and some days might not go perfectly- but she always trusts the process …. and she is always a breath of fresh air.”

But Miller says Pye is also a fierce competitor.

“Meg’s strength as a rider is definitely her perseverance,” he explained. “She is tenacious and motivated, and is always focused on the big picture – and that’s a great quality in someone.”

On March 26, Meg married Preston Pye in a lavish wedding at the Mansion at Forsyth Park in Savannah, Georgia.

“It’s our favorite local city to visit and we love the southern, historical charm. We hope we were able to show our wedding guests the wonderful vibe Savannah has to offer,” she said.

Preston is currently working toward a doctorate in nursing anesthesia. He starts his clinical rotations mid-May and is about halfway done with the program. Meg earned Bachelor of Science degrees in corporate finance and speech communication from Clarion University and is Regional Vice President for Prudential Financial covering Georgia, Western Carolina and North Florida.  She has been with the company for 15 years now.

The couple recently sold their home and bought another in North Augusta, South Carolina, about a mile over the border of Georgia.

While the rigorous curriculum keeps Preston home studying and in class most weeks, he does travel to shows when he’s on break.

“In the years we’ve been together he’s learned a lot,” Meg said. “He’s a very competitive human, so naturally he likes pattern classes most and Trail in particular because he can judge the maneuvers. He doesn’t shy away at telling me what I did wrong, and he can hear me tick a pole from a mile away. His favorite show is the Arizona Sun Circuit, followed by the Congress because of the food.”

When they are not busy building their careers or at a horse show, Meg and Preston enjoy spending time with their friends and family.