Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin whips horse 24 times in shocking video
Charlotte Dujardin, Britain’s three-time Olympic equestrian champion, has been shown repeatedly striking a horse on the back of the legs with a whip in distressing footage shared with Telegraph Sport. The leading dressage star, who could have become the country’s most decorated female Olympian, has been banned from the Paris Games over the video, in which her treatment of the horse has been likened to whipping an “elephant in the circus”.

Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin whips horse 24 times in shocking video
Charlotte Dujardin, Britain’s three-time Olympic equestrian champion, has been shown repeatedly striking a horse on the back of the legs with a whip in distressing footage shared with Telegraph Sport. The leading dressage star, who could have become the country’s most decorated female Olympian, has been banned from the Paris Games over the video, in which her treatment of the horse has been likened to whipping an “elephant in the circus”. Dujardin can be seen using the whip on several occasions against a horse she is training. The full video, which has been shared with The Telegraph by the whistleblower’s lawyer, is alleged to show Dujardin striking the animal 24 times.  Charlotte Dujardin, Britain’s three-time Olympic equestrian champion, has been shown repeatedly striking a horse on the back of the legs with a whip in distressing footage shared with Telegraph Sport.

The video, which also appears to capture Dujardin saying “This is so s--- at hitting them hard” in an apparent reference to the whip, reveals the six-time Olympic medalist aggressively striking a horse being ridden by another woman despite the horse growing increasingly uncomfortable.
The leading dressage star, who could have become the country’s most decorated female Olympian, has been banned from the Paris Games over the video, in which her treatment of the horse has been likened to whipping an “elephant in the circus”. Dujardin can be seen using the whip on several occasions against a horse she is training. The full video, which has been shared with The Telegraph by the whistleblower’s lawyer, is alleged to show Dujardin striking the animal 24 times.

Dujardin is understood to be teaching the horse the ‘piaffe’, the slow-motion trot technique dating back to the Renaissance. But those giving instruction in the piaffe typically do so by tapping the horse very lightly, just to encourage it to lift its legs.

Dujardin admitted she made an “error of judgment” during a coaching session involving a 19-year-old rider in Gloucestershire. The 39-year-old immediately stood down from Team GB before being provisionally suspended for six months by equestrian’s governing body, the FEI.

She said she was “deeply ashamed” on learning that the footage had been sent to authorities.