Editor’s note: This article was published in Grand Traverse Scene magazine’s Fall 2025 issue. Pick up a free copy at area hotels, visitor’s centers, chambers of commerce or at the Record-Eagle building on Front Street. Click here to read GT Scene in its entirety online.
Francisco “Paco” Goyoaga is quickly establishing himself as a top contender in the world of equestrian show jumping.
Over the past year, the 28-year-old Barcelonian-turned-seasonal-Michigander leapt from 180th to 103rd on the planet — no small feat for a young gun in a sport dominated by veterans with decades more experience.
“I don’t remember when I started riding,” Goyoaga said. “My family has videos of me when I was like three years old riding little ponies. In my first memory of competing, I was already around 10 years old. I don’t have many memories of it before then.”
About 15 years later, Goyoaga found himself competing in Wellington, Florida’s 2022 Winter Equestrian Festival, and subsequently moving to the United States full time — something he never planned on doing.
“That year I got a really nice horse, [named Icarus],” Goyoaga said. “Because of him, I decided to stay through the summer. He was once one of the top horses in the world for his age, and he had been struggling recently with other riders. But when I got him, we won a lot together.”
According to Traverse City Horse Shows Event Director Matt Morrissey, that is a pretty common phenomenon for highly talented riders.
“The value of a horse isn’t necessarily reliable on the actual rider,” he said. “Most people who are in this sport can see a good horse in an average rider if they are paired together, and would like to see a horse with a better rider. Sometimes you see very good horses carrying less than average riders around, but if you stuck a good rider on that horse, the results would be better.”
Before long, Goyoaga and Icarus started competing in Traverse City, and it didn’t take long for the up-and-comer to fall in love with the area.
While Icarus has since retired, Paco still lives in Traverse City every summer. So does his girlfriend, Alexandra, who is the daughter of Icarus’ owners.
“We met down in Wellington and we started dating in 2022 after moving here to compete,” Goyoaga said. “After Icarus retired, I stayed here because of her.”
Goyoaga is a fourth-generation show jumper. His grandfather, of the same name, won several world championships across Europe. Both of his parents, who still live in Spain, are renowned horse trainers.
“It’s kind of a family tradition,” Goyoaga said.
Traverse City Horse Shows Marketing and Communications Manager Gary Howe recalled his excitement upon first noticing Goyoaga at Flintfields Horse Park where the Traverse City Horse Shows are hosted each year.
“I was a total novice to the sport, but I thought he looked really interesting,” Howe said. “I started asking around about him, like ‘Am I seeing something special, or am I just crazy?’ And everyone said, ‘No, he definitely has his own unique style.’”
“He rides super aggressively,” Howe continued. “I don’t mean that in a dangerous way. He is very controlled and disciplined, but he is out to win every time. He really gets the most out of his horses and his team. He has a great style and he doesn’t hold back. You can see that he puts in the time, and is always learning new techniques watching other riders. He gives it his all. The fact that he is here, making Traverse City his home for the summer, is really great to watch. You can see the results happening as he climbs up the world rankings.”
While Goyoaga’s competitive nature and dedication to his sport need no introduction, those qualities are universal prerequisites to success in any high-level endeavor.
What else then might be responsible for his continued ascension of the ranks? After all, not everyone with an impressive equestrian legacy is destined for success in the same arena.
Goyoaga’s desire to win is eclipsed only by the love and respect he has for the horses that make his living possible. While respect alone doesn’t win horse shows, Paco said that for him it comes before everything else — and therein lies the crux at the heart of his success.
“I am super competitive, and not just with riding,” he said. “I am competitive with everything. I am always motivated to try to do better and to try to win more. But most importantly, I do what I do because I love horses. They are amazing animals. When you have a good relationship with a horse, it’s a connection that you cannot really get in any other sport.”
To love is to sacrifice, and the greater the sacrifice, the greater the love. While not everyone abides by that doctrine, it is almost certainly the case for Paco, who said that maintaining healthy relationships with his horses, and ensuring their longevity, always takes precedence over his own desire to win.
“I always put the horses in front of the competition,” he said. “I would never take a horse who I think is not feeling great to compete in a show, even if it means I have to miss that competition and miss out on ranking points. I am proud that I am able to climb up the ranking without letting my horses down, you know?”
“I have a few horses that have been with me for a long time,” Goyoaga continued. “They are still jumping and they are feeling great. But I don’t forget that they are animals. At the end of the day, if we win, we win. And I always want to win, but we have to remember that our horses are doing this for us. Yes, they are born for this, but we have to take care of them. They give us our way of living. I try to respect that.”
Goyoaga explained that paying attention to how his horses are feeling benefits not only their health and well being, but their performance in the ring.
“As a show gets closer you might have to change your mind and take another horse because the original choice isn’t feeling good,” he said. “Maybe that horse is a little sore in the back because he pulled a muscle. He will need time to rest. You try to take the horse that is in the best condition, and to make the right decision — first for the horse, and then for the competition.”
Respecting the horses means not only putting their well being before competitions, but also ensuring that they are in top condition when the time comes for them to compete. After all, it isn’t only the riders who love to race and jump.
“At the end of the day, in our sport, the real athletes are the horses,” Goyoaga said. “Yes, we have to be fit and we have to be strong, but we are nowhere near the athletes that hockey players or football players are, you know? The horses are the real athletes.”
In show jumping, riders have teams of up to 15 people who all help take care of the horses. A rider may have up to 10 horses that need consistent top-level attention and, just like any other pro-athlete, high level performance requires high level maintenance.
“This is a sport that you need a really big team for,” Goyoaga said. “It’s crazy how we treat those horses. They have all kinds of vets and chiropractors. They go in spas, they have magnetic blankets, they have massage blankets. They are truly athletes. It’s not like we just feed them and they go in the ring. Everything we do behind the scenes is really important. Like any other top level (athlete), when they finish their match, the horses go to the chiropractor, or the doctor comes in and checks on them. Maybe after a competition they have a relaxing spa day with cold or hot water… We do all of that for the horses.”
Morrissey echoed Goyoaga, stressing the quality of care that these four-legged athletes receive.
“We have open air treadmills and ice treadmills,” he said. “(Those) are enclosed treadmills that get filled with almost-freezing water. They have the same health benefits for horses that ice baths do for human athletes. Pulsating equipment is used on horses’ muscles… there is all kinds of performance equipment here that helps with recovery and performance.”
Morrissey explained that there is generally one groom for every three horses, and one rider for every few horses who gets out and exercises them each morning.
“You have the head trainer, who may also be the rider,” he said. “Then you have the actual owner, who may also be the rider. Here at the horse shows we have veterinarians on site, but many people also have their own vets who come from across the country. A farrier comes in to shoe horses, and will typically work with the entire barn. There are massage therapists that come in to work on the horses’ muscles. It all depends on the level of the horse.”
If that kind of treatment is provided to all the top competing horses, what exactly separates a good horse from a great horse? Or, for that matter, a good rider from a great rider?
“Mentality,” Goyoaga said definitively. “How you handle failure. Handling success is easy. I always say I don’t need anyone to congratulate me when I win, I just need people around when I lose. Because, when I win, I already know I did good. I don’t need people to tell me how good I did something, you know? If I know I did it right, and I won, perfect. It’s more when you lose that you need the help.
“When you lose, it’s how you handle the loss that makes the difference between a good rider and a great rider,” he continued, “It’s also having the right people around you that won’t take away from you when you are having a bad period or a bad year. You need to have people to support you.”
Goyoaga said the same is true for the horses.
“A great horse wants to fight for a rider, and enjoys the competition,” he explained. “There are a lot of horses that have all of the qualities in the world to be a machine. But they are just not interested. So they are not successful. And there are other horses that don’t have all the qualities in the world, but they are warriors. When they get in the ring they try everything and more to be successful, and to jump clear, and to be fast. If a rider makes a mistake, they fight to solve the mistake, and when you ask for something, they are there for you right away.”
Morrissey, too, spoke to the importance of mutual respect between horse and rider.
“When you are riding a 1,300 pound animal, going around jumping, you have to trust the horse and the horse has to trust you,” he said. “The rider could be in a perfect position every time, but if the horse isn’t great, you won’t have a good day. The horse and rider both have to be in sync.”
Goyoaga said that, while he has around 12 horses that he competes with, he has three main horses that he counts on for big shows, and two horses that he plans on using for September’s Horse Shows.
“My main horse is Stakato,” Goyoaga said. “He’s a gray horse, and he’s really sensitive. He’s a little bigger, and super brave and fast. I got him a year and a half ago, from a friend in Spain. I’ve been developing him to jump the biggest Grand Prixs. He’s jumping at the top level now, but when I got him he was jumping at a medium level. He was younger when I got him, but he had all of the qualities needed to jump anything.”
Goyoaga’s other go-to horse is a bay mare named PST de Muze.
“She is smaller,” he said. “And she is spicy. She has a lot of blood (energy) in her. She is also really fast. She is like a lion. You can jump anything with her. You could put a wall in front of her and be sure she is going to jump it. She’s something else.”
When choosing which horse to show with for a given competition, Goyoaga said that it’s important to remember that horses aren’t so different from humans in their temperaments, seasonal shifts in performance, and variation in physical stature.
“We all have periods throughout the year when we are doing better than other times,” he said. “When you are more fit or when you feel better, you also play better. Horses are like that, too. If you know what type of show you are doing, and when, you can decide which is the right horse for it.
“Let’s say you’re riding in a big ring,” he continued. “You’ll (want to) bring a horse that is big and has a big stride, so you can manage that ring better. If you go to a show where the ring is really small, you might bring a smaller horse that is faster and that can turn quicker.”
Unlike thoroughbred racing horses, which have already started competing by the time they are one or two years old, Morrissey said that 98 percent of the horses in the hunter and jumper communities are European Warmbloods, and don’t usually start going to shows until they are 5, 6, 7, or even 8 years old.
“They really compete in what they’ve grown into,” he said. “Some horses compete until they are 18 years old.”
“Thoroughbreds are basically sold on pedigree,” he continued. “But our horses are sold on performance. They are brought up the ranks from around 4 to 8 years old, and it’s during that period when it is decided what a horse’s type and job will be. We wait until all the tendons and ligaments and bone structure are mature before we start training them.”
Morrissey said that safety is a top priority for all the horses at Flintfields.
The rings’ footing systems use subangular sands, which are mixed with geotextiles that allow moisture to stay in the ground longer, and add more cushion to it, according to Morrissey.
“We have an underground water system in the rings, which allows us to control the water [saturation level],” he said. “Much like a beach, where the sand is firmer the closer you get to the water, we are able to dial in those levels so that it’s the perfect amount of water, so the level of firmness stays consistent throughout the day.
“We want to make sure the footing is safe and goes beyond the trainer’s expectations when they come to compete. A lot of people say their horses feel better here than when they are home and not competing.”
In fact, Goyoaga said he thinks that the footing at Flintfields is some of the best in the entire country.
“The ring (here) is super impressive,” he said. “It’s really big. The horses love it. The stalls where they sleep are also great. Horses actually deliver better results here than maybe at other shows because they have a better quality of life.”
On that note, Traverse City Horse Shows also has a 24-hour horse ambulance on site.
“If anything happens to a horse, the ambulance goes right into the competition ring. From there, trained professionals help the horses and take them to the necessary center,” Morrissey said. “These are world-class athletes. Come September, we will have 15 to 18 Olympians here. Not just the riders, but the horses.”
Some of the world’s most elite riders competing at the horse shows this year include Beezie Madden, Darragh Kenny, and the number one ranked FEI (International Federation for Equestrian Sports, or in French: Fédération Équestre Internationale) jumper in the world, Kent Farrington.
Goyoaga said it is not lost on him that he is competing not only against, but frequently winning among, many of his childhood heroes.
“I remember I used to watch a lot of show jumping on the TV when I was young, and still riding ponies,” he said. “I would see all these riders in the World Cup and the world championships and the Olympics, and now I’m competing against them. It’s really cool.”
Despite all of his personal success, Goyoaga said that he is most proud of the opportunities he gets to represent his home country.
“That is the best thing,” he said. “I am a big fan of the Nation’s Cup, which is when different countries compete against each other. When I win and they put the anthem and the big flag in the ring in a country like the United States, it means a lot. It is really, really satisfying. We actually live for these kinds of moments, when you can represent your country and everybody can hear your anthem. It is one of the coolest aspects of the sport.”
Goyoaga said that he has won a couple of Nations Cups in Spain and Belgium, and even took second place in Holland.
“I think those (Nations Cups) go way over the Grand Prix,” he said. “I still haven’t won any major Grand Prixs. That is really difficult. Normally people win Grand Prixs when they are 40, 45 or 50 years old because it takes a lot of experience and the right horse, and there are like six or seven major Grand Prixs every year. My biggest goal is to win one, or a few of them, like my grandpa did.”
When asked what it will take to continue climbing the ranks, and to potentially start winning those major Grand Prixs, Goyoaga said that continuing to work with his trainer, Ken Smith, and maintaining consistent discipline is key.
“A trainer needs to be the person you trust the most,” he continued. “When you go in the ring, he tells you to do things that can change the whole situation, which could win you a class or a Grand Prix. If there are things you think you cannot do, he pushes you to the limit so you do it and win. After my horses, (Ken) is the most important person. First is the horse, because you need a good horse, and then the trainer is the most important person around you.
“It’s almost like a marriage,” he continued. “Everything he says you have to trust and do, and if it goes wrong you work together. I would do something that I think is completely wrong just because he said to do it — and most of the time he is right and I am wrong.”
During competition weeks, Goyoaga wakes up around 6 a.m. He grabs his coffee and goes to the show. Then he rides his horses a bit, gently, just enough to warm them up and get them stretched out.
“Every horse is different,” he said. “One might need more time, and some might only get a little time because they need more energy later.”
Then, Goyoaga turns his focus to that day’s particular class, or competition.
“When the Grand Prix arrives, I walk the course,” he said. “You have to stay focused going through it in your head and watching other riders if you go later in the order to see where they are making mistakes that you can avoid.
“Then I warm up and jump the class. Afterward you have to take care of the horse and make sure it gets ice on its legs, and all the stuff for the muscles and tendons and everything. It’s a long day. I normally finish my day around 7 or 8 p.m.”
While he is certainly a natural competitor by all accounts, Goyoaga’s work ethic also stems, at least in part, from a place of humility; an understanding that, thanks to his family’s equestrian resources, he grew up working with top trainers in top facilities that many other jumpers didn’t have access to.
In other words, Goyoaga isn’t one to grow complacent and rest on the merit of his last name only to be surpassed when his name alone ceases to be enough.
“I have always been around people who wanted to help me get where I want to go,” he said. “I still have a long way to go, obviously, and I am nowhere near where I want to be. But I have always had good people around me. My family situation always opened doors for me to go places and to work with the best riders in the world. I’ve always been around great people.”
Goyoaga said that he plans to compete in September’s Longines World Cup Qualifier, and the American Gold Cup, which will close out the season for Traverse City Horse Shows.
“That could change, because I have to see how my horses are doing after we compete in Canada (in a couple of weeks),” Goyoaga said. “But I’ll probably compete in both of (those shows).”
“To win here is special,” he continued. “The crowd is really nice here. When you clear a difficult jump you can hear them scream and cheer. The atmosphere during Grand Prixs on Sundays is really nice. A lot of people come to those. It’s really cool for the riders. We feel the support and a good kind of pressure when we go in the ring to deliver.
“I just hope everybody comes to the Grand Prixs and enjoys them, and that we deliver as much fun for them as we can.”
For a complete schedule of September’s upcoming shows, visit traversecityhorseshows.com.