Up-and-coming eventing athlete Tommy Greengard of Malibu, California, was named the recipient of the United States Equestrian Team (USET) Foundation’s Amanda Pirie Warrington Grant for 2024. A current competitor on the US Equestrian (USEF) Eventing Emerging Program List, Greengard has aspirations of representing the United States internationally.
The Amanda Pirie Warrington Grant is awarded annually through the USET Foundation’s Amanda Pirie Warrington Fund. Pirie’s family established the fund in her memory to provide financial assistance to an eventing athlete identified as having the talent and ability to represent the United States in the future. It is intended for a recipient that will benefit most from the opportunity to continue their training with top coaches and to compete against the world’s best in eventing, one of three Olympic equestrian disciplines. As the recipient of the grant, Greengard will receive up to $5,000 to help offset expenses associated with his training throughout 2024.
Photo by Tina Fitch Photography
“I’m so appreciative to the USET Foundation and USEF for all of the opportunities that have been offered to me including this grant,” stated Greengard. “Earning this grant took me by surprise; I wasn’t expecting it all. It’s a wonderful way to start the year, and I’m very grateful.”
Greengard began riding when he was six years old and trained with Robyn Fisher in Malibu, California, for nearly nine years. When he moved to northern California to attend college at the University of California, Berkeley, he began training with Andrea Pfeiffer. After graduating in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science degree in environmental science, Greengard decided to make horses a career and began to work as a full-time trainer at Pfeiffer’s Chocolate Horse Farm in Petaluma, California.
While Greengard has had success at the four-star level with his own Joshuay MBF 2, a 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, including winning the CCI4*-S at Woodside Fall International in October 2023 and placing third in the CCI4*-L at the Eventing Championships at Galway Downs in November 2023, he hopes to leverage the Amanda Pirie Warrington Grant to make his international debut.
Working closely with Pfeiffer, Greengard has been focused on building a string of promising young eventing horses and plans to leverage the grant to support the development of one particular horse, That’s Me Z, Greengard and Pfeiffer’s seven-year-old Zangersheide gelding.
“I have some exciting up-and-coming horses, and I’m hoping that I can take That’s Me Z to the 2024 FEI World Championship for Young Horses in Le Lion d’Angers, France,” Greengard explained. “I’d like to use this grant to gain additional training and competition opportunities that I might not have access to otherwise for That’s Me Z. He’s a pretty brave horse, but I think new experiences and introducing him to different atmospheres will be important before competing on the world stage.”
With his sights set on international competition, Greengard credits his partnership with Pfeiffer and support from USEF’s Eventing Emerging Program List for bolstering his career path.
“First and foremost, I have to acknowledge Andrea Pfeiffer. She has been behind me and the horses one thousand percent day in and day out,” said Greengard. “I’ve also been fortunate to have help from USEF’s Development and Emerging Coach Leslie Law through the Emerging Program List. Finally, Lilo Fore has helped me on the flat and, of course, my parents have been hugely influential in making everything happen.”
Thanks to the Amanda Pirie Warrington Grant, Greengard can continue to focus on his training to help reach his goal of representing the United States around the world.
