PUEBLO, Colo. – Boyd Martin has the Olympics in his blood.
The son of Toy Dorgan, an American speedskater, and Ross Martin, an Australian cross-country skier, who met at the 1968 Olympic Winter Games in Grenoble, France, there was little doubt that Martin would become an elite athlete in his own right.
Growing up in Terrey Hills, New South Wales, Australia, he began riding horses as a child, eventually settling on eventing – a discipline in which a single horse and rider compete across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country and show jumping.
It takes an enormous amount of skill and horsemanship to be able to compete in one discipline, let alone three.
But one thing that thoroughly stumped Martin? Riding a bull.
He tried it once at a rodeo in Australia, back when he says he was “young and stupid,” and it did not go well.
“I lasted for about one second,” Martin said. “They opened the gate and I fell straight on the ground, and in that moment, I knew right what I wasn’t good at.
“Right then, I thought, ‘I’m going to stick to horses.’”
It proved to be a wise decision. Martin moved to the United States in 2007 and made the U.S. Olympic Team in 2012, 2016 and 2020, finishing as high as sixth in the team event and 16th as an individual. He also won silver in the team event at the 2022 World Eventing Championships, as well as three Pan American Games gold medals – one as an individual (2019) and two with the team (2015, 2019).
But the bull riding fan in him never died. Even before he left Australia, he was a fan of the then-nascent PBR, and to this day watches the premier series on TV with his kids.
This past weekend at the Monster Energy Buck Off at The Garden, presented by Ariat, Martin was finally able to attend his first PBR event in person.
Thanks to Ariat – a sponsor of Martin’s as well as the PBR – he was given backstage access before Championship Sunday began, getting a tour from stock contractor and Florida Freedom head coach Cord McCoy.
“It was great to meet Cord, and he sort of talked us through the program of how well the bulls are looked after and what the cowboys are about to go through before they hop on,” Martin said. “I tell you, I’m glad I don’t do this sport. It looks terrifying just standing up here near the chutes. But it’s very, very exciting.
“There’s a small chance in our game that you’ll fall off. In their game, it’s a guarantee. I kind of like my sport, where the chances are you’re going to stay on your animal. Here, it’s a promise that you’ll come off and fall.”
Despite some very clear differences between eventing and bull riding, Martin acknowledges some key similarities.
“With cross-country riding, which is what I do a lot, it’s a lot of core strength and balance,” Martin said. “Cord said it really well – it’s your dance partner. You’re trying to follow the horse through the air, and landing after the fence, and trying to be with your animal. So I do think there are a lot of similarities. You’re trying to be in unison and follow your horse. If it goes to the right, you’ve got to go right, or if it slows down, you’ve got to sit back and try and not be against your animal when the bulls are bucking, from what Cord told me. And for jumping, you’re trying to follow your horse and be a partner with it throughout the arc of the jump and trying to do it as efficiently as you can.”
Perhaps surprisingly from a rider in the buttoned-up English disciplines, Martin says his favorite bull rider is everyone else’s favorite bull rider – J.B. Mauney.
“I love that guy,” Martin said. “A lot of the time, he could hardly walk, and he’d get on a bull. To have a bulletproof mindset like that is, to me, incredible because I just couldn’t imagine getting on a bull knowing that you’re half broken already.”
While Mauney announced his retirement from bull riding in September, there was no shortage of rank action for Martin to see at Madison Square Garden. At the top of the mountain was Austin Richardson, who went 3-for-4 to win his second consecutive event and move to the No. 1 spot in the Unleash The Beast World Championship standings.
But as an athlete, Martin can appreciate all the ups and downs of a bull riding.
“I probably have a bit more of an insight of the challenges of staying healthy and the emotions the athletes are about to go through of trying to, somehow, in the moment of pressure and everyone watching, stay calm and perform in the moment, and dealing with adversity and setbacks,” Martin said. “I’ve had great events, and I’ve had terrible events, and I’m sure the bull riders are the same, where one night they’re the champion of the world, and the next night, they’re going home empty-handed.
“I can appreciate the rollercoaster of being an athlete. A lot could go wrong, and a little bit could go right.”
Photo courtesy of Boyd Martin