The year 13 Wakatipu High student — the school’s only rodeo rider — has made the five-person NZ team for the senior national high school finals in Wyoming, in the United States, in July.
A former showjumper, her first rodeo came in 2017 after being introduced to the sport by Alexandra farrier Shane Cooper, who found her a rope horse and taught her how to rope.
"I loved watching it when I was little ... it’s unmatched, I’d say."
In 2023 she was NZ’s all-round champion junior and represented NZ at high school level in Australia.
This past season she competed as far afield as Whangarei, Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay and Raetihi, and was fourth in rookie all-round and third in the rookie barrel race.
"It didn’t go quite the way I wanted but it was still a great season."
In Wyoming she’ll compete on a borrowed horse in team roping with team-mate Amelia Knowles, breakaway roping and barrel racing.
As the trip is self-funded, Zoe’s also doing a fair bit of fundraising.
While in the US she’ll also look at three universities to check the possibility of being offered a sports scholarship.
Her mum, Vanessa Sharp, who’ll accompany her and is also a keen horsewoman, says Zoe "can produce a horse to do anything pretty much".
As for critics who accuse the sport of animal cruelty, Zoe says "the animals get better treatment than the people do, I’d say".
