Charlotte Dujardin - too good to be true?

There is an old adage that if a thing appears too good to be true then it probably is. And so, it appears, was the phenomenon known as Charlotte Dujardin dressage superstar. Yes she could definitely rinse the marks out of any test she participated in and with her business buddy Carl Hester produced a string of seemingly willing equine partners for her to demonstrate her skills on.

"I think she's got it; by George she's got it!"
©Harveywetdog

 

But we now know, behind the façade of dancing horses, gold medals and world records lay an inconvenient truth - a streak of cruelty that manifested itself in a dodgy bit of video shot in a Gloucestershire arena that has shocked us all in its demonstration of a blatant disregard for animal welfare.

Of course there is another adage along the lines of you can’t make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Regular readers of this blog will know that in my mind I’ve likened Hester’s development of Dujardin to that of Professor Henry Higgins’ development of Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion. Of course, that narrative did not work out as the professor expected (as neither did its classical counterpart). So should we be surprised that life has reflected art with such a shocking turn of events. Not only has our statue come to life with a mind of its own but something appears to have gone wrong in the programming.

It was inevitable that I should follow the story of Charlotte's shaming with more than a passing interest; I have after all both rubbed shoulders and crossed swords with the woman. Charlotte wasn't necessarily a person you liked, but you did have to respect her talent. Here is a selection of my social media contributions across a variety of platforms in the past month.

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To answer another question I’ve just had to dig out the FEI Strategic Approach “A good life for horses” and was reminded that debate should be “well informed and balanced”. We’re not quite there at the moment.

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I know some people find it hard to accept the use of whips in training and in competition but they are currently allowed and this is not seen to be at odds with the FEI ethos of ensuring “A good life for horses”

If whipping wasn’t normal, horse riders wouldn’t carry whips. But there is a fine line between using a whip appropriately and abuse and the suggestion is that, for whatever reasons, in this case that line has been crossed.

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Of course British Dressage were not entirely without fault. They made her into this superstar that nobody dared doubt or question. They had a precocious talent and ultimately failed to protect her; we must learn from this and not let it happen again.

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Here’s the rub; if I had to use one word to describe Charlotte it would be control. In control of her image, ice cold in the arena, in control with the media. Control control control. But the Charlotte in the video appears totally out of control, and that’s what makes the situation so hard to comprehend.

And who gives a riding lesson in designer trainers and jeans - it’s all very strange.

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There are those that walk amongst us who believe even sitting on your horse is cruel and should be stopped, so ultimately we all have to decide which side of the fence we sit on. I believe we have to work within our existing ethical case for horse sport, we have to allow the authorities to undertake their investigation in the belief that they will do it fairly and we have to allow Charlotte chance to explain what she was trying to achieve (even if she appears to have failed so spectacularly). If we do that in an open and informed manner and are prepared to learn from the process then there is no reason why equestrian sport shouldn’t continue to be enjoyed by enthusiast and general public alike.

Oh, and we have to avoid the social media echo chamber trap.

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Alliance For Horse Welfare In Sport I agree, I don’t see a way back from here because her brand has been made so toxic by this one act. If it had been a questionable training method used in good faith you could say ok I was wrong and I see the errors of my ways but the unbridled disrespect for the horse shown in the video isn’t where equestrian sport is at in 2024 and can never be forgotten.

Of course where that leaves BD is another matter. There is no doubt CD was box office and must have pulled in hundreds of thousands of worldwide viewers to their shows. It really was a thrill to watch her ride. We have some good riders left, but nobody with that pull. We are in for some interesting times and I hope for your sakes that the horses don’t end up being the ultimate victims.

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People (referring to Julie Taylor) will be able to say “I told you so”, but some victories can feel pretty hollow.

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Well that’s for the investigation to decide isn’t it. But for me, as an admirer of CD’s ability in the dressage arena, there is a chilling callousness about the treatment of this horse that is impossible to come to terms with. Yes he might have gone home and eaten up and wondered what that was all about, but that doesn’t justify his treatment in any way.

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Cognitive dissonance is rife in the world of dressage and failure to accept that your hero is a villain is symptomatic of the condition.

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She was thrown under the bus to protect the dressage brand; Charlotte had many detractors who knew this day of reckoning would dawn and were probably happy to drive the bus.

The problem is even to the layman what Charlotte did looked very wrong so her sponsors and the sport in general had no choice. Sacrificial lamb, scapegoat and thrown under the bus make it sound like she was in some way innocent, whereas in reality she’s thrown herself under the bus.

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I have an infamous piece of video where Charlotte appears to jab her spurs into Mount St John Freestyle in the warm up. It caused quite a stir when I posted it in 2018 and I was thankfully contacted by Abby to remove it within hours of it appearing on Facebook. Of course it says something about my conditioning in the equestrian world that I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary with a professional rider working a horse up in this manner; it had been Freestyle’s reaction that I had liked. My apology to Charlotte  for posting the video was grovelling in the extreme. In the video Charlotte is being coached by her bag man Ian and Carl Hester is also observing while he is working in Delicato and both appear to be telling her to calm down.

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Things were quite different three years later at the end of 2021 when I informed BEF

My complaint is as follows: Further to going about my reasonable business at an affiliated equestrian competition I have been subjected to lying, harassment, bullying and intimidation, all as the result of an unspecified complaint by one competitor. While I cannot categorically say who this competitor was it is obviously a person with tremendous influence in the dressage world to cause the venue to act so unreasonably. The venue clearly acted as if they were under a lot of pressure. 

I do not want you to take any action (on my behalf)* as a result of my experience; what’s spoilt is spoiled. I did however feel it was important to provide my version of events as this may not be an isolated incident and it may be necessary for you to challenge any inappropriate behaviour now to avoid a more serious incident in the future.  

Unfortunately Charlotte had already let the cat out of the bag.

Footnote

* I added “on my behalf” in 2024 to explain exactly what I meant here as there is an apparent contradiction in the paragraph - the final part is clearly a call to action by BEF

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Harveywetdog/Author - David Robinson CEng FIET 

David spent approaching 50 years in Her Majesty's Electricity Supply Industry before retiring

He was part of the highly successful design team on the Sizewell B Nuclear Power Station Project before spending 25 years producing safety cases to keep our aging AGR fleet generating for the good of the nation

He is responsible for the Harveywetdog YouTube Channel which he maintains as an outlet for his creative talents

David is now in remission from blood cancer but refuses to be a victim

All views are now his own but might be influenced by the medication he's had to take