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.

This was my experience as a kid as well, which is one of the many reasons I won't watch horse races or competitions.

IF it was an ''acceptable'' use of the whip , {Not that I agree with belting horses} surely CDJ would not be withdrawing.

She would say ''I gave the horse a smack behind the girth for napping {or whatever} - but the video must be pretty damning for her to withdraw from the Olympics which is the pinnacle of competition.

But what do you think would have happened if they’d reported it sooner? There may have been a bit of an investigation, and when it was found that the horse was fed, watered, sheltered and with no serious injuries, the case would have been closed with no one the wiser to her actions. As it is all that’s happened to her now is a temporary ban of competition for a few months, she’s not going to have her horses taken away, or be banned from training them. This was obviously released very strategically, whether or not they had the horses welfare in mind, you can’t deny it’s exposed her in the best possible way

You’ve almost certainly misunderstood my post, which was about the delay in the submission of the video to the FEI, not about the rider in question’s conduct.

Edit: or maybe it was a misquote?!

I've heard online that NDA's for students at competition Yards are quite common. {Not sure if that's USA though, or here}

There is masses of cruelty on the ''Walking horse'' world with 'soring', and of course rollkur and hyper-flexed necks and 'blue tongue' in dressage.

The videos of Reiner look so much more harmonious (the purpose of dressage I thought?) Than the modern stuff

I admit I don't watch dressage as it bores the he'll out of me but is it turning into a just because we can doesn't mean we should?

The horse RK is on looks almost normal, now we have these absolutely massive hugely powerful beasts with these absolutely massive necks that are so highly strung, is it to a point where they are such ticking time bombs it takes force to make them trainable. And how right is that just to get better movement? Plus RK there was no spidery legs. I'd rather watch a harmonious test in a snaffle, than ott movement that you can tell is tightly contained

It's not just dressage, we have sj where the horses have tonnes of clobber on their faces, massive bits and then senses dulled with the cheekpiece blinkers and ear covers

An f1 car is extremely difficult to drive, but it doesn't matter if force is needed it's a car

I’ve owned horses literallly all my life and groomed at the very top level of a horse sport, as mentioned up thread I think the welfare of the horses at the top is questionable. Yes they have stables nicer than a hotel, the vet gets called if they clear their throats, but they are often really deprived of being allowed to be a horse which I saw first hand leading to very stressed, unhappy horses, and I think most normal horse owners/riders would be really shocked at what goes on in professional yards, I’m not saying they are leathered day in day out but there is a use of force and “firm handedness” that I don’t think would sit right with a lot of people. Including riders who don’t exactly see themselves as hippy dippy/barefoot/track livery types

Dressage I think has really gone downhill since Totalis, and it’s all about hugely expressive movement at the expense of literally everything else. I think now it’s completely broken from the inside and top down and needs a complete change to get it sorted

To add I think if the only way we can get horses to perform at that level is by depriving them of their time to be a horse and use that force and firm handedness then perhaps there needs to be a reconsideration of what horse sports are trying to achieve

In fairness, I did think about this after my original post (much further up the thread).

And actually it is a valid point. The suspension now will get much more attention that if it had happened a couple of years ago. And that may mean the FEI is forced to take a more stringent view.

If I'm being generous, I could believe that is the reason why nothing has been done until now.

If I'm being cynical, I could believe that it's more geared towards stopping Charlotte competing.

The only counter-point I would make is that if this was an ongoing problem, not making a complaint sooner has left Charlotte free to mistreat horses for a lot longer. (Again, just to be clear, I'm not blaming the anonymous person for the abuse - that's all on Charlotte. Just that they had the evidence to try and stop her and chose not to...)

I don't actually know the criteria that FEI look at when considering a complaint - how seriously would they take video footage showing a horse being mistreated? What are their usual sanctions if they identify a clear problem? PP mention visible scarring on horses - surely an investigator would spot that and realise it's clearly a bigger problem than an isolated incident? I only watch the big equestrian events so I'm not as well-versed as some of the PP on this thread. I'd be genuinely interested to know what the FEI's track record is with complaints like this.

Exactly this.

Unless as @FourLeggedBuckers suggested, the person might have been subjected to an NDA?

If I witnessed cruelty to a vulnerable animal or person who hadn't agency to protect themselves , I'd report it at once, not wait several years for the reasons you state.

So what if there is malice in the timing. She has clearly done something wrong which she has admitted to.

Why are you sticking up for her? Do you agree with her behaviour?

Well I’m sure we will see the video soon enough. From her admission though I’m guessing it’s not going to be pleasant

Exactly. Irrespective of the timing, Charlotte has admitted the video was her and that it was unacceptable and she deserves the consequences.

It's grotesque if this turns into a criticism of the person who disclosed rather than of Charlotte.

It doesn't reflect well on people if that's what they focus on. There are all sorts of reasons why someone might take some time, not least it looks like this person wanted to (quite understandably) find a way to do this anonymously and that in itself may have taken time to get advice on

What has pissed me off is that she has tried to minimise it by calling it ‘an error of judgement’. Abusing an animal is not an error of judgment. Own up to your shit behaviour.

This will not be the first horse she whipped, nor will it have been the last. It’s just the only one she was caught whipping.

I wonder if this client / video coming into the public domain will give raise to a lot of further allegations from others . I don't think this is a one off tbh . I hope if she's found guilty she finds a new career because no-one wants to be associated with an abuser no matter how talented they are

Within equestrian circles, how common is this? I recall a video from a few years back of a woman smacking her horse - she was a primary school teacher I believe.

I used to ride horses but hated the use of the crop full stop and would never carry one. I do wonder, especially within hunting crowds, if a lot more of this goes on that we know.

I wonder if there will be similar videos of Carl hester to come out. He trained her and they share horses and a stable.

The horse world is riddled with it. Right from your basic riding school to the very top and everything in between. Hunting is incredibly cruel.

Natural horsemanship and reward based trained is still sneered at by the majority of horse people.

Was going to say that she and Carl Hester are very interwined. I live very close by and her home is a few miles from the yard - which is stunning and the horses would appear to live in utter luxury. It's made me feel a bit queasy thinking of this going on there, tbh. She's revered in the local town.... or was.

That awful school teacher completely lost her rag with her horse.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-59728476

That’s terrible to hear, how can you do that to a horse? I mean, I don’t know how you could do it to any animal, but a horse is such an intelligent and loving animal, that’s awful to think of it being rife.

Oh god, I forgot how awful it was. And the horse had stopped too.

Hope she no longer has access to horses.

@AvacadoBathroomSuite I asked a horsey friend what she thought of it and the answer was 'well we all do it sometimes'

I saw that kind of thing in the 80s but v much only on some yards not others usually the posh ones

That’s shocking, and so sad. How can they not keep their temper?! I guess if you see it a lot and are taught it’s the right way to treat a horse you think it’s normal. Hopefully with more stuff like this coming out people will begin to realise it’s wrong. Animals respond so much better to positive reinforcement than negative.

@powershowerforanhour, been there, seen that.

I no longer ride but am old enough to have been taught for a decade by someone who was a pupil of Oliveria.

I’m glad I’m no longer involved, I do believe that there are still some good people in the competitive horse world.

Very disappointing.