Andrea Pfeiffer is the heart of Chocolate Horse Farm. She pumps passion, purpose and a love for horses and their humans into every artery of the thriving business. Located in Northern California’s Petaluma, Chocolate Horse is a hub of horse and rider development that’s become renowned beyond the USEA’s Area VI, of which Andrea is Chair.
She’s also part of the heart of her Sonoma County community.
Andrea’s receipt of the Sonoma Horse Council’s Equus Award in 2022 reflects the breadth of her service in and beyond the horse world. She is Vice President for the COTS Committee on the Shelterless in Petaluma. COTS helps clients find housing and provides the supportive services needed to stay housed long term.
And she serves on the Giant Steps Therapeutic Riding Center Board of Directors, where her superpower is finding suitable therapy horses. “They’re harder to find than a 5* horse!” she shares.
“I was brought up to always give back in some capacity,” Andrea explains. “To leave the world a better place than it was when we arrived.” Her own good fortune is another motivation. “I feel very fortunate that I was dealt a deck of good cards. Everybody says success takes hard work and motivation. But even people who started with everything right in their life, a few bad turns and you can find yourself on the street. I never had those bad turns.”
Service is a nice counterbalance to immersion in a sport that can be a little “self-serving.” That’s not a bad thing, she clarifies. Rather, it’s a reality that prompted her to make the most of “being in a position to really help others.”
For many years, Andrea spent her Sundays cooking meals for COTS clients. Chicken pot pie, fried chicken and other comfort foods were her specialty. Her board position now involves executive meetings to ensure the organization stays on track with its mission.
The Chocolate Horse Story
Andrea grew up in Sonoma County, where her mom, Gretchen Irvine, bred Arabians during the 1960s and early 1970s. Gretchen sought pure black Arabians, which were nicknamed “chocolate horses” by school kids visiting on field trips. Hence the fun name.
Throughout high school, Andrea spent summers in England, where she learned about the British Horse Society and its program for educating and certifying horsemanship instructors. “The last summer I was there, someone recognized that I had a knack for teaching and suggested I come back and finish getting my certificate.” Which she did.
Andrea worked for the British government in their “youth training schemes.” These programs paid young people to learn a trade – including that of an equestrian professional. Students got room and board, six months of training and help with job placements.
In two-and-a-half to three years in this position, Andrea and her co-workers helped place graduates with jumping and eventing yards. “In my view, it was quite successful,” she reflects.
She had planned to stay in England for good. However, when she came home for her father, Michael Irvine’s, retirement from the Navy, the plan changed. “When people heard I was home, they started asking can you give me a lesson, teach my pony club, etc. I was home for six weeks and, in that time, the business showed up from nothing.”
“I also realized how much I missed home,” Andrea adds. “It felt good to be back in California. It’s a pretty special place!”
Andrea is grateful for the lasting influence of wonderful parents. Her dad instilled the foundation of Chocolate Horse’s success. “When I started, he said, ‘If you are going to be in business for yourself, you are always replaceable.’ That stuck with me and it’s how I show up every day, ready to work.”
Area VI Advances
In guiding horses and riders to success and enjoyment in the sport, Andrea is a key player in the health of the West Coast eventing scene. Many of her young riders and apprentices have gone onto thriving professional careers. Rising star Tommy Greengard is Chocolate Horse’s main trainer and rider, and he’s a partner with Andrea is several up-and-coming young horses.
One of those young horses is That’s Me Z. The Zangersheide gelding and Tommy topped the USEA Young Event Horse 5-Year-Old West Coast Eventing Championships in 2022. They made a remarkably steady ascent while targeting last fall’s WBFSH Eventing World Championships for Young Horses in France. The Holekamp Turner Grant and Dutta Corp Prize recipients finished 16th in a field of 64 top young horses. The performance put the Chocolate Horse crew on the international radar and added to West Coast eventing’s profile in that realm.
A win of Galway Downs’ 2024 Preliminary Challenge was part of Z’s West Coast prep for the World Championships. They followed that with a reserve in this year’s Spring International CCI4*-S, their first Advanced outing.
“Sleep When I’m Dead!”
Andrea stepped into the Area VI Chair during a tough time for the region in 2021. Show calendar mandates from the United States Equestrian Federation posed big problems for the region’s organizers and exhibitors. “It was a super big deal and we had to make a stand for Area VI,” Andrea explains. Getting the calendar issue sorted was a true team effort, she emphasizes. “A whole bunch of us on the Area VI council banded together to make a difference.”
The Chair position is normally a three-year term and it’s often hard to fill. “People are nervous about doing it,” Andrea says. She agreed to a second term, and to start early next year “poking around” to see who might follow. “They can work with me for a year, so they feel prepared.”
With the calendar issues “pretty well settled,” the main tasks are backing up the Adult and Young Rider program coordinators, working on the Area VI Championships and the annual meeting. The upside of the 2021 calendar turmoil was the further solidification of a “strong, dynamic group of people who want to see Area VI survive and thrive,” Andrea reflects. “It’s always been that way. Everybody sees eye to eye. There’s no tension. People can bring up ideas and we talk them through.”
Galway Downs’ Robert Kellerhouse stands out in that good group, Andrea emphasizes. “He’s such a big pusher of Area VI. He’s a standout who has made some very big moments happen. And all our events and organizers contribute a lot to what makes our Area so great.”
Growing the membership base at the lower levels and getting more adult riders into that program are key goals. “It’s not hard work, it’s time. Everybody is busy and there’s only 24 hours in the day. I always say ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead.’”
Region On The Rise
West Coast eventing is on a good trajectory, she observes. The first two Area VI Championships staged as part of Galway’s Fall International have grown in participation, prize money and enthusiasm each year. “The Championships had been dying a slow death, and we’ve breathed a lot of life back into them.” Easier qualification and ensuring qualified riders know they’re eligible have paid off.
In both those years, 2023 and 2024, the Area VI Championships welcomed competitors from all USEA Areas. In a few years, this Area VI Championships will hopefully have “enough legs” to stand on its own on a different date, Andrea shares. In that hoped-for scenario, a West Coast Regional Championships would be added onto Galway’s big Fall show.
Having US Eventing’s American Eventing Championships, presented by Nutrena, at Galway Downs is a major milestone. “We’ve been working really hard with all the other Areas to get as many people qualified as we can.”
West Coasters have long made the trek East to compete, but not so much in the other direction. “The journey is not that hard and we’re used to it,” Andrea notes. “We hope that a lot of East Coast people will see the value in coming out and we are also counting on a massive West Coast turn-out.”
The AEC takes place August 27-31, 2025, and entries are open until August 12.
What’s Ahead
The arrival of a salt water aqua treadmill in June signaled a possible addition to Chocolate Horse’s services. The “totally intimidating” purchase was prompted by Tommy Greengard’s experience when based with New Zealand Olympians Tom and Jonelle Price in England last fall. “All of their upper-level horses went on the aqua treadmill twice a week and the difference it made in their fitness was incredible. It was a game changer with a lot less wear and tear on the horses.”
When the Chocolate Horse team gets extensive experience with the treadmill, it will likely be made available to outside horses. “In the long run, we may start to do some higher end rehab,” Andrea explains. “There are a lot of rehabilitation centers, but not a lot that include riding.”
Andrea and her husband James’ daughter Tayler is already an asset in the rehab department. After several years as Chocolate Horse’s barn manager, Tayler switched her focus to equine physical therapy. She learned from the best – long time USET physio Dougie Hannum – and has been “a huge bonus” for the program’s top horses already.
Tayler and her husband Andrew will soon add another important item to Andrea’s resume – grandparent. Andrea and James, a farrier, are very excited about that.
The Pfeiffers continue to brim with pride over their son, Jack, who is a US Marine Corps Lieutenant. The commander of a rifle platoon, Jack is stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego. He gets to Galway Downs often when Andrea is there.
With her immediate and extended Chocolate Horse family thriving, Andrea continues to be an inspiring leader to all who have the privilege and pleasure of knowing and working with her.
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