Tom was a slight young man, and was not built to withstand the heavy labor that many of his friends and family endured, his mother included. Luckily, he was born and raised in North Middletown, Kentucky, where prize horseflesh abounded. Stables were filled with sleek American Saddlebred horses and race horses. It was the luck of the draw that Tom ended up tending to Saddle Horses, rather than thoroughbreds. Beginning part time, feeding the horses that were left behind while their trainers were off showing across the country, he tossed their feed into the stalls, afraid to enter.

Tom soon acquainted himself with the horses, and the lifestyle of the horseman. He kept his eye on the prize, so to speak, which he perceived as the opportunity to travel far beyond the boundaries of Bourbon County. His impressionable mind was soon in awe of the older black horsemen, who wore finer clothes, drove cars and were seasoned road men. Tom wanted fine clothes, a car and a ticket out of North Middletown. Horses would be his means of escape.

In his early twenties, he had his first chance to leave, traveling over 500 miles away to Allentown, Pennsylvania with his wife, Nora Bell Fields. Tom was now an employee of the famous Saddle horse sales stable of Frank Pearson. Tom didn’t adapt as well to being away from home as he had hoped, and it wasn’t too long before his mother came to take him home to Kentucky. His wife stayed on in Pennsylvania, and they were divorced.

Back in Bourbon County, he became a proficient horseman, working at several stables, including Dixiana, and DeAtley’s. While his talent was discovered, he made a discovery of his own, by the name of Elizabeth Brown. Tom courted Elizabeth, eventually making her his wife in September of 1940. While Elizabeth carried their first child, Tom was building his career, still working toward his goal of an enriched life for himself and now for his growing family.

July of 1941 brought forth Tom and Elizabeth’s first child, a son, named Thomas Howard Butler. Named for his father, and his maternal uncle, Howard “Bulgia” Brown, himself a noted Saddle Horse trainer, this youngster was destined to become a horseman of note.

As World War II approached, six months later, the saddlebred horse business was experiencing a huge economic travesty, and Tom looked for other ways to feed his family. Tennessee Walking Horses seemed to thrive, comparatively, and Tom wasted no time procuring a job with Walkers.

Once again, Pennsylvania became the home of the Butler family, but this time they lighted in Western PA, in the Pittsburgh area. Tom worked at the Christonia Farms in Gibsonia, and during their stay at Christonia Farm, Tom and Elizabeth had two daughters, Frances Louise “Cindy” and Rebecca Elizabeth “Becky” Butler, completing their family of five.

Soon after, he was hired by one of the clients he trained for at Christonia. A stable was built, and a dynasty was born. Hy-Tyre Farm was established by Hymel Fishkin and Elsie McIntyre Fishkin, initially with only one horse! With Tom’s talent and Mrs. Fishkins’ interest in horses, they soon multiplied, and Tom was commanding a winning string of Tennessee Walkers and American Saddlebreds

Not one to stay in one place too long, Tom decided to move on after approximately a decade at Hy-Tyre. Being a man of high character, he wouldn’t leave the Fishkins without a trainer, so he searched for his own replacement, finding Billy Liles, in Tennessee, and convincing him to move to Pennsylvania as the head trainer at Hy-Tyre. Tom should have been a matchmaker, as this combination of Billy and wife, Louise Liles, with Hymel and Elsie Fishkin, lasted ‘til death do us part’. Of the aforementioned, Louise lived on Hy-Tyre Farm until it no longer existed, the only survivor of the foursome.

Tom moved on, opening his own stable in Meridian, PA, just outside of Butler. The offers to employ Tom continued to come in, and Tom couldn’t refuse. He moved on to Beallgrove Farm in Wexford, Beatty’s in Washington, moving next to Ohio to the famed Blue Lakes Farm, and finally to Reata Horse Farm in Sharon Center. Tom spent many years working at Reata, developing and breeding some of the most famous horseflesh of the time, and ascertaining his place in saddle horse history.

At a time when most people would be considering a quiet retirement, Tom was stepping into another realm of the horse world, as a trainer of note of Morgan horses. When in his sixties and seventies, Tom made some of the greatest Morgans of all times, working for Lookaway Farm, Black River Morgans and Kohler Farm. In 1980, his beloved Elizabeth passed away after 40 years of marriage.

Tom was a great believer in, and one of the initial members of the newly formed United Professional Horseman’s Association, remaining a member until his death in August of 1991.

Tom was awarded the UPHA Chapter 13 Horseman of the Year award in 1989, the Ohio’s Most Distinguished Horseman Award in 1990, and the Golden Reins Award, from the American Morgan Horse Association. His legacy lives on, as his son, Bud Butler, continues the family tradition as a master horseman, and his grandson, Michael Butler, is an accomplished caretaker, as well as a showman of his roadster pony, Wild Chance.