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54 JA N UA R Y/ F E B R UA R Y 2 018 U N TAC K E D PROFILE And he said yes. And this was Monsieur," she continues. "So I just stuck with it, and he ended up being a fantastic horse." at perseverance has paid off in many aspects of her life, with both horses and children. Love No Matter What Back when she was a teenager sitting uninspired in school, horses weren't the only thing Charlotte doodled in the back of her notebook. "I remember drawing pictures of an orphanage I had in my mind," she says. "I always loved kids, but I never had any desire to have my own—never had any desire to be pregnant. I always knew I would either want to adopt or have foster kids." Charlotte's first mar- riage ended in divorce in 1992, right around the time of the Summer Games, and she went on her first date with Baker in 1994. She'd moved to the Santa Ynez Valley after participating in a fundrais- er in the late 1980s with natural horseman Monty Roberts who, along with his wife, Pat, have become dear friends. First she fell in love with the area and then later with Baker, who also lived in the valley. e two married in 1998. But Baker was a bit harder to convince of her plans, at first desiring biological children. "He wasn't super open to it, but then one day I was at a fundraiser, and this woman who was a social worker said she knew of a 9-year- old boy who needed a home. Very naively I thought, 'I can do 9 years old. at sounds perfect! How hard can that be?' " Charlotte says, laughing before answering her own question. "It was a lot harder than we thought! But in any case, when I told Joel about it, I called him and said, 'How would you like to have a 9-year-old son?' And he actually was open to it right away," she adds. Zachary Fillmore moved in a week later, followed four years later by Tyler Tibben, who was 14, giving them two teenage sons. "at was even more challenging! I don't really know if we knew win in dressage because you have to spend so much time with the horse. e horses do things for her because they trust her, and they feel one with her, and she just takes the time to do that. She never blames the horse when things go wrong. She's really special." Horses And Reindeer Desiring a barn with a covered arena, Charlotte left Bell Canyon in 1983 and started training out of another California facility, Rivendale Ranch. Also housed at the new barn were Stuart Miller's reindeer. Miller was a successful entrepreneur who started a Christmas tree farm business, then called Miller & Sons. In the off- season, the reindeer lived at Rivendale, and he and Charlotte became friends. Sensing the young dressage rider could use a bit of extra money, Miller hired her for two months a year, November and December, to oversee operations at his 30-plus tree farms. e money was good, and she could ride in the morning before working a 12-hour shift for Mill- er. e following year, she convinced him to partner with her as an in- vestment: He would front the money to buy two horses in Europe, and she would train and sell them. Miller agreed, and Charlotte was given a budget of $10,000 per horse. Miller got an immediate return on one of the horses, which they sold quickly, but the quirky, gangly, spooky 5-year-old who bucked off Charlotte the first time she rode him proved tougher. "For two years I tried to sell him, and nobody wanted to have any part of him! I thought he had some talent, but he was a real challenge, for sure," she says. "He really didn't want anyone else to ride him, and when other people got on him, he would just act like he was on remote control or something. "After two years of trying to sell him, I went to Stu and said, 'If I pay for everything, can I keep him through the 1992 Olympics?' "I always knew I would either want to adopt or have foster kids," says Charlotte Bredahl of her decision to foster two boys, including Zachary Fillmore. PHOTO COURTESY CHARLOTTE BREDAHL

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