Charlotte Dujardin whipping scandal jeopardizes dressage’s Olympic future

There is a North Star to the Olympics, an inalienable truth that guides this movement through uncertain times. Athletes measure their success in gold, silver and bronze, but the International Olympic Committee is a little more brutal about the real results.

Without sponsors and broadcasters, the Olympics would be nothing more than a fictional event, which is why the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) may soon be forced to make difficult decisions about the future of dressage.

The whistleblower lawyer who reported Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin to the FEI insists the incident is just the tip of the iceberg – and the sport simply cannot afford more negative headlines.

Dujardin is now suspended from all competition for a year, with the four-time Olympic champion admitting at the time that she was “deeply ashamed” of the video which saw her whipping a horse’s legs during training.

The footage showed her using a long whip at least 24 times in one minute during a lesson at her private stable in Gloucestershire.

Dujardin’s Games ended prematurely – she withdrew from the team hours before being handed an initial provisional six-month ban before the FEI completed its report. Its future beyond suspension and the road to LA28 remains uncertain.

Six Olympic medals have translated into significant financial success, with a range of organizations as official sponsors, including high-end equestrian brands Charles Owen and Le Mieux. For nine years, she worked as a global ambassador for animal welfare charity Brooke. These mentions seem extremely thin today.

The future of dressage at the Games is even more uncertain – and there is precedent for concern about the sport: the FEI is already on the watch list, with Olympic organizers very concerned about damage to their reputation, particularly in their attempt to persuade younger audiences to engage. The match is scheduled for LA28, but the venue is awaiting approval from the city of Los Angeles.

“What you have to understand is that what happened here with Dujardin is not an isolated incident in this sport,” Mr Wensing said. The Independent this summer. “This really is the tip of the iceberg and I don’t expect this story to be the last, more and more riders will be watching this with concern, I have no doubt.

“There is a culture of fear in dressage and that is why my client wishes to remain anonymous, but things need to change: this is not sport, it is simply animal cruelty.

“It is unacceptable that dressage as a sport is accompanied by animal abuse. How could we watch this person (Dujardin) win another Olympic gold medal and remain silent? If top sport can only be practiced in such a way that the welfare of the horse is compromised, then top sport must be abolished, it’s as simple as that. This is the question now facing the FEI and the International Olympic Committee.

Dujardin insisted that the video showed an isolated incident, an “error of judgment” that occurred several years ago. However, the damage she has done to her career and brand is incalculable and the impact on her sport is perhaps even greater. With his suspension now confirmed, the sport must rebuild itself at the start of a new Olympic cycle.

And perhaps it should come as no surprise, earlier this year, seven-time Olympic dressage champion Isabell Werth wrote to FEI President Ingmar de Vos and FEI General Secretary Sabrina Ibanez to expressing concerns about the future of the sport after a series of animal cruelty cases.

“Our sport is in grave danger,” she said. “The current scandals and bad reputation threaten its existence and could mean the end of dressage as an Olympic discipline.”

Equestrian circles can be notoriously nepotistic and top dressage horses can cost up to £200,000 – often making the sport the preserve of the rich and well-connected, a trend which Dujardin opposed. And with that amount of money comes enormous pressure to perform.

Last year, a Danish television channel broadcast a secret investigation carried out in the equestrian center of Andreas Helgstrand, a former Olympic bronze medalist in dressage. The horses showed bleeding from the mouth and sides after training sessions and the rider was banned until 2025.

Earlier this year, graphic videos were released by the stables of American dressage rider Cesar Parra. He was repeatedly shown whipping and even kicking his horses.

It’s been more than a decade since the FEI banned the controversial dressage training method known as Kur Rollwhich involves a rider pulling the horse’s mouth very low with the reins, so that the animal almost bites its chest.

However, some believe that this practice remains behind closed doors. Germany international Matthias Rath has been forced to deny using the Kur Roll on his horse Totilas during training four years ago, the horse died later that year.

Equestrianism has prominent supporters within the Olympic movement, including Anne, Princess Royal, European Champion and Team GB Eventing Olympian. But the sport is well aware of the pressure that could be exerted if the social scandals continue.

It’s not cheap to organize and every element of every sport at the Games is ruthlessly rated by the IOC, including media coverage and social media opinion.

Two years ago, two-time Olympic eventing champion Mark Todd was forced to apologize after a video posted to TikTok showed him repeatedly hitting a horse with a branch.

And in Tokyo, Germany’s modern pentathlon coach, Kim Raisner, was suspended from the Olympics after hitting a horse during the show jumping element of the competition.

This summer, IOC President Thomas Bach made clear his sentiment that the sport needs to put its house in order by not taking part in the modern pentathlon in Paris, having been replaced by a race of Ninja Warrior style obstacles.

The FEI could soon come under similar pressure and dressage, which generates far less commercial revenue than other equestrian disciplines, could pay the price. And Dujardin will ultimately share the responsibility.

A version of this story was originally published July 25