The 2012 London Olympic ride of Laura Tomlinson (nee Bechtolscheimer), Mistral Højris, was put down on 22 March, aged 30 – alongside his stablemate and decorated field companion Andretti H.
Laura and Mistral Højris didn’t just win medals – they helped redefine British dressage. Together, they stood on championship podiums an extraordinary nine times, their crowning moment coming at the London 2012 Olympics, where they claimed team gold alongside Carl Hester (Uthopia) and Charlotte Dujardin (Valegro) as part of British dressage’s most-celebrated championship team ever, and individual bronze in front of an ecstatic home crowd.
But their path to greatness wasn’t easy. “Alf”, as he was known at home, was immensely talented but far from straightforward. In the early days, his fear of crowds and new environments left many doubting whether he could ever handle the pressures of elite sport. Some even labelled him dangerous.
But Laura never gave up on him. Through patience, trust, and years of quiet graft behind the scenes alongside her late father Dr Wilfried Bechtolsheimer, she transformed that raw, anxious horse into a world-beater – and in doing so, helped change the course of dressage in Britain forever.
“I said goodbye to our career a long time ago,” said Laura in a moving tribute. “Now, I’m grieving Alf, my buddy, not Alf my dressage horse. But he did so much for me, and for dressage.
“And for my dad and me, we were trying to show you could be at the top and ride in the classical way with the horse as a happy athlete. He and a few others here were happy, healthy athletes who could retire at the top and have the wonderful retirement they deserved, and that’s exactly what they did deserve, after all they did for me.”
Take a look back through remarkable Alf’s career in pictures…
One of Laura, then 23 years old, and Alf’s first features in Horse & Hound as they prepared for their Olympic debut in Beijing in 2008. In the feature, Laura’s mother, Ursula, recalls the first time she showed Laura a video of Alf: “Laura wasn’t very well at the time, and she was watching it through half-closed eyes when she suddenly said, ‘That’s him – that’s my horse’”.
A throwback to Laura and Alf’s early competition career, where they claimed team bronze at the young rider Europeans in 2005, alongside teammates Maria Eilberg (Topscore), Henry Boswell (DHI Faederlite) and Holly Burrough (Orvieto).
After making their senior debut in 2007, Laura and Alf went on to win four championship team medals and five individual medals, between 2008 and 2012 – marking the start of a new era of British dressage.
Their championship run included a historic silver medal at the 2009 Europeans at Windsor with the highest score a British rider had ever achieved in an international grand prix.
Laura and the then 16-year-old Alf at the 2011 European Championships in Rotterdam, where Britain won their first-ever championship team gold medal, with Laura also taking home individual bronze.
Their career highlight was undoubtedly the London 2012 Olympics – Alf’s swansong championship – where they helped Britain win their first-ever team gold medal, as well as an individual bronze. “Alf went into that arena, took a deep breath, and gave me the ride of his career,” Laura said, reflecting on their bronze-medal-winning freestyle.
“He had a huge personality, but he was a little scaredy-cat too,” recalls Tracey Cox, Alf’s groom between 2010 and 2013. “He was a horse you’d go the extra mile for, and I loved doing it. I still cry whenever I hear his Lion King freestyle music.”
“He was one of the ‘big three’,” recalls Carl Hester, “it’s hard to believe we had him, Uthopia and Valegro on the same team, and I think them winning that gold medal in London is what everyone will remember. His final centre lines were just legendary, with his energy and enthusiasm; he didn’t seem to touch the floor.”
After the Olympics Alf continued to compete, remaining on top-form, sweeping the board at Hagen CDI4* in 2013. But after a small knock kept him out of that summer’s European Championship team, the decision was made to retire him at the top.
An emotional retirement ceremony was held for him that year in front of a packed-out crowd. “I was a little worried about retiring him,” Laura told H&H in 2020. “He was never going to be a schoolmaster and I was the only one who could hack him, and I was pregnant by then. But actually, being fully retired meant he really did switch off, and he took going out really well.”
Alf spent his retirement living alongside his long-time stable companion and field companion Andretti H.
“They couldn’t be apart but still bickered like an old married couple,” Laura said. “They both wanted to be centre of attention and right to the end were the same characters as they were when they were on the lorry together and fighting over haynets.
“There was a big part of my life with my dad intertwined with them; it’s been an emotional rollercoaster but I’m just glad I was able to be with them, and they were their usual cheeky, cuddly selves to the end.”
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‘I was with them to the very end’: emotional farewell to Olympic medallist and grand prix field mate on the same day aged 30
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