Inside the Charlotte Dujardin scandal and the week that could end dressage for good

Mood in Paris is bleak with grave worries about the sport’s Olympic future as it comes to terms with the revelations of the past few days

“The girl on the dancing horse.” This was the title Charlotte Dujardin gave her memoir, and it was a reputation that preceded her everywhere she went. When she performed at one 2015 exhibition in Las Vegas on Valegro, the Dutch warmblood with whom she elevated dressage to its highest artistic expression, newly converted fans queued out of the door for her autograph. In less than a week, that luminous reputation has been torched. Today, she might just be the girl who brings down her sport.
While equestrianism is confirmed for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, there are grave doubts as to whether dressage will form part of its programme. This is a constituency under mounting pressure to sustain the “social licence” to use horses for sport, and the video of Dujardin whipping one 24 times marks a grave setback for that cause. Reactions to animal abuse in an Olympic context are visceral and immediate. In August 2021, Kim Raisner, a German coach in modern pentathlon, was filmed punching a horse in Tokyo. Three months later, the sport’s governing body ruled that horse riding should no longer be one of its five disciplines.
The downfall of Dujardin has unleashed an even fiercer backlash. Even her long-time mentor Carl Hester, the British team captain, has co-signed a letter condemning her. She was meant to be on a quest here at the Palace of Versailles, a suitably opulent setting for a sport of billionaires, to become the most decorated British female Olympian in history. Instead, the very mention of her name draws a shudder from peers and public alike. In the rain-lashed grounds, Laura Collett, a reigning Olympic champion in team eventing, said of the leaked video: “It is devastating for the whole horse world.”
That view was echoed in the stands. “I just think the vast majority of people like us – amateur riders – would just never do anything like that,” said Sam Fletcher, from Wiltshire. “We look after our horses better than we do our kids. I’ve never seen a horse being whipped like that.”
Within the sport, it is the timing of the leak – which suggests malice rather than a genuine fear for animal welfare – that has prompted most anger. In taking out Dujardin, the whistleblower, supposedly acting with the sport’s best interests at heart, may have set fire to its Olympic existence. All the evidence points to the conclusion that it is the work of someone working on the inside.
The whistleblower’s lawyer claims she has been agonising since 2022 about going public. She was warned to keep quiet by senior people in English equestrianism last year, her lawyer claims. Others at top levels in the sport dispute these events and even the timeline. One insider tells Telegraph Sport that the whistleblower does not even have her dates right and the video was shot in July 2020. Senior figures close to the Team GB camp, which outwardly condemns the video, privately describe the attack as “malicious”.
Who, then, could the whistleblower be? Life behind the scenes for the darling of the sport has not all been smooth sailing in recent months. Seven months ago, Dujardin decided to sever business ties with Abby Newell, chief executive of the Equestrian Management Agency. Multiple sources describe lingering tensions between the pair, but Newell categorically denies being the whistleblower. “Of course not,” she told Telegraph Sport, when asked whether she had played a role in bringing the footage to light.
Another one-time associate of Dujardin is dressage trainer Alicia Dickinson, who also denies leaking the footage but who claims Dujardin has “many enemies”. “Our business relationship ended after the lesson shown in the video,” she said, indicating she was aware of concerns.
It is a tantalising claim by Dickinson, this statement that Dujardin has “enemies”. And it is not one made in isolation. Several sources within the sport paint her as a “diva”, who has alienated many with a high-handed attitude. But is such a portrayal accurate, or the product of resentment? Dujardin, after all, is not a woman hewn from classic equestrian stock. She was born in Enfield and trained under her mother’s car headlamps in a north London sand arena. The fact that she would go on to dominate such an eye-wateringly expensive sport as dressage may have made her a target in a world known for its cliques.
Now she has been humiliated in the most brutal fashion, transformed from poster-girl to persona non grata in the space of just five days. Tom McEwen, whose father is a vet, described a sense of horror at the sport’s reputational damage, inviting reporters to visit his yard to see how well his horses were looked after. “It was a massive shock to the equestrian world,” he said. “But it’s really important for us to put a shining light on our amazing sport.”
The trouble is that most of equestrian’s abuse scandals have originated not from pre-prepared open days, but from unguarded moments. Whenever journalists were invited to Hester’s yard in Gloucestershire, where Dujardin trained, she could demonstrate how the horses received a level of love and luxury tantamount to an equine spa. Then that video definitively broke the spell, casting a far less flattering light on how flawlessness in dressage could be attained.
If the FEI thought the Dujardin case was a grim aberration, events have since proved otherwise. Max Kuehner, a medal contender for Austria in showjumping, is the subject of criminal proceedings in Germany for allegedly hitting his horse’s legs with a bar to make it jump higher. Carlos Parro, a Brazilian eventer, has been formally cautioned for potentially causing “unnecessary discomfort to a horse” through the use of hyperflexion, a banned practice where the horse’s neck is flexed to such an extreme that its tongue can turn blue.
The FEI investigation into Dujardin is likely to be painful and prolonged. The four-year gap between the incident happening and going public at least rules out the possibility of the RSPCA launching any criminal action against Dujardin. The Animal Welfare Act 2006 has a time limit stipulation that a magistrates’ court can only try information relating to an offence “before the end of the period of three years beginning with the date of the commission of the offence”.
But the broader prognosis for the sport looks bleak. Equestrianism is already in a fight for its Olympic existence, struggling to explain how dressage techniques dating back to the mid-16th century have any place in a spectacle desperate to appeal to a younger demographic. While an archaic image is one problem, suggestions of equine abuse threaten an existential crisis. Does dressage even deserve to survive in 2028 if it is shown to have a dark heart? It is one troubling question among many for the sport to contemplate after a truly shattering week.
A statement from the FEI to Telegraph Sport reiterated its commitment to improving horse welfare.
“For the first time ever, a Horse Welfare Coordinator has been appointed for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Dr. Richard Corde, President of the French League for the Protection of the Horse, is one of the most experienced equine veterinarians globally and serves as the French National Head Veterinarian. He will work in an advisory and supportive capacity, liaising directly with onsite FEI Officials to ensure that equine wellbeing is prioritised at all times.
“Additionally, there has been a significant shift in the conversation surrounding horse welfare at the Paris Olympic Games. We have communicated with the stewards, the Ground Jury, and the FEI to emphasise the importance of proper bridle fitting and adjustments. This message has been delivered by our team strongly, clearly, and in detail.
“We understand that words carry weight only when they are supported by meaningful action. We are fully aware of the importance of ensuring our commitments are not just rhetoric, but are followed by decisive and necessary action to support equine welfare.
“While we acknowledge that it may not always be possible to satisfy everyone, we are confident that the Action Plan provides us with a clear framework to make informed and thoughtful decisions and that equestrian will be part of the Olympic story for many more Olympics to come.”