DSE “HALL OF FAME” – David Goodin

There are many people that touch our lives, though few that leave an in-print forever…

David Goodin is a well-known Show Jumping personality. In our opinion he is not only a great horseman, rider, coach, mentor, horse breeder and producer, but more importantly to us he is an exceptional human.

He is what many of us would describe as a Legend in the equestrian world. He was the first captain of the New Zealand Show Jumping team in 1959, and at age 80 plus he is still out there riding and competing!

David has taught and influenced many brilliant riders including his son Bruce Goodin, Daniel Meech, Grant Wilson, Dee Wall, Donna Smith, Phillip Steiner, Michael Weston, Melissa Watson, Edward Bullock, Marcus Wild, Philippa Howells, Mark Brooks, Ryan Lim, plus many more.

He and his lovely wife Anne offered all of us a place in their family. A place to learn true horsemanship, a place to learn how a structured daily routine produces fantastic riders and great horses, a place to learn the benefits of working hard, and the skills and confidence to think outside the square. Almost everything David did was to prepare and condition us for international success as riders and to install a strong work ethic and pride in ourselves.

Many of his riders have the funniest stories to share about David and the time they spent on the farm 🙂 The bucking horses, the dodgy chaff cutter and the very interesting feed cart to mention a few… A group of them still wonder if his wife Anne noticed that all the people at Jim Wright’s pot luck dinner years ago had an extra great night from eating her pie…? Sometimes the wrong mushrooms get put in good Christian people’s home cooking by mistake! Hmmmm I wonder who did that? I’m sure he’s very sorry Anne 🙂 hahaha ooops!

When you think of David we see his cloth hat, his yellow Datsun Ute… We remember his two hour long riding lessons, We think of repetition, repetition, and more repetition. As a coach his striving for perfection and improvement in us all. The hours of watching international competitions solely for us to learn. His constant ways of pushing us to be the best we could be, his desire to take us out of our comfort zone, beyond what we thought were our limits. And of course his phrases to encourage us “Come on, come on, COME ON”!

David has bred and produced some magnificent horses including; Dunstan Dolly, Holly, LA Connection, Balmoral Sensation, Matahura, Hes Cool, Paris Design and many more. Without any apparent hesitation he gave us all the opportunity to ride and jump these horses, I’m sure we all made many mistakes on them, though he never stopped giving us these opportunities.

David deserves to be in a hall of fame in our opinion, so we have taken this opportunity to officially induct him into our own one!

David you are our friend, someone we admire, you are a true inspiration to many people, you have a huge wealth of knowledge and have inspired generations of riders, we are thankful for your resilience and generosity, and we know you want the best for us all.

Please feel free to add a comment or tribute for one of life’s true gentleman – David Goodin x

“A champion is a champion… when put under pressure they get it right, at the right time!” David Goodin