Revealed: The DAMNING allegations made in now-deleted podcast by glamorous dressage trainer who witnessed Charlotte Dujardin whipping horses, as she alleges she was ‘chased with a whip by medal-winning Olympian’ and says top riders ‘beat their horses up’
The dressage trainer who denies being the whistleblower who got Charlotte Dujardin banned from the Olympics made a series of damning allegations of horse abuse by those at the top of the sport in a now-deleted YouTube clip.
Alicia Dickinson, identified by sources as one of the people in the barn when the devastating footage was filmed of Dujardin repeatedly punching a horse in the legs “like an elephant in a circus,” says she did not go to authorities.
However, Mail Sport has seen a now-deleted clip from Dickinson’s Your Riding Success channel in which she claims her own dream of becoming an Olympic champion was ‘put on ice because I wasn’t prepared to do what the coaches wanted me to do’. She also claims she was ‘chased with a whip by a medal-winning Olympian’ and adds that ‘top riders beat up their horses’.
Dickinson, originally from Australia but now based in London, is said to have taken clients to Dujardin for training. After denying she was behind the leak, which led to Dujardin withdrawing from the Games before being provisionally banned by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports, she claimed the pair’s business relationship ended after the lesson seen in the harrowing video that has stunned the sport.
“I saw so many things that you just can’t comprehend,” Dickinson tells co-host Natasha Althoff in a clip believed to have been posted around July 20 and deleted hours after the storm hit.
Alicia Dickinson is believed to have been among those present during the viral clip of Olympic champion Charlotte Dickinson whipping a horse more than 24 times
The dressage trainer claims her career stalled because she wasn’t prepared to ‘do what riders have to do to get there’
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Dujardin has been suspended for six months after the video was sent to the International Federation of Equestrian Sports
“The reason my career has stalled is because I’m not willing to do what top riders do to get there. I don’t want a medal big enough to beat up my horse.”
‘When I look back at my riding, there are moments I would be ashamed of. I followed my idols and forgot my own morals.’
Dickinson, whose channel has 152,000 subscribers, called on her followers to help “clean up the sport.”
‘If we as little people take a stand and say, “We don’t want a medal that badly, we’re not going to do it,” then eventually the sport will clean up. Anyone who is not a medalist at the Olympics or an Olympic period who does this kind of thing has a chance to redeem themselves, because everyone understands that you only followed the best. In this day and age, we know what’s wrong.’
Dickinson admitted to abusing horses in her own career. “I have to be honest, I did that once,” she says.
‘Ultimately that was my goal (so) why wouldn’t I do it? They’ve achieved what I want to achieve. They tell me this is what I want to do – they tell me it’s not cruel, it’s not, it’s not, the horses look fine.’
She also claimed that the people at the top are there because of the way they treat horses.
In a now-deleted clip from her channel, Dickinson claimed that top riders “beat up their horses”
“It’s very hard to break through,” Dickinson added. “Maybe they get 80 percent (scores) for doing that. I don’t want that. And nobody else should. Maybe they get a little bit higher for doing that and they break the horse’s spirit a little bit, but that’s not okay.”
Dickinson also called on other trainers to “be brave and make a choice not to do it.” “I’ve done it… there are times I’m not proud of. I guarantee times where I’ve been rude, very mean to students, not nice to horses, because I was told. Not just told. Encouraged.”
The images, which according to Dujardin date from four years ago, were handed over to Dutch lawyer Stephan Wensing, who subsequently filed a complaint.
Dickinson denied on Instagram that she was behind it, writing: ‘This week’s media revelations about Charlotte Dujardin have been hard to process.
‘I want to make it clear: I am not the whistleblower, I did not film the footage, all online speculation is unfounded. Our business relationship ended after the lesson in the video. I await the outcome of the FEI investigation and will not comment further at this time.’
However, the YouTube star with over 150,000 subscribers has denied leaking the now-viral clip and revealed that her business relationship with Dujardin ended after the lesson was shown in the video
Dujardin, who needed one more medal to become the most successful British female Olympian of all time, voluntarily withdrew from the Games and was subsequently suspended while an investigation was carried out.
The 39-year-old has since come under fire, being sacked as an ambassador for a horse welfare charity and losing his sponsors.
Ms Dickinson has not yet responded to Mail Sport’s request for comment.