Arcadia (The Bulletin) – Zoie Noelle Brogdon is a name you should get used to seeing and hearing about. Brogdon is a full-time student at UCLA. She is also a rising star in the world of equestrian riding and show jumping competition.
Sports Illustrated has featured her in their iconic magazine. CBS News has had her plastered all over their show.
All this attention for a young lady from Compton. Brogdon got her introduction to horses way before she was a teenager. Her parents got her started in the horse world before she was 10.
Her introduction and initial lessons in horse riding came from a summer camp that the Compton Cowboys ran. She later joined the Compton Cowboys. Brogdon has been riding ever since. And now Brogdon is being hailed as perhaps one of the next big things to come along in equestrian riding and competition.
And it showed during the Elite CSI5*-W Show Jumping Competition at Santa Anita Park during a weeklong competition full of Olympic equestrian riders and world-class horses. As many as 18 countries participated in the event which took place in Arcadia where the 2028 Olympic equestrian competition is scheduled to take place.
Representing the Compton Junior Equestrians program, Brogdon shared what it was like for her when she initially got started with horses and joining the Compton Cowboys.
“For me, when I started to go into the Compton Cowboys, I was around nine-years-old. I started initially from a summer camp that was funded by the Compton Cowboys, and it was just like a one-off,” Brogdon said. “And then from there, I decided, or my parents really decided…they wanted me to continue to ride…that was something the [Compton] Cowboys did offer. From there, they brought me up and I was with them until or I was really at their stables until maybe 11, for about two years, and I continued with that trainer to continue to train. But they’re very close family to me.”
Brogdon said she never imagined that her unceremonious beginnings in riding horses would lead her down the pathway of becoming a top-flight equestrian rider.
“Not at all,”Brogdon said. “I still kind of pinch myself every time I do something a little bit more impressive to me, and every new challenge and every new obstacle is just another milestone,” Bogdon added.
Brogdon admitted that her love for horses came automatically.
“You know, the love of horses was, honestly, instantaneous,” she said. “To me, it was like second nature…I’ve always had a love for the sport and everything that comes with it.”
Cover Photo by Mark Hammond
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