By Sally Reid
Photography: Courtesy Xtreme Sport Horses
Jumping and eventing results from the last few seasons are a powerful indicator of the super type of horse being produced by Sharleen ‘Shar’ Workman at Xtreme Sport Horses in New Zealand.
They also reflect the quality of her resident stallions, notably two imported Holsteiners, Corofino II (Corrado I) who died in 2022, and Cassiano (Cassini I) who has now retired.
Between them, this pair sired a truly huge number of winners here, with achievers at the highest possible levels. A young horse who represents both their bloodlines, the mare Cassafino Xtreme (Corofino II - Carnival Xtreme x Cassiano), was 2025’s South Island champion five-year-old, and is is definitely one to watch. She is owned by Sharleen and ridden by Harry Feast.
The same season’s national young eventing horse, best eventing mare, and best five-year-old was Cartier Xtreme (Cassiano - Liebling WS x Limonit), owned and ridden by Harry. Cartier Xtreme has a yearling filly, an absolute showstopper: Lagatha Xtreme. This baby is a combination of new and old Xtreme blood, being a granddaughter of Cassiano, and a daughter of “new kid on the block,” Numero Uno Xtreme.
Cassiano and Corofino II really did seem irreplaceable, but Sharleen accounted very wisely for the future Xtreme quality by breeding two potential-packed new stallions: Numero Uno Xtreme (Numero Uno) and Zirrock Xtreme (Zirocco Blue). More about them below.
Non-horsey beginnings
Xtreme Sport Horses is located in the Kapiti region northwest of Wellington in the lower North Island. And, although almost the entire west coast of New Zealand is noted for weather ‘extremes’, this particular part of it enjoys a relatively gentle climate, perfect for keeping horses of all ages outdoors all year around. The very busy Sharleen took time out from the spring season to provide an insight into her stud, its aims and operation.
u Tell us about your life prior to Xtreme
I actually grew up in a non-horsy family, but horses were always my passion. We couldn’t really afford the sport when I was young, so I just enjoyed the couple of ponies I had, rather than pursuing a competitive career at that stage.
After school, I went to university to gain a qualification in something that would allow me to support my horse ambition: a Bachelor of Business Studies majoring in Property Management, and became a commercial property manager. I ended up managing the national property portfolio for Sir Robert Jones† for several years, then once I could support myself and my horses financially, I started taking my riding and competing seriously.
I began in eventing and then moved into showjumping. My mentor was Catriona Williams [Founder of the international CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury Research Trust] née McLeod, and I was very fortunate that when she retired her top-level horses I had the opportunity to compete with them. That gave me invaluable mileage and experience, for which I am forever grateful.
I evented Denver who had previously represented New Zealand with Catriona up to four-star, then showjumped Falcon after she returned with him from the World Cup finals in Switzerland. I then bought two younger horses from her, Cats Whiskers and The Rashead, and it went from there. All four of these were by the imported Hanoverian, Distelfink (Diskus - Doreen StPrSt x Dueker), my absolute favourite stallion in New Zealand at the time, and they were all incredible jumpers and movers...
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