Friederike Butler and Alabama (CA)
Team #868: Friederike Butler and Alabama
From: Mill Valley, California
Ages: 72 & 29
Combined Age: 101
Test: Training Level Test 1
Like so many members of the Century Club, I do not remember a time when I did not love horses. I was the seventh of eight children in a family that had recently fled from East to West Germany in the years after World War II.
Pre WW II, my parents had both been riders, and my mother had been an excellent dressage rider. However, their horses were confiscated during the war, and immediately after the war, horses were not part of our lives. As a young child, my younger sister and I played for hours with our toy horses or transformed our bicycles, a convenient tree branch, or even the stair banister into our pretend steeds. The only thing I wanted to draw in art class was, of course, horses!
When I was thirteen, my family emigrated from Germany to Ontario, Canada, where, according to my father’s promises, “there were more horses than people.” My horse life improved in Canada. At first, there were horses and ponies that we could lease by the hour, and then, our own farm with our own horses (and donkeys, goats, etc.). My sister imported two Hanoverian stallions and a Hungarian thoroughbred mare to add to our herd. Then came college and a little horse break.
After university, and with the full support of my husband, Richard, I ventured out on my lifelong passion by purchasing a Thoroughbred mare, followed by a series of warmblood horses, and training in dressage over many years. I have been very fortunate in having been able to ride and continuing to learn my whole life. Currently, my beloved 29-year-old Alabama, who has been with me since he was 14. I also have a young six-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, who keeps me on my riding “toes/heels” on a daily basis. All in all, every day in the saddle and/or being around my horses is an unbelievable blessing for which I am truly grateful.
