UK Sport has withdrawn its funding after it was forced to withdraw from the Olympic Games on Tuesday after video footage emerged of it whipping a horse “like an elephant in a circus”.
The six-time Olympic medallist has also been dropped by horse welfare organisation Brooke after she was accused of striking the animal more than 24 times with its legs.
Dujardin had hoped to become Britain’s most decorated female Olympic athlete – currently equal with cyclist Laura Kenny – but was forced to withdraw from the Games on Tuesday after a former eventer said her career was “in tatters”.
It came after the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) received video footage on Monday that allegedly showed Dujardin abusing the horse at a training facility in the United Kingdom. Dujardin, 39, has been suspended pending an investigation.
Brooke said on social media: ‘We are deeply shocked by the recent video of Charlotte Dujardin.
Footage shows Charlotte Dujardin whipping a horse repeatedly as she tries to teach it to do ‘piaffe’. Her funding has now been withdrawn by UK Sport
The horse appears to buck in response to Dujardin’s whipping
Brooke said they are ‘deeply shocked by the recent video’
The six-time Olympic medallist (pictured with her horse Gio) was among the contenders to carry the flag for Team GB at the opening ceremony on Friday.
‘Our whole ethos is about kindness and compassion for horses, and it’s just disappointing to see the opposite from someone with such a big name.
‘Charlotte is no longer an ambassador for Brooke.
“There is no justification for the abuse of animals and such behavior is clearly inconsistent with Brooke’s representation.”
The footage shows Dujardin walking next to the horse, which is being ridden by a 19-year-old girl, while hitting the horse’s legs with a whip.
Dutch lawyer Stephan Wensing, the attorney for the whistleblower who shared the video, told GMB that his client had sponsored a horse riding lesson for the teenager.
Mr Wensing claimed that his client had seen the practice take place several times.
He said: ‘My client used to be a sponsor, and she was in the UK, and she sponsored a lesson for Charlotte to a student. It was a young girl, 19 years old, riding her horse, and she was having a lesson from Charlotte Dujardin in the UK.
‘Charlotte Dujardin stood in the middle of the arena. She said to the student: “your horse needs to lift its legs more in the gallop”.
Dujardin (pictured, at the 2012 Olympics) hoped to become Britain’s most decorated Olympian but was forced to withdraw from the Games yesterday
Britain’s Olympic dressage champion has withdrawn from the Paris Games over a video of her making an ‘error of judgement’
‘She took the long whip and hit the horse more than 24 times in one minute, very hard, very hard, very tough.
‘This is not just one incident. My client has been to Charlotte Dujardin’s stables several times and has seen it happen before.’
Mr Wensing previously compared the treatment to that of ‘an elephant in a circus’. He said the incident took place in 2022 – but Dujardin claims her ‘error of judgement’ took place four years ago.
The athlete is said to have hit the horse on the legs when she tried to teach it the ‘piaffe’, the slow trotting technique used in dressage.
Those who give instructions on piaffe usually do so by tapping the horse very lightly – just enough to encourage the horse to lift its legs.
The alleged whistleblower had filmed the lesson but was warned not to file an official complaint because of Dujardin’s previously glittering reputation.
“In the video she takes the long whip and hits the horse more than 24 times; (this is) the biggest star in dressage,” Mr Wensing said last night.
“This is a black day for dressage and also for Charlotte Dujardin. But in their statement my client says that if dressage wants to survive, they have to stop doing this to horses.”
“It doesn’t make sense,” the lawyer added. “It doesn’t have a purpose. It’s unbelievable. At the time, my client thought this was normal. She’s an Olympic medalist. Who am I to question that?”
‘My client asked around and was warned not to speak out in the UK. But last year my client saw others suspended in the UK and elsewhere.’
Alice Plunkett, a former eventing rider and current ITV Racing presenter, said Dujardin’s career was “in tatters” when the video footage became public.
“It’s not a video that anyone is comfortable with. It’s not appropriate and it’s not something I’ve ever seen in my years of working with horses,” she said.
“It’s not standard practice. She knows that and I just don’t understand how she got into that situation because she’s someone who has made her life out of horses, because she manages them in a way that makes them work for her.
‘Valegro [Dujardin’s horse] wouldn’t have acted that way if he had treated her that way. In that video she is training someone else’s horse. She made the wrong decision about how to solve a problem. That is not acceptable.
“We are going to the Olympics with an extraordinary team and we want to celebrate the professionalism that got them there. The FEI does not stand for training methods like this.
The 39-year-old (pictured, at the 2012 London Olympics) could have become Britain’s most decorated female Olympic athlete in Paris
‘If someone trains horses like this, they’ll be taken out by the FEI. You can’t get away with that in modern times. She didn’t get away with it. You can’t get away with it. It’s categorically an equestrian sport, the horse comes first.
“She will be hanged, drawn and quartered. This will be her defining legacy. Her professional career is in ruins.”
In a shocking statement, the three-time gold medallist revealed she made an “error in judgement” during a coaching session that could have jeopardised the welfare of an animal.