Horse Camp for Girls Builds Confidence, Friendships

For one week in the summer, brings eight girls to her small horse farm in Snellville to share in her passion for horses and learn some skills to prepare them for riding on long, open trails.

Rogers, the owner of Jolly Rogers Farm, trains the girls in the art of caring for and maneuvering horses for trail riding. At the end of the week, the girls have the opportunity to show off their skills in a horse show for their parents.

“It’s really like a crash course,” said Rogers, who started the camp at the insistence of one of the students she was privately training. This is the third year for the camp and she offers two week-long camps every summer.

“I’m teaching them how to lead the horse, walking steering and grooming,” she said.

Along with her 16-year-old daughter Abigail and some other older girls who assist, Rogers works with her students to learn horse basics like mounting the horse to more advanced techniques like trotting and cantering.

Rogers said that the all-girls camp builds confidence among the students and gives them a sense of accomplishing something. “There’s a natural affinity between horses and kids,” she said.

Small classes allow Rogers and her team to work closely with improving the girls’ technique. All levels of riders can take part in the camp and the girls are often paired with an older volunteer who helps the girl better handle the horses.

“I think horses can get frustrated with people,” Rogers said. “I try to make sure they understand the whole horse.”

Grayson, who enthusiastically showed off her horse Domino, exclaimed that she had to become trained in horse riding to receive a special gift. “My grandfather’s gonna get me a horse, so I have to learn how to ride one.”

10-year-old Georgia has been riding for five years and has won several first and third place awards in barrel racing. “My babysitter’s daughter was a barrel racer and I just decided to do it,” she said.

Gently nudging and patting her horse Silver, Georgia demonstrates her experience with the animals as an advanced rider.

Though she has four horses of her own, half of the horses Rogers is using for the camp are on loan. Her arsenal includes a Welsh Pony, some Quarter Horses and two Fjords’, a Norwegian breed of horse. This year she managed to get a Clydesdale for show at the camp.

Rogers works hard to get each of her students to be the best rider they can be. “I give it my all to everyone and encourage everyone,” she said.

Her personal attention to each rider ensures that they have a safe and enjoyable experience as well as build strength in character and a desire to be challenge.

“There’s a bond you have with your horse,” said 16-year-old Anna, one of Roger’s assistants.

Anna was hooked on riding as soon as she started more than two years ago. “After a week I was connected.”

Rogers’s daughter Abigail loves the camaraderie formed from riding with others, “It’s a friendship factor,” she said.

Jolly Rogers Farm riding camp not only helps young girls gain an appreciation and love for horses and trail riding, but leaves them with a sense of achievement and great deal of self-esteem.