Double Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin handed year suspension from competition over horse whipping controversy
5 December 2024, 09:15 | Updated: 5 December 2024, 09:44
Double Olympic dressage champion Charlotte Dujardin has been suspended from competition for one year following a horse whipping controversy.
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The suspension means Dujardin is now banned from participating in all activities related to competition or events overseen by the Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) - equestrian competition's international governing body.
Both British Equestrian and British Dressage have implemented the same suspension, the FEI said in a statement on Thursday.
It follows the emergence of footage earlier this year which showed the rider appearing to 'repeatedly hitting a horse on the legs'.
The video caused widespread outrage among those in the industry and animal campaigners alike.
The three-time Olympic champion was formally accused of ‘beating a horse more than 24 times in one minute’, a lawyer claimed in July.
The controversy saw her withdraw from the Paris Games, with the announcement made on Thursday by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports.
As part of the sanctions, the dressage rider has also been fined 10,000 Swiss Francs (about £8,800).
She was officially suspended pending an investigation by the International Federation of Equestrians this evening.
At the time she claimed the move was "completely out of character" and "does not reflect how I train my horses or coach my pupils".
Read more: Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin ‘whipped horse 24 times like an elephant in the circus’, claims lawyer
In a video obtained by a Dutch lawyer Stephan Wensing, Ms Dujardin can allegedly be seen whipping the horse's legs during a slow-motion trot.“
My client used to be a sponsor, and she was in the UK, and she sponsored a lesson for Charlotte to a student,” he told The Telegraph.
“It was a young girl of 19 years old riding her horse, and she got a lesson from Charlotte Dujardin in the UK.
“Charlotte Dujardin was in the middle of the arena. 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 and really hard, really harsh, really tough.”
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