Bulgaria

Equestrian summer camp

Trakietz, a horse riding club in Zhitnica, Bulgaria was the organisation selected to accommodate 12 children from disadvantaged homes from Zhitnica’s Plovdiv villages.

The club’s programmes focus on overcoming social and gender inequalities through equestrian activities. Horse therapy has long been used as a means to foster interpersonal communication and being with the horses also taught the children the importance of taking responsibility for animals by cleaning, grooming, feeding and observing them. Gender equality was further boosted through the supervised team Equi-games. These games, led by an Aspen volunteer, also taught the children the value of working together as a team while having fun at the same time.