‘He was my horse of a lifetime’: former national champion dies aged 24
Lara Butler pays tribute to the Bechtolsheimers’ sharp, sensitive gelding who overcame injury to become a national champion and Rio Olympic reserve
Rubin Al Asad, the horse who launched Lara Butler’s international dressage career and travelled to the Rio Olympics as Britain’s reserve, has died aged 24.
The Bechtolsheimer family’s Hanoverian gelding, known at home as Rufus, was put down on 8 October at Ursula Bechtolsheimer’s yard, where he had lived since his retirement in 2021.
A mainstay of British dressage in the second half of the 2010s, he was team reserve for three consecutive championships: the 2016 Olympics, the 2017 European Championships and the 2018 World Equestrian Games. In 2018, he won the national title.
“He was definitely what you’d class as your horse of a lifetime,” Lara said. “He kick-started my career, but it’s really hard to put into words how much he means to me... we grew together.”
A sharp horse who needed a quiet seat
Bred in Germany by Hans-Hermann Wiemer, Rubin Al Asad (Rubin Royal x Wanderbursch II) was produced to small tour by Helen Langehanenberg before Wilfried and Ursula Bechtolsheimer bought him for their daughter Laura (now Tomlinson).
He had been cast in his stable as a young horse and suffered a back injury that needed a lengthy rehab. Lara arrived at the yard as an assistant rider during his recovery.
“They weren’t really sure whether he was ever going to cope with it,” she said. “I don’t think anyone thought I was going to get him to grand prix, bless him.
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“They told me, ‘You can ride this one, but he’s quite fresh because he’s just coming back from an injury – and don’t ride him in spurs!’ I thought, ‘Oh my God, what is this horse going to be like?’ He was sharp, but in a very kind way.
“When Laura sat on him, his legs flew everywhere because she has a hot seat, whereas I’ve got a much calmer seat. I just clicked with him straight away, and I think they could see that.”
Their first test together, a prix st georges at Addington, remains a running joke.
“He buried his head so low I couldn’t see it any more! But the engine was still going,” said Lara. “It felt like we were going to go over our heads at any moment. We always laugh about how far we actually came.”
Rio, a national title and Olympia
Lara had learnt the grand prix movements on schoolmaster Andretti H – who died in March 2025 at 30 alongside fieldmate Mistral Højris – but Rufus was the first horse she trained to the level herself.
They made their international grand prix debut in Wellington, Florida, in February 2015, and won the grand prix special there two weeks later. Nations Cup appearances followed in Hagen, Rotterdam, Aachen, Geesteren, Hickstead and Compiègne.
Selection as travelling reserve for Rio was one of the highlights of Lara’s career.
“Equestrian is quite often away from the Olympic village, but that year we stayed in the village, so it was amazing to be part of it all,” she said. “I have Rufus to thank for that, because he really took me there.”
After twice finishing as reserve champions – in 2013 and 2017 – the pair’s persistence paid off in 2018, when they were crowned national champions.
But Lara’s favourite moment with Rufus came a year later at Olympia, where they scored a personal best of 81.45% in the World Cup freestyle.
“It’s an iconic venue – no one will ever beat it,” she said. “On my last centre line, I remember beaming from ear to ear. He really lifted himself and took me up that final centre line”.
“It was never a no”
Rufus mellowed with age, but he never quite became an easy ride for anyone else. When other riders sat on him, Lara recalled, they wondered how she managed him at all.
“He was quite a nervous horse and took a lot of comfort in his people,” she said. “I remember at Rotterdam, when it was stormy, we had to go and sit with him in his stable, and then he was fine. But at the bigger venues he was almost better, because he had to focus on me.
“He was a trier. He might not always have got it right, but he was always trying for you. It was never a no, and that’s quite special in a horse, especially at the top level.”
Lara believes the time they took over his early training is the reason he had such a long career.
“He taught me a lot of patience. You have to listen to your horse and wait for them to tell you when they’re ready, rather than rushing and pushing them through,” she said. “We were later to grand prix than some, but he did five years at the top, and I was able to retire him at 19.”
Rubin Al Asad’s life in retirement
In retirement, Rufus was the undisputed boss of a small herd of fellow retirees and youngsters. When he retired, Lara had promised his beloved daily banana would keep coming.
“He was literally king of the field,” said Lara. “When it was time for him to go, it was definitely his time, and he showed us that he was done.”
Lara is convinced he would still hold his own today.
“There aren’t many horses you can look back on and say their way of going would still stand up now,” she said. “I genuinely think he would still have stood up against all the horses now.
“I’m very grateful to the Bechtolsheimers for giving me the opportunity to have the ride on him, and for the trust in that partnership. He was my horse of a lifetime.”
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Oscar joined Horse & Hound in October 2023 and is the magazine’s dressage editor and sports manager, overseeing coverage of equestrian sport. After studying equine science at Myerscough College, he spent four years working for leading dressage rider Emile Faurie, competing at the 2015 National Dressage Championships and travelling with the yard to CDIs including Aachen and Saumur. He holds a master’s degree in Literature from York St John University (2021).