Olympic equestrian Boyd Martin rides Annie Goodwin’s horse Bruno

Equestrianism is a sport that concerns two hearts: the rider and the horse.

Although Annie Goodwin’s heart stopped beating three years ago, Bruno, her beloved horse, will realize his dream and compete in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

“It’s a tragic story,” said Boyd Martin, an eventer on the U.S. team who will overtake Bruno at the Games. “Maybe with a slightly happier ending.”

Goodwin died in a training accident in 2021 while riding Bruno on her farm in South Carolina. Martin, her friend and former trainer, took Bruno into his possession. Together they reached the sport’s biggest stage and fulfilled Goodwin’s greatest dreams.

“I hope Boyd realizes 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 taken Annie’s horse to the Olympics.”

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“She was such an incredible rider”

The smile is what they remember. Even on the bad days, it was there. Martin remembered Goodwin’s “absolute dedication and obsession” to becoming a better driver.

“This sport is a lot of early mornings, cold and rainy days and hours of practice with no one cheering and no one watching,” Martin told USA TODAY Sports. “And I would say what I admired most about her is her resilience and how much she loved her horses.”

Goodwin died on July 14, 2021, after a training accident while attempting to jump over a training obstacle. She succumbed to her injuries shortly after the accident at Aiken Regional Medical Center. Bruno was not injured.

Martin, a four-time Olympian, was about to leave for the Tokyo Olympics when he heard the news. He experienced the competition with a mixture of shock and devastation.

“The horse jumps so well and she was such a great rider,” Martin said. “You think that with untalented horses and riders who don’t know what they’re doing, accidents happen. I never thought something like this could happen.”

A Wyoming native, Goodwin stayed true to her roots even after moving to South Carolina. She grew up on a family ranch called Rafter Y Ranch & Outfitters, and the name of her company was an homage to that: Rafter Y South.

She served clients primarily in the eventing industry. Goodwin taught lessons and stabled her students’ horses on her farm. She had a small staff and did most of the work herself. A covered arena on the farm allowed people to ride in rain or extreme heat.

“She was a hard worker and just a wonderful person who always had a smile on her face,” Martin said. “And it’s so hard to make a business out of sport.”

“She was just at the point in her career where she was about to really take off.”

Outside of work, Goodwin played polo and show jumping and was also involved in eventing, which combines show jumping, cross-country and dressage in one competition.

“She was a Renaissance woman if ever there was,” said Bostwick, who runs the Annie Goodwin Rising Star Fund & Grant, which provides financial support to aspiring equestrian athletes.

Customers supported Goodwin as she competed in major events; the accident happened just as she was completing her final training session before a four-star event (five is the highest category) in Montana.

He has developed into one of the best horses in the world

Goodwin had bought Bruno from Europe as a three-year-old and was determined to train him to be a championship horse. Goodwin’s father, Putter, was responsible for selling their horses after the death of his daughter. He asked Martin if he would take on Bruno, and Martin and his wife Sylvia, also a rider, welcomed him into their syndicate.

Bruno is a striking horse, said Martin. He has a big, white face and white legs.

“He has a lovely, laid-back personality but is difficult to catch,” said Martin. “So you have to ride him first thing in the morning before you put him out in the paddock because sometimes it takes six or seven hours to catch him and bring him back in at night.”

The partnership between Martin and Bruno did not start off on the right foot. Bruno did not understand Martin’s riding style. The horse was suspicious. It takes a long time for a bond to develop between rider and horse.

“I think my ego also caught up with me as I tried to basically start at the level that Annie was at,” Martin said, “and I quickly realized I had to take a few steps back.”

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In the first six months they were completely confused. Bruno refused to jump. They were disqualified several times.

“It was real chaos,” said Martin, who was born in Australia – and the accent proves it – but has American citizenship.

At some point it clicked. The understanding between man and horse began.

“Over the last 18 months he has developed into one of the best horses in the world,” said Martin.

Riders and horses qualify separately, and the U.S. Equestrian Federation has named Martin with the 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood. Commando 3, an 11-year-old, is the rider’s direct replacement.

“Jumping is in Bruno’s DNA,” Martin likes to say.

“He just jumps off the ground and flies higher over the fences than any other horse I’ve ever been on – and that’s nothing special from me,” said Martin. “It’s something he was born with. And every jump it’s the same, he comes to the jump and has almost a spring in his step. He just has incredible power and an incredible push off the ground.”

#RideForAnnie is the motto at the Olympic Games in Paris

In May 2022, Bruno and Martin earned their first victory at a four-star event in North Carolina. A year later, they won the Aiken Horse Park Foundation four-star event, Bruno and Goodwin’s home race.

Martin sits on the scholarship application committee on Goodwin’s behalf, but when he experienced this first success on board Bruno, he had mixed feelings.

“I almost felt a little guilty because Annie had worked and trained so hard and Annie’s parents, watching me, probably thought deep down that their daughter should be in the saddle,” said Martin.

He continued: “This horse is incredible in our little sport, our little bubble. I think everyone is rooting for this horse more than me, just because of his history, and he’s almost like a living monument to Annie’s hard work, dedication and love for the sport.”

Putter Goodwin (whose father Wally Goodwin coached a certain Tiger Woods on the Stanford men’s golf team in the 1990s) will be in Paris to watch Bruno and Martin.

Martin and members of Aiken often tag their social media posts with #RideForAnnie, especially the photos that feature Bruno.

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