Retiring at 22 may seem too young, but for county firefighters and employees and clients of The Shea Center, Friday’s retirement party was a deserved, yet bittersweet, send-off for the therapy horse Choco.
Choco made headlines in July 2021 when he had to be rescued from a ravine by firefighters with the Orange County Fire Authority’s Truck 56. His rescue sparked a collaboration between the OCFA and The Shea Center, one of the largest therapeutic equestrian centers in the world, to rekindle a training program on how to rescue large animals.
Choco has spent the last five years at The Shea Center helping adults and youth through equine-centered mental and physical therapy. Due to his age and a cataracts diagnosis, Choco is retiring to a farm in Fallbrook.
“The coolest thing about the whole deal is, with our job, more often than not, we come into chaotic scenes, whether it’s a medical aid or a car accident, we send the individual to the hospital and we don’t ever get the closure or end up seeing what happens,” OCFA Capt. Danny Goodwin said.
But with Choco, the rescuers have been able to keep up with horse and now even celebrate his retirement, Goodwin said. “It’s just cool to have that closure and see him and know we made a small impact that helped him live a long life.”
Two years ago, Sarah Booth, The Shea Center’s communications director, was taking Choco on a routine fitness ride when a bird flew into the horse, spooking him. Choco fell 10 feet down into a ravine behind the center. Booth found Choco lying on his back, with concrete and rebar jutting into his flanks.
She feared the worst.
“When I was in that rock pit with him down the ravine, he was so scared, but he stayed calm for me. He listened to me, he let me stroke him,” Booth said. “And he could have killed me with his legs flailing, but he didn’t. He just trusted me to be able to know that I was going to help him, and that was a really powerful memory for…
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