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Knowing the horse from just his photo and then a few follow-up videos, they had little idea of his personality. The gelding that finally stepped off the plane in the U.S. was much more than a picture-perfect face; he was full of charisma and not a few quirks. \u201cZ\u201d was a stall walker, picky about his trusted people, and \u201cworried by nature,\u201d Greengard said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a weirdo\u201d Pfeiffer said with a laugh. \u201cHe is not for everybody; Z is weird. But we do weird well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even with his emerging eccentricities, there were no regrets about buying the horse off a photo and a gut feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe captured both of our imaginations from Day 1,\u201d Greengard said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At their eventing program Chocolate Horse Farm in Petaluma, California, the coach and rider began getting to know the green gelding. Greengard remembers their first competition as symbolic of Z\u2019s nervous early days with the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt his first show in California, he spent the entire day in a halter with Andrea coaching,\u201d Greengard said. \u201cSo it was Andrea on her golf cart coaching 30 people at Woodside Horse Park\u2014literally 30. It was Andrea, her golf cart, a hay net, and Z in a halter. That pretty much sums up the relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the spark that made Z \u201cweird\u201d also made him remarkable. Within a few weeks of arriving in the U.S., he qualified for\u2014and won\u2014the USEA Young Event Horse West Coast 5-Year-Old Championship, posting the highest score in the country. The horse who captured their imaginations was now realizing his potential, and that bit of success had the trainers dreaming of more possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the coming days, we hatched that sort of long-range plan that maybe this could be a 7-year-old that\u2019s good enough to go to [Le] Lion,\u201d Pfeiffer said. \u201cSo we just had kind of a little slow burn for two years, just plodding along, just carefully curating a program to see if we could get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe did believe in him,\u201d she added. \u201cBut we were very cautious in the beginning not to go too far.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2023, Greengard planned to take Z overseas, where they trained with Tim and Jonelle Price in England to prepare for the FEI WBFSH Eventing World Breeding Championships for Young Horses in Le Lion-d\u2019Angers, France, to contest the CCI3*-L.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As plans for the trip took shape, Pfeiffer realized that there were more Chocolate Horse horses who would benefit from spending the season abroad. \u201cWe ended up from one horse to five in quick succession,\u201d Pfeiffer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe had an incredible group of horses,\u201d she continued. \u201cFor four months, [Greengard] showed all across England. So by the time Z went to France, he was very well-versed, very settled. Tommy\u2019s confidence was at an all-time high. What a success.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They finished 16th in the CCI3*-L at Le Lion, and Greengard returned to California certain of how much their partnership had matured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou know, one of the things that I\u2019m most proud about is we were very clear-headed on what that trip was about, and it was about education and learning more,\u201d Greengard said. \u201cI left on that trip, and I was like, \u2018I don\u2019t care how we do. I don\u2019t care about any of the stats. I want to come home, and I want to have learned more, and I want to have happy, sound horses that are more educated.\u2019 I feel like we did that in spades, and that has been a huge catalyst for our success this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That catalyst propelled the pair to finish second in the CCI4*-S at Galway Downs in April and third in the CCI4*-S at The Event at Rebecca Farm (Montana) in July. The pair also earned 17th in the competitive Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S, held alongside the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s very much always had a very good meter for where he was at in terms of what was an appropriate ask,\u201d Greengard said. \u201cI think we\u2019ve seen that this year; he\u2019s really stepped up to the advanced level with loads of confidence, and it\u2019s gotten better every time out. That was the mark of making good decisions for the horse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the USEA American Eventing Championships held in late August, Greengard felt they\u2019d reached a milestone in Z\u2019s confidence. The pair led the $60,000 Adequan Advanced Final for all three phases, finishing on a score of 44.8\u2014more than 14 penalties ahead of second-placed Karen O\u2019Neal on Clooney 14.<\/p>\n\n\n
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Every Stride, Every Horse<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Greengard, 26, was ready for a horse like Z because of the work he\u2019s been doing with Pfeiffer since 2020. He grew up in Malibu, California, riding with Robyn Fisher, and landed at Pfeiffer\u2019s Chocolate Horse while studying sustainability at University of California, Berkeley. Pfeiffer says that when she first met the young rider, he was talented with a great foundation but was often a little too self-disciplined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen he arrived, he was young,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was a good rider. He was really methodical. It was almost to the point he was so methodical, I\u2019m like, \u2018OK, it\u2019s time to get off that 20-meter circle.\u2019 And he goes, \u2018Ah, did you see those two steps?\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018No, I think my eyes were closed, sleeping. Two steps isn\u2019t going to do it. We\u2019ve got to move on!\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Pfeiffer appreciated the level of care that Greengard put into every stride and every horse\u2014and she could also see that he was exceptionally smart. She helped the young eventer learn to zoom out from the granular details and think big picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhere he\u2019s really gained the knowledge is in the creativity of riding,\u201d Pfeiffer said of Greengard. \u201cHe came to me very correct. I said, \u2018You always color inside the lines; the sky is blue, and the grass is green, and the sun is yellow.\u2019 I said, \u2018Now is the time we\u2019re going to paint outside the lines, and we\u2019re going to use colors that don\u2019t make sense. You need to learn now to be an artist and not so regimented.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Z came along, he was a horse that required a balance of both the granular\u2014he thrived with a routine\u2014and a creative approach. The pair carefully strategized a program that ensured he had lots of turn-out and time off. And when it came to competitions, they had one goal: to make Z feel good about himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been super careful not to exploit his generosity,\u201d Pfeiffer said. \u201cYou know, if anybody looks up Z\u2019s record, he goes up a level, he drops back a level or two\u2014not because it went wrong, because it went so well. So any time he\u2019s done something big, he comes home, and then we\u2019ll drop him down a level. We\u2019ll let him do something easy. So the goal is that he always feels mighty every time he goes out, but every time he goes out, he\u2019s not asked to do the hardest thing he\u2019s ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After their AEC win, Greengard said it was clear that they had met their goal, and he joked that Z was \u201cbeaming\u201d the next morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, true to their word, for Z\u2019s next outing after the AEC, he dropped down to intermediate at the Aspen Farms Horse Trials and USEA Area VII Championships, held Sept. 12-14 in Yelm, Washington, where he finished second to Balladeer Kilbrickens Lad, who Greengard rode for owner Patricia Culleton. The back-and-forth keeps Z feeling confident in himself, and that confidence shows to the world around him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe\u2019s not a big horse, but he walks incredibly tall,\u201d Pfeiffer said. \u201cHe has this little funny swing to his head; he twirls it as he walks, and then he has the walk that the dressage judges hate where he really flings his feet. It just makes me laugh. We work really hard in the dressage ring for him not to do that. But I mean, he really will come out of his stall and strut around. He knows he owns the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even if the dressage judges frown on Z\u2019s exaggerated, toe-flicking walk, Pfeiffer said she treasures this little flaw, knowing it\u2019s Z\u2019s way of saying that he feels good in his skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She\u2019s happy to see that their program is making the young horse braver and braver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about keeping Z\u2019s confidence so he feels like Superman,\u201d she said. \u201cHe wears a cape, and away we go, you know? I mean, that horse really does: He wears a cape every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n This article originally appeared in the September 2025 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse. You can subscribe and get online access to a digital version<\/a> <\/a>and then enjoy a year of The Chronicle of the Horse. If you\u2019re just following COTH online, you\u2019re missing so much great unique content. Each print issue of the Chronicle is full of in-depth competition news, fascinating features, probing looks at issues within the sports of hunter\/jumper, eventing and dressage, and stunning photography.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One night in August 2022, after a long day of showing at Galway Downs in Temecula, California, eventer Tommy Greengard and his coach Andrea Pfeiffer separately paused on the same Facebook picture. In it, a bright-eyed chestnut gelding stood before an English brick manor, his gaze fixed on the distance. Greengard went to bed with […]\n","protected":false},"author":114810,"featured_media":358918,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false},"tags":[2897,2303,11308,7831],"article_categories":[975,2302,9401],"acf":{"ad_unit":"","ad_unit_mobile":"","spotlight_visible_till":"","image_home_display":"","facebook_image":"","featured_image_caption":"","hide_featured_image":["yes"],"sponsor_heading":"","sponsor":"","sponsor_logo":"","sponsor_link":"","related_gallery":"0","blogger_profile":269958},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/358915"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114810"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/358915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":358931,"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/358915\/revisions\/358931"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogger_profile\/269958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358915"},{"taxonomy":"article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_categories?post=358915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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