CAMP SPOTLIGHT AND VIDEO: Rosaire's Riding Academy Summer Horse Camp

It’s Thursday, June 28, and it’s hot, hot, hot out at horse camp.

Here at Rosaire’s Riding Academy, some of the campers are tacking up their horses and getting ready to ride. Others are already trotting around the arena and eyeing the jumps. A couple girls are snuggling up to a cuddly cow named Moomers and a loveable llama named Lima.

Little do the campers know that in about one hour, they’ll be wrangling sheep like real cowfolk so that Jonathan Hearne of Leicester, N.C., can give them a summer haircut.

BY THE NUMBERS
20 — Campers
>35 — Years Ellian Rosaire has been teaching
15 — Years running the day camp
5 — Campers learning to jump
15 — Saddles (English & Western) used this week.
1 — Llama named "Lima"
20 of 40 — Horses & ponies used for camp this week
6 of 7 — sheep had a haircut/man-pedi

CAMPER SPOTLIGHT
Olivia Thurber (above)

How long have you been riding?
Two years.

What do you love about riding?
I love being with horses and just having a lot of fun.

Do you like jumping?
When I start jumping I just feel kind of this energy …

How high can you jump?
Vertically, in yards, probably about one.

Have you ever fallen off?
Yes. It didn’t really scare me that much because I was on a pony – Awesome. I was trying to canter bareback.

What have you learned this week during camp?
The heaviest horse that we have here is Shrek or Cody.

Did you say Shrek?
Yes. He’s the tallest horse in the barn.

OK, what’s the best part about riding?
Probably enjoying it and being with the horses.

Do you want your own horse?
When I’m older, I’m going to have farm just like Miss Ellian’s and I’m going to have summer camp here.


Haley Wood
Who are you riding?
Awesome.

What do you know about Awesome?
Awesome is the best pony ever. He’s a really cool pony and sometimes he turns really fast so that people will fall off, but it doesn’t work on me.

How long have you been riding?
I’ve been riding since I was 6.

Is Awesome your favorite horse to ride?
He’s my favorite pony. Sequoia is my favorite horse because I ride her in rodeos.

Is Sequoia as awesome as Awesome?
No.

What’s the best part about camp?
It’s really cool that you get to do a circus. No other camp does that. We have a bunch of crazy animals … llamas … and we get to go to Big Cat Habitat to see tigers and all the monkeys.

You ride the horses over jumps, right? What’s that feel like?
It feels like I’m flying.