Jennifer Sommers grew up in Southern California showing Morgan Horses starting at age 9. As a junior rider she won several AMHA medals and was Reserve Junior Exhibitor World Champion English Pleasure on a horse she trained, named My Elegant Lady. She learned the art of breaking and training young horses from Carol Brennen who was herself a Saddleseat Equitation rider in the Saddlebred world. Jennifers’ equitation instructor was Ann Speck. From that point she attended and graduated from California State Polytechnic University with an Equine Science degree. As a student there, she competed on the Intercollegiate horse judging team. She won numerous National awards from Morgan Grand National to the prestigious US Arabian National Contests. Jennifer stayed on with the University as a parttime Professor teaching a variety of equine studies for eleven years. The main course was the Light Horse Halter and Performance evaluation. This class coincided with her coaching the Intercollegiate Horse Judging Teams. They have won many National titles. The competitions included Morgan Grand National, US Arabian National and Quarter World.
Upon graduating from Cal Poly, she also took over her families’ small breeding farm (Royal Griffith Farms Inc.) and started a training barn specializing in junior exhibitors and amateurs. Through the years RGF produced several World and National Champions including Startrend Stepin Out, Iron Forge Be Blue, Fortunes Phoenix, Sitca Baranof, Black Beauty of Courage, He’s Simply Marvelous, and Black Tie Affair. She still runs this farm which has currently evolved into a very large lesson program. Giving clinics, and helping with the local AMHA youth program also keeps her busy. The rest of her time is spent traveling around the country and Europe judging Morgan Horse shows.