Is it true about Charlotte Dujardin withdrawing from the Olympics?

[Freakwave897]

Or is it fake news?

It’s so disappointing if true…

I am a huge fan and can’t quite believe what I am hearing.

As someone who took riding lessons but never had my own horse as a child, I was always very intimidated by the girls who had their own horses - it sort of bred a huge confidence, almost arrogance amongst some (not all of them).

Free of ALL rider weight, control, tack, arena environment, music and gaze of hundreds of humans. That’s where natural equine behaviour happens. Wild abandon versus deeply controlled precision-timed dancing for horses. There really is no justification, much like dolphins jumping through hoops in tiny pools is wholly unnatural too. Let’s be honest about it. Dressage is about human desires rather than animal instincts.

Disgusting this hasn’t been reported in a timely manner - IE/ straight away.

CD is known within the dressage world as not very nice. Not nice with people or horses.
Consistently overmarked too.
About time the whole sport had a proper shake up, she’s not the only one who abuses the animals in her care.

It’s not piaffe. He’s cantering. Piaffe is a trot movement.

I’m a competitive jumper, not dressage, but having watched it several times I’m also confused as to what she was trying to achieve. It looks like they are doing foundation work for a canter pirouette but when the rider slows him that much, he gets confused and swaps his hinds or gets sloppy with them. It seems like she loses her temper and starts walloping him whenever he slows down enough that he misplaces that inside hind.

I should also add that I started hearing things about her, her methods, and her treatment of her horses around the jumper circuit about 12 years ago, so as others have pointed out it’s only a “lapse in judgement” when she’s caught out.

Well the person filming (laughing) and the girl on the horse are presumably paying CDJ to train their horse/rider to a high level..she can’t be cheap as a trainer..? So what’s gone wrong that they now release this footage? Not successful perhaps, sour grapes? Who knows... Agreed, the whole thing looks very uncomfortable, horse and rider not enjoying that at all..trainer not enjoying it either by the looks of it..Sad all round.
More worrying will be the threats CDJ will now receive from animal rights activists, putting her and her young family in danger..I’ve seen appalling comments on other areas of social median..appalling. Whistleblower won’t have thought of that.

I don't think she wants him to canter. She is driving him forward but trying to get the rider to keep him in trot so he comes up. Basically, it's a shit and very confused attempt at piaffe. Do you know what though...who bloody knows? Could be anything.

It’s not what one would expect of a so called top trainer-

If one didn’t know who it was, it looks like a bunch of bullies at a local yard being nasty to someone’s horse who they don’t like.

This is some serious minimising

It’s not the whistleblower who should have thought of any of that, it’s CD. She is the animal abuser, she has to deal with the consequences. Obviously death threats etc are unacceptable but so is animal abuse.

I’m not remotely sorry about any grief CDJ will get professionally.
She has been getting away with this for years by the looks.
Animal rights activists aren’t monsters

They aren’t going to be interested in her children.

People are sick and tired of animal abuse.

That doesn’t make them interested in her kids.

Every equestrian posting about “sour grapes”, timing, spectators not speaking out, saying they’ve seen worse, or “but what about poor Charlotte’s mental health / young family / whatever” should be ashamed of themselves.

She deserves everything she’s getting - she’s accepted all the positive sides of fame and fortune that horses have brought her. She is responsible for her behaviour and nobody else. Let’s not deflect from that. If there’s any hope for horse sports - even at the lowest and least competitive levels - we need to acknowledge and stamp out this kind of abuse, not minimise it.

Is Princess Anne still president of the FEI?

I wonder how long before pros start to comment.

It really is just dreadful. I keep thinking about my own young horse’s journey and the complete kindness throughout her training (other than the one incident). How my own trainer would hop on if I was struggling or she was struggling, despite his lofty status in the horse world, and how he would be turning in his grave if such a thing existed.

I’m really struggling with the laughter.

Just watched the video on bbc news
if that’s the first time and only time she has ever done that then I am Spartacus !

doesn’t really matter now why it has taken 4 years not ideal I know

live by the sword and die by the sword, she was happy to take all the publicity and fame whist the sun is shining, not quite as keen now I suspect

I have just seen the video on twitter and it is absolutely grim. I think her medals should all be removed from her, and to be honest I am now thinking how many others are abusing their horses for dressage?

More worrying will be the threats CDJ will now receive from animal rights activists, putting her and her young family in danger..I’ve seen appalling comments on other areas of social median..appalling. Whistleblower won’t have thought of that.

She has no one to blame but herself.
I don’t have a shred of sympathy for her.
Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end of dressage.

Yes it was horrible to hear the laughter, was this funny to her?

You know what I think is even crueller than whipping, is forcing those poor horses to trot in those stupid tiny, stilted steps and go over about twenty jumps in a tight enclosed space with crowds of people watching.

And as if all those equestrian people don’t treat horses the exact way she did. They’re all at it. They literally break the horse’s mind and bend it to their will with the constant threat of physical punishment. That’s what you see when you watch dressage.

not since 1993

The laughter was hideous
Total “ Mean girl cackling”

I wondered whether it was the news article that finally prompted the whistleblower to come forward - maybe they were finally sickened by the thought that someone who had done this could become the most decorated female Olympian, and get such adulation for it.

Just seen the film footage on BBC. Disgraceful. I’m sure she is sorry, sorry that she has been exposed. That poor horse. No excuse.

I have been following the dresaage abuse thing for quite a few years and the rock seems to be finally rolling. I have no idea why the person came forward now but this might be intersting. https://inside.fei.org/system/files/Session%202_Equine%20Ethics%20and%20Wellbeing%20-%20Social%20License%20to%20operate.pdf

All the dressage bods/judges/riders on my fb page are strangely quiet for once

And the ones that were quick to comment before the video was made public have dirty deleted

😱, well that shows you how old I am. In my head she took over from her father, just googled it and I can see that she's still involved with the BOA.

I do think that's where a lot of it has gone wrong today (not all, but some of it) money, simply the amount of money and sponsorship meaning that these people need to continue producing those results because of the cash involved.

Can you imagine Princess Anne doing this? No, I can't. The horse world has changed, and it is poorer for it.

Someone doing what CD did would have been kicked off and banned from my trainer's yard, on the spot. No doubt about it.