Video of Charlotte Dujardin whipping horse shown live on Good Morning Britain
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A video of Charlotte Dujardin using a whip on a horse was aired live on Good Morning Britain after the Team GB athlete was suspended ahead of the upcoming Paris Olympics.
Dujardin, who has won three Olympic gold medals, pulled out of the competitions on Monday because of a video. Following this, she has been temporarily banned by the FEI for six months, starting immediately.
The video displays the Olympian using a lengthy whip to hit the horse multiple times, while a rider with a hidden face is seated on the horse.
The video is short, but the lengthy whip is used multiple times, causing the horse to buck slightly and lift its hind legs, showing signs of discomfort.
Alice Plunkett, a former competitor in equestrian events who now works as a host on ITV Racing, expressed her discomfort with a video she recently viewed. In her years of experience working with horses, she has never seen such behavior and believes it is not a common practice in the industry.
It's not typical to train horses for high-level dressage that way, she knows that. I can't figure out how she ended up in that situation, since she has always been so dedicated to horses.
She has built her life around horses by the way she handles them and the way they cooperate with her. Valegro wouldn't have excelled in his performances if she didn't treat him well.
In the video, she is participating in structured training sessions with another person's horse. Unfortunately, she has made a mistake in her approach to resolving a problem, and the outcome is not acceptable.
Stephan Wensing, the attorney for the teenager who lodged the complaint, stated that the situation occurred while Dujardin was instructing the student to raise the horse's legs.
"The video was created slightly over two years ago," Wensing informed Good Morning Britain.
My client attended the training session and initially was not surprised because she was training with the top rider in the world, so she thought everything she did would be fine.
Wensing also claims, contrary to Dujardin's statement, that this is not an isolated incident. My client has collaborated with Dujardin on multiple occasions and has witnessed similar behavior before.
"My customer is telling me that this is a typical method for educating horses at the Dujardin's stables."
The FEI announced in a statement that Dujardin was very helpful in their investigation, confessing that she is the person in the video and recognizing that her behavior was not acceptable. As a result, she decided to pull out of the Olympics.
Dujardin was trying to become the British woman with the most medals at the Olympics in Paris this summer. She expressed feeling very sorry and said that what happened was very unusual for her. She also stated that it does not represent the way she takes care of her horses or teaches her students.
