Amanda Delgado | WDAA Board Member

Amanda Delgado spent the early years of her life growing up on a horse’s back. Every spare second she had was spent in the barn, whether that was riding her ponies around the fields bareback in a halter or competing in small open shows. All of that changed when she was beginning her freshman year of high school, and her father’s military career took them overseas to Okinawa Japan and they had to sell all of their horses.

Amanda followed in her father’s footsteps and joined the United States Army as a medic right out of high school. She would volunteer mucking stalls and doing various barn chores for the opportunity to ride and be around horses. An unforeseen military injury cut her career short, and she was medically discharged.

In 2015 her world changed forever while volunteering for a local horse rescue in North Carolina. On a warm October afternoon, Amanda first saw “Athena”, a copper colored pinto mare that Amanda would rescue out of a pasture littered with horse skeletons. Overcoming Athena’s dangerous temperament, injuries, and various health issues due to her neglect, Amanda trained Athena and has guided her to over 10 World Championship titles at the WDAA and PtHA World Shows in western dressage. Athena, who shows under the name “Athenian Lady”, has her Bronze and Silver medals in western dressage, and has the honor of being named the 2024 Celebration Breyer Horse under the theme “Against All Odds”.

Amanda received her bachelor’s degree in Equine Business Management, Summa Cum Laude from St. Andrews University. She competed on the IHSA Western and IDA dressage teams and realized how similar the western and dressage horsemanship principles were. Amanda has also shown in several other disciplines, such as the Hunter Under Saddle, Working Western, Showmanship, Equitation, and Horsemanship.

Amanda currently owns and operates Olympus Equestrian on a small farm near Fort Liberty North Carolina, where they specialize in western dressage and stock horse events. She prides herself on putting equine welfare first and teaching kind, correct horsemanship methods. She coaches, trains, and is a clinician all over the Carolinas. She operates a charity open horse show each year called “Operation Save 22” to benefit veteran suicide in honor of her late brother in law, and is the current president of the North Carolina Western Dressage Association. She currently holds her NCSU open show cards in the Western, Hunter, Saddleseat, and Gaited divisions and is working on her USEF Western Dressage “r” and AQHA Level 1 cards.