Farbenfroh, 14, who carried German rider Nadine Capellmann to the individual and team gold medals at the 2002 World Equestrian Games and a team gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, was euthanized on Dec. 20.

The Westphalian gelding underwent an operation on one of his front legs, which went smoothly, but when he tried to stand up in the recovery stall he sustained severe fracture of the femur and had to be euthanized.

“I’m devastated,” Capellmann said in a eurodressage.com report. “A horse like Farbenfroh you only find once in your life. Everything on him was extraordinary