Equestrian is a sport that involves two minds: the rider and the horse.
Annie Goodwin’s heart stopped three years ago, but her horse Bruno will realise her dream by competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“It’s a tragic story,” said Boyd Martin, the U.S. team eventer who will compete alongside Bruno at the Olympics, “although there may be a little bit of a happy ending.”
Goodwin died in a training accident while riding Bruno at his South Carolina farm in 2021. His friend and former coach, Martin, adopted Bruno, and together the two rose to horse racing’s biggest stage, fulfilling Goodwin’s greatest wish.
“I hope Boyd understands that he’s already won, you know what I mean?,” said Tara Stoker Bostwick, chief operating officer of the Aiken Horse Park Foundation, where Goodwin trained. “He’s already brought Annie’s horse to the Olympics.”
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“She was a really good rider.”
It’s that smile they remember. Even on the bad days, that smile was there. Martin remembers Goodwin being “all in and obsessed” with becoming a better rider.
“This sport requires a lot of early mornings, cold or rainy days, hours of practicing when there’s no one there to cheer you on or watch,” Martin told USA Today Sports, “and what I admire most about her is her tenacity and the depth of her love for horses.”
Goodwin died on July 14, 2021, after a school accident while attempting to jump a training-level obstacle course. She died from her injuries at Aiken Regional Medical Center shortly after the accident. Bruno was uninjured.
Martin, a four-time Olympian, heard the news just before leaving for the Tokyo Olympics, and he was in shock and despair throughout the tournament.
“This horse is a great jumper and a great jockey,” Martin said. “When you have a horse that’s not talented and a jockey that doesn’t know what to do, accidents happen. I never thought this would happen.”
A Wyoming native, Goodwin stayed true to her roots even after moving to South Carolina: She grew up on a family-run dude ranch called Rafter Y Ranch & Outfitters, and her business is named “Rafter Y South” in honour of that.
Her main clients were in the equestrian industry. Goodwin taught lessons and housed her students’ horses on her own farm. She had a small staff and did most of the work herself. The farm had a covered arena, so she could ride even on rainy or sweltering days.
“She was a great person who worked hard and always had a smile on her face,” Martin said, “and this sport is so hard to turn into a business.”
“She was just at the point where her career was really starting to take off.”
Outside of work, Goodwin competed in polo, show jumping and eventing, a sport that combines show jumping, cross country and dressage.
“She was truly a renaissance woman,” said Bostwick, who runs the Annie Goodwin Rising Stars Fund and Grants, which provides financial support to aspiring equestrians.
Her clients had been supporting Goodwin during her time at major competitions, and she was in her final training session before a four-star tournament in Montana when the accident happened.
He became one of the best horses in the world.
Goodwin had purchased a three-year-old horse named Bruno from Europe and was intent on developing him into a champion-caliber horse. Goodwin’s father, Putter, had been in charge of distributing his daughter’s horses after her death. He asked Martin to take Bruno on, and Martin and his wife, Sylvia, a jockey, welcomed him into their partnership.
“Bruno is an eye-catching horse,” Martin said. “He’s got a big, white face and white legs.”
“He’s a very laid back guy, but he’s hard to catch,” Martin said, “so I have to ride him first thing in the morning before I let him out to the paddock, because it can take six or seven hours sometimes to catch him and bring him back at night.”
The partnership between Martin and Bruno didn’t get off to a good start. Bruno didn’t understand Martin’s style of riding. The horse was skeptical. It takes a long time for a bond between rider and horse to form.
“I think my ego played a part, because I was basically trying to start at Annie’s level,” Martin says, “and I quickly realized I had to take a few steps back.”
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For the first six months they were all over the place, Bruno refused to jump, he was disqualified multiple times.
“It’s been really tough,” said Martin, who was born in Australia and has an American citizenship, though the Australian accent is proof of that.
Finally, something clicked: an understanding between man and horse began.
“Over the last 18 months he has developed into one of the best horses in the world,” Martin said.
Riders and horses qualified separately, and the United States Equestrian Federation selected Martin as the 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood. Commando 3, 11, is the rider’s direct reserve horse.
Martin often says that jumping is part of Bruno’s DNA.
“He launches himself off the ground and jumps fences higher than any horse I’ve ever ridden. It’s not something I’ve done special to him,” Martin said. “It’s just something he’s born with. And it’s the same with every jump, when he comes over it’s like he’s got a spring in his leg. He has incredible power and propulsion off the ground.”
#RideForAnnie is the emotion of the Paris Olympics
In May of 2022, Bruno and Martin won their first four-star event in North Carolina. A year later, they also won a four-star event at the Aiken Horse Park Foundation in Bruno and Goodwin’s hometown.
Martin sits on the grant-writing committee that Goodwin wrote in his name, but he had mixed feelings when he experienced his first success aboard Bruno.
“I felt a little guilty because Annie had worked so hard at riding. I’m sure her parents looked at me and deep down knew their daughter should be riding,” Martin said.
He continued, “This horse is an incredible horse in our little sport, our little world, and I think the reason people are rooting for her and not for me is because of her story. She’s like a living monument to Annie’s hard work and dedication and love for the sport.”
Putter Goodwin (whose father, Wally Goodwin, coached a guy named Tiger Woods on the Stanford University men’s golf team in the 1990s) will be in Paris to watch Bruno and Martin.
Martin and Aiken members often tag their social media posts with #RideForAnnie, especially in photos that feature Bruno.
Bostwick wants everyone who loved Annie Goodwin to know that they already hold Martin in the highest regard.
“He has a lot on his shoulders and he knows it,” Bostwick said. “My hat’s off to Boyd for not only chasing his personal destiny of an Olympic medal, but also knowing what it means to everyone back home. Even though Annie is gone, we’re fortunate to have what we can hold on to. Thanks to Rising Star Grant and Bruno, we have memories to cherish.”
Two hearts, both beating for the one who brought them together.
