For more than 16 years, Judie Jenner has been making kids’ dreams come true at her horseback riding summer camp. Each year, dozens sign up to become horse-care experts at Camp Giddy-Up in Wellington.

Part vet tech, part ranch hand and part mother hen, Jenner lives steps from the stables on her 6-acre farm. Before the campers arrive at 9 a.m., Jenner has exercised a horse she boards, given her five horses and seven ponies the day’s first hay ration and checked on a horse who has an eye ulcer requiring daily medication.

Jenner grew up in horse country in Ohio and she has loved horses since she was a child. A ribbon-winning jumper, Jenner discovered South Florida when she competed here, and she moved to Wellington in the mid-1980s.

“It was like the wild West!” she said, laughing.

She bought her property near the corner of Lake Worth Road and South Shore Boulevard and opened Ravenwood Riding Academy. She has made a living as a riding instructor ever since.

At camp, Jenner is easygoing but a stickler about rules. These are big animals that startle easily, so there’s no running and no, well, horseplay. She has four counselors-in-training who once were campers for about 10 kids.

One lesson she hopes her campers learn is that “it’s OK to try something else if what you’re doing isn’t working. It’s about how to make a different decision, or try a different tactic to solve a problem.” She also hopes they leave more confident in themselves.

Lately, she’s also been paying special attention to how the heat is affecting them. If Jenner has a mantra, it’s hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Drinks are on hand when campers finish riding, and she makes sure kids stand in the shade. Hats and sunscreen are musts.

It’s not a job everyone would want, but Jenner can’t imagine doing anything else.

“Wow!” she said. “Who gets to play with kids and horses all day?”