Queenstown rodeo star Zoe Johnston, 17, off to US high school finals

Zoe Johnston, 17, with her two horses Jagger and Chase. Photo / Supplied

By Isra’a Emhail and Afternoons of RNZ

Zoe Johnston was perched on a saddle from the age of 3 with her equestrian mother.

So, it’s probably a no-brainer that the 17-year-old’s horse training skills have led her to the high school rodeo finals in the United States.

The Wakatipu High School student grew up surrounded by horses on their 25-acre rural property in Central Otago, where her mother ran a riding school.

“Mum was always quite tough, she wanted me to be able to do it all myself, like she wasn’t going to be one of those mums that would just do it all for me.

“So I took a couple years to get into it, when I could get my pony, and I’m appreciative that she did make it tough for me … I probably got into [riding] more when I was 5.”

But it was the family’s farrier who introduced her to rodeo – a sport where riders showcase their roping, speed, turning and stopping skills. Zoe began competing at the age of 9.

“My school friends wouldn’t have a clue [about rodeo] … It’s a great sport and it’s very popular but not a lot of people know about it," Zoe says.

“A lot of it is skill, like you’re training up a horse so that you can use it for a job … it’s no different to being out on a ranch or anything in America where they all have to use their horses for work. You’re not thinking about riding the horse, you’re thinking about doing the job on hand.”

The strength of her legs from riding has meant she doesn’t need to do much other training or exercise.

“I mean riding as many horses a day I can sort of is my gym. You certainly notice that like getting on different horses and how sore you can get after riding a horse that you haven’t been riding, you do definitely notice it.”

Zoe spends nearly every day in the summer training with 13-year-old Jagger, who is a bit accident-prone, and 7-year-old Chase, for the competition season.

“At the start of the season, we always make sure that his feet are all right. So we might go and get his feet X-rayed before we put shoes on. Or just on a daily basis, I’ll talk to my vet about what sort of feed I should have them on, and when we’re doing so much travel what I should be giving them for the amount of travel they’re doing.

“We’re quite lucky we’ve got a pond at our house but it’s quite cold, so I always go and stand them in there, it’s sort of like an ice bath for their legs so their legs can cool down.

“I have frozen boots, I ice-boot their legs as well and I massage them as much as I can.”

Caring for them is pretty much a fulltime job, but she says she makes the effort whether that means waking up earlier or doing it in the dark before bed.

“I mean it’s no different to like a human athlete.”

When they’re recovering from travel and competitions, she makes sure they have time to “turn out”.

“Some days I will just not even touch them, I won’t even go see them so they can just have a day to be a horse and hang out. Because, I mean, there’s no wild horses that get massaged or loved, so you do have to still allow them to be horses every now and then and just do whatever in their paddock.”

Johnston is sad they won’t be travelling with her to Wyoming for the senior national high school rodeo finals, where she’s competing in barrel racing, breakaway roping and team roping, in July.

Four other New Zealanders have also been selected to go to the finals. The New Zealand Rodeo Cowboys Association holds events to decide the best among each division to head overseas.

The camaraderie is one of things she loves most about the sport, she said.

“The people are such a big part of it. They’re all so supportive. They all help one another, not just in rodeo, but if someone’s broken down on the side of the road or got a flat tyre, everyone will pull over and everyone will help.

“They’re all just there for each other, and they all love watching everyone succeed. And it’s all quite heartwarming.”

-RNZ