Dujardin verdict - FEI prove they are not “horse huggers”

At the beginning of December 2024 I kicked off a series of videos on YouTube in the hope that we’d get the outcome of the Charlotte Dujardin investigation before the end of the month and hey presto FEI delivered.

Time for a celebration?
©Harveywetdog

There will be some who believe that a one year ban and CHF 10000 fine is insufficient but I’m afraid you’re going to have to cry into your lager as the case is closed.

For my part I’m happy to hear Charlotte is talking positively about the future and I’m hoping we’ll see her back out competing next year. I’m only sorry that she’ll miss the Hartpury Festival of Dressage in 2025 as it’s likely to be my last.

The FEI findings go to some length to explain their decision which would tend to indicate they saw the offence as a mid-range case of horse abuse, mid-range in a scale of punishment which could have seen the Gloucestershire rider banned for life. One determining factor was that Dujardin was able to claim that this was an isolated incident and, with no with no evidence to the contrary, this was an argument the FEI was able to accept.

Abuse of Horse Scale of Punishment
FEI illustration

People ask if I think Charlotte is a good rider; I’m not an expert on horse riding, people see things in my videos I never saw, I can only judge what I see through the camera lens and say I never felt uncomfortable videoing Charlotte whereas I did with some other riders (and there were some I couldn’t bring myself to video at all). So in answer to the question I think her riding was very good, very effective, always in control and her results reflect that. But that was 5 to 10 years ago and being an effective rider then isn’t the same as being an ethical and empathetic rider today. Times change and dressage needs to change with them.

One cannot consider the Dujardin case without considering the state of competition Dressage as a whole and the steps that FEI are currently taking to make it fit for the 21st Century. If FEI can succeed, and I accept it is a big if, then the dressage world that Charlotte excelled in will no longer exist, but that doesn’t mean she can’t reinvent herself to excel in the new world of dressage. We all know she has the skill and the drive to do that, if she wants to, and in the grand British tradition of Profumo, Archer and Christie, we may see Dame Charlotte yet.

Regardless of the Dujardin case, the shape of dressage will change massively in the run up to LA2028. Charlotte’s case was not the catalyst for this change but I’m pleased that FEI did not make her the victim of the change by issuing an out of proportion ban simply to appease the “horse huggers”.

Dressage at LA2028 is still not a certainty. But if it does form part of the Games let’s hope a reformed Dujardin is there to set the record straight and show she is “simply the best”.