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.

Apparently the person who submitted the complaint has requested to remain anonymous and has sent in the evidence via their lawyer..... Apparently they "long hesitated" before making the complaint.

The fact that this relates to an incident from years ago and the complainant chose now to raise it, plus the request for anonymity - it all does reek a bit of malicious timing.

The statement from their lawyer who submitted the complaint talks about the welfare of horses and animal abuse - but the unidentified complainant was very happy to sit on the evidence for years while presumably more horses could have been at risk of mistreatment??

Charlotte is at fault here and if she's mistreated a horse then unfortunately she deserves whatever is coming her way. There's no excuse for hitting a horse, not ever.

But at the same time whoever submitted this complaint is clearly not concerned about "horse welfare". I don't know what's going on behind the scenes here but there's no way the timing of this isn't related to the Olympics.

You don't know what they've been doing in the meantime. It's entirely possible they've tried to raise concerns through more official channels, or through the rider's own stables, and it's all been swept under the carpet for the golden girl.

Or maybe not, but I can see why it needed to be done now, not when a few good words could have meant she'd still become Britain's most decorated Olympian

Well known by whom?

Other professional riders? Grooms? General dressage fans?

I think we should be careful what we say here before anything has been proven.

What you and some others are implying is very different to a single isolated incident of lack of judgment.

Yes, I agree with this.

Do you follow the sport OP? She’s definitely had at least 1 elimination due to blood caused by spurs

Have a little look on social media, at the very many videos of her riding her horses with foaming, bleeding mouths. One horse where he’s bleeding and her spurs are covered in blood. She released a statement about that saying it was an accidental slip and hadn’t happened before. Until someone took a close up pic of her horses and you can see the spurs scars all up their sides. More videos of her cruel riding methods and treatment of her horses are getting posted now that this video has come out. I’m actually glad it’s come out the way it has to give that horrible scumbag some karma. BTW she acted like she didn’t give a shit after the bloody spurs thing, so just imagine how badly this horse was beaten for her to react like this

Either of those could go home and beat their partner.

Admire people for the what you see of them, reserve judgement in areas you don’t see.

OP isn’t saying “I’m a big fan this can’t be true”, she’s saying she would be sad and disappointed if it’s true. That’s fair enough I think.

why did she lose the ride on freestyle?

This

This. There’s videos of it, some awful ones of compression injuries she has caused. I’m glad bad equestrians are getting exposed and people are getting educated about their poor treatment

It does unfortunately seem like rumours have been circling amongst senior dressage circles for awhile. All sort of vague she might not be what she seems type of things.

Rumours are the videos have come from a disgruntled client / trainee in Europe. Possibly someone Charlotte has dropped teaching.

So it both sounds like it could be something serious she has done and is rightfully being called out in it. - although the timing is a little suspect.
This could also be something very personal and someone is trying to discredit her.

Time will tell I guess.

Perhaps the person that has the video was a young person who hasn't been comfortable with what they saw, but weren't brave enough to come forward about it now. She was probably about to become the most highly decorated female British olympian or whatever, so maybe that's why they did it now, because they didn't want to watch the country fawning over her knowing what they know.

I wonder how much worse the video is than what goes on in private yards and riding schools every single day. The horse world is absolutely rife with abuse and cruelty, even the ones who think they're good horse owners are often thoughtlessly cruel. I don't believe you can train and produce a high level competition horse without some cruelty along the way, even if that "only" takes the form of insufficient turnout.

I do echo @Standupcitizen comment, the general standard of riding and welfare in this country is pretty poor

Yes I am a fan of the sport and used to participate at the very lowest local village show level.

I remember the Mount St John incident; wasn’t she eliminated post test?

But I also believed the personal statement that she issued afterwards that it was a genuine mistake and she had nicked him by accident. She seemed genuinely distraught about it.

Obviously this now looks a bit naive on my part but I still think that a horse doesn’t work consistently well for you if it’s in pain or afraid. Maybe that’s a naive pov too? 😥

If it's like the Jimmy Saville thing, obviously not really, but "everyone" knows and the individual is influential and protected by friends in high places, which I imagine could be the case for Charlotte, you can see why the video has been sat on until such time as it would be of interest to the press.

Horses will generally take the path of least resistance, and that does sometimes mean they will continue to work for a rider who is bullying or abusing them. Success doesn’t mean that the training is good or kind to the horse.

That said, it’s always shit to find out that someone you admired has feet of clay, so I’m sorry for the OP and her other fans.

Isn’t it strange that the only times she ever ‘accidentally’ causes injury to her horses are the times she’s caught? She’s like the lying men from the relationship boards on here, ‘oh I only text her the once, I promise, it was the one text that you caught me out on’ 🙄
Oh I never beat my horses, it was only a judgement of error, and only the once, and just happened to be caught on camera.
Oh I never stick my spurs in until it bleeds, it was a one off mistake because my spur slipped, and it just happened to be caught on camera. And my horses have puncture wound scar tissue up their sides.
Oh I never injure my horses through misuse of their tack, it just happened to be caught on camera that their mouths were bleeding and the circulation cut off to their tongues 🙄

Well known by everyone who has eyes who has watched her. I’d say the video evidence is proof. I’m not implying anything. She’s a blatant animal abuser and shouldn’t be allowed near a goldfish

she was on the news only last night
what timing,
disappointing

Emma Blundell took the MSJ horses away, and she lost the ride on Freestyle, not sure what was behind all that - is it related to unkind training?

The FEI have now provisionally suspended her for 6 months.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R0Gw655QA7k&pp=ygUWcmVpbmVyIGtsaW1rZSBkcmVzc2FnZQ%3D%3D

The last time there was real dressage

Thanks for all of the replies.

I am genuinely shocked by some of them. It seems to be clear that these sorts of rumours have been circling for a while.

If they are true then I think competition rules need tightening up massively and it is incriminating for the entire sport.

Thanks for your kind comment *FourLeggedBuckers * 🌷 I am indeed gutted.

I am still anxious to hear the outcome of the enquiry though.

Can we trust the FEI? Genuine question. This is just my personal opinion and I could be wrong but it seems to have a huge monopoly?

Exactly. This is what she does in front of a crowd and being recorded. Now imagine what happens when she thinks no one’s looking

cruel bitch