Three-time Olympic dressage gold medallist Charlotte Dujardin has been banned for one year and fined 10,000 Swiss Francs (£8,886) for “excessively” whipping a horse.
Video footage emerged in July of the 39-year-old repeatedly striking the horse with a long whip around its legs, just days before the start of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Dujardin’s international ban, handed out by the FEI – the world governing body of equestrian sports – is backdated to the start of her provisional suspension and she will be eligible to compete again from July 2025.
British Equestrian and British Dressage have also reciprocated the a suspension, preventing Dujardin from competing in national competition or training events during the same period.
Dujardin’s six Olympic medals comprising three gold, a silver and two bronze are the joint most of any British female Olympian, alongside former track cyclist Dame Laura Kenny’s five golds and a silver.
Dujardin was provisionally suspended on 23 July for “engaging in conduct contrary to the principles of horse welfare”, one day after the FEI received a video showing Dujardin excessively whipping a horse during a training session at a private stable.
The FEI said the footage of the training session did not constitute any other rule violations and added that there have not been any further complaints raised against Dujardin’s conduct since the video emerged.
“These significant sanctions send a clear message that anyone, regardless of their profile, who engages in conduct that compromises the welfare of the horse will face serious consequences,” FEI secretary general Sabrina Ibanez said.
“We believe this outcome reaffirms the FEI’s commitment to equine welfare and to its role as guardian of our equine partners.”
Ibanez added it was “regrettable” the case had put the sport in the news for “all the wrong reasons” leading up to the Paris Games but said the FEI had acted decisively by starting an investigation and imposing a provisional suspension on the video emerging.
Dujardin withdrew from the Paris 2024 Olympics, where she was due to represent Team GB, after admitting she was the person filmed.
The FEI initiated formal disciplinary proceedings based on three charges; abuse of a horse, conduct that brings the FEI and/or equestrian sport and the FEI into disrepute and breach of the FEI code of conduct on the welfare of a horse.
