The video of Team GB equestrian star Charlotte Dujardin whipping a horse 24 times in a private coaching session has cost her a damehood, official sources have told the Guardian.
The 39-year-old was widely expected to be handed the honour if, as expected, she won another dressage medal in Paris. That would have her seven medals – equalling Jason Kenny’s record tally for a British Olympian. However Whitehall sources have confirmed that any such honour is now off the table.
Dujardin now finds her career in tatters after being kicked out of the Olympics and suspended for six months. To compound her problems, UK Sport have also suspended her lottery funding after the video of her hitting the horse became public.
In a statement, UK Sport said it was “disturbed by the serious concerns that have been raised in the past 24 hours regarding horse welfare and Charlotte Dujardin. We expect all staff and athletes in Olympic and Paralympic sport to adhere to the highest standards of behaviour, ethics and integrity.”
Dujardin has also been dropped as an ambassador for the horse welfare charity, Brooke, which said it had been “deeply disturbed” by the video of her repeatedly striking the horse while conducting a coaching session to a young rider at a private stables several years ago.
“Our whole ethos is around kindness and compassion to horses, and to see the opposite of this from someone with such a high profile is beyond disappointing,” she said. “There can never be a justification for mistreating animals.”
At this stage, however, it seems less likely that Dujardin will be stripped of her CBE. It is understood that the honours committee will await the findings of an International Federation for Equestrian Sports investigation before deciding whether to launch its own review.
However, one source pointed out that there was a very high bar to strip someone of such an honour – noting that even the former Post Office chief Paula Vennells had given her CBE back rather than having it taken off her.
Meanwhile the video footage has also led the animal rights group Peta to reiterate its calls for all equestrian events to be banned from the Olympic Games.
“The message to the IOC should be clear by now: remove equestrian events from the Olympic Games,” Peta’s US senior vice president, Kathy Guillermo said,
“Yet again, an Olympic rider has been caught on video abusing a horse to force the animal to behave in an entirely unnatural way, simply for her own glory.
“Horses don’t volunteer – they can only submit to violence and coercion,” she added. “It’s time for the Olympics to move into the modern era.”
Modern pentathlon has already decided to scrap the equestrian element of the sport at the 2028 LA Games after it was heavily criticised in Tokyo following an incident where a German coach punched a horse after it refused to jump the obstacles.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Dujardin admitted that there is “no excuse” for her behaviour and that she was “deeply ashamed” of the error of judgement.
“What happened was completely out of character and does not reflect how I train my horses or coach my pupils, however there is no excuse,” she added. “I am deeply ashamed and should have set a better example in that moment.
“I am sincerely sorry for my actions and devastated that I have let everyone down, including Team GB, fans and sponsors,” she added. “I will cooperate fully with the FEI, British Equestrian Federation and British Dressage, and will not be commenting further until the process is complete.”
The Dutch lawyer Stephan Wensing, who is representing the 19-year-old who filed the official complaint against Dujardin, said that he was pleased that the FEI had taken such a strong stand.
“Charlotte Dujardin was in the middle of the arena,” he said. “She said to the student ‘your horse must lift up the legs more in the canter’. She took the long whip and she was beating the horse more than 24 times in one minute. It was like an elephant in the circus.”
Meanwhile the World Horse Welfare chief executive, Roly Owers, admitted that the video had been a “massive wake-up call for anyone who thinks this is not important”.
“Respect for the horse must be at the heart of every equestrian, and every equestrian sport, and their actions must demonstrate that respect all of the time,” he added.
Mark England, Team GB’s chef de mission in Paris, said it was right that Dujardin had been forced to miss the Olympics. “We’re disappointed that an athlete of Charlotte’s calibre has withdrawn from the team, but we clearly acknowledge the seriousness of this matter, as has Charlotte through her own statement,” he said.
“It’s absolutely right that there is a full investigation by the FEI and we trust and abide by their processes when it comes to the important matter of horse welfare.”
