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 me.”

Veterinarians had to sedate Choco so OCFA firefighters, led by Goodwin, could dig the horse out. With a makeshift harness of netting, he was lifted and flown out of the ravine by helicopter.

Booth called the rescue “nothing short of miraculous.” Goodwin called it a once-in-a-lifetime call.

Goodwin said the rescue was a wake-up call. Although the OCFA had once had a program to teach firefighters how to deal with large animals, the trainers had retired. Already that year, the department had rescued one horse before Choco, and everyone realized the training needed to resume, Goodwin said.

So Goodwin partnered with Booth and The Shea Center to create an equine urban search and rescue training program.

Goodwin said it was important for the OCFA to attend Choco’s retirement to show support for The Shea Center and its surrounding San Juan Capistrano community and their investment in the program.

“The Shea Center, and Choco especially, have done so much for our program and have given so much back to us that we need to show that we still care,” he said.

About a hundred firefighters from Anaheim, Orange, Huntington Beach and the county have taken part in the training over the last two years. It started as a three-day session to introduce firefighters to horses and get them used to working with large animals. As lessons have been learned for other rescues, the training has evolved.

Booth said the nonprofit organization’s horses are very well-trained for situations that would normally spook a horse, making them ideal for firefighters to train with.

Choco has participated in training firefighters, but he primarily worked in The Shea Center’s adaptive riding program and helped combat veterans with PTSD, Booth said. She described Choco as sensitive, a trait that benefited his work with the center’s mental healthcare program.

Liam Jepsen, a 15-year-old high school student from Laguna Niguel, said he formed an affectionate connection with Choco after riding with him frequently and attributed the horse with helping manage his ADHD.

“That showed me that if I stayed calm around the horse, they would stay calm around me, and that’s how my ADHD fell low and I was able to control it, all thanks to Mr. Choco,” Jepsen said.

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Choco will retire to the Rock Hills Ranch in Fallbrook, which is 45 minutes away from The Shea Center.

Two other horses from the center have retired there, too, Booth said. Choco will spend his days grazing in pastures with other horses and receive care from the people who run the property.

“I, personally, and some of us that are close to him, are just so sad to see him leave,” Booth said, “but know he’s earned it.”