Accountability to Our Horses – Paris 2024

It is Friday, July 26, 2024, the XXXIII Olympiad, Paris 2024, is beginning with pageantry. The events have been anticipated and Paris has worked tirelessly to put on a safe and successful Olympiad. Yet, disappointment hangs over the equestrian games. The news and video show Charlotte Dujardin’s suspension. This suspension resulted from abusive training tactics.

Approximately 10,500 athletes have worked, practiced, and competed their way to the pinnacle of their individual sports. Dujardin will not be joining them. Watching the video is devastating. I felt embarrassed to be a student of dressage. My disbelief turned to rage. Then it turned to disappointment, to sadness, and now to pragmatism.

The issue is much greater than an “error of judgement,” as stated by Dujardin. Should she be eliminated from Olympic competition? I believe so, based on what I have seen in that video. Should she be the martyr for equestrian sports? NO. Bad decisions plague equestrian sports. These decisions affect not only Dressage, but also horse racing. They impact jumpers, fox hunting, and Western disciplines. Pony Clubs are not exempt. Eventing and show hunters experience similar issues. Endurance competitions are troubled too. Even trail riding faces challenges. The victims are typically the horses but riders also suffer abuse. The idea of causing a horse to buck with a rider on its back is mind-bending. I wonder if Carl Hester knew the techniques employed to get a horse to move his feet?

The overarching issue is poor horsemanship and lack of compassion. I do not buy the sweet words uttered to the horse while a spur is buried in its side. Realize that equestrian disciplines are military / cavalry based. Horses won and lost wars. They were trained to carry worriers, supplies, and pull wagons and ammunition. Horses were utilitarian, they had to perform on command. We do not live in horse-driven days. Horses are supposed to be respected athletes. They should be team members with their riders. Who wants to be on a team with an abusive member? I have been involved in horse racing, jumpers, hunters, eventing, Pony Club, dressage (of sorts), fox hunting, and trail riding. I have witnessed hair-raising abuse of both horses and riders. I have seen gross absence of horsemanship. I have seen tiny 9-year-old girls have to carry 40 pound buckets of water and push 50 pound wheelbarrows across large expanses of areas for Pony Club activities.. How about having jumper rallies in 104 degree weather?  I saw horses sliding backwards down a muddy embankment into a creek on a cold December. The hunt master chose the route. He did this without regard for the safety of his followers or their horses. I have seen, in warm-up arenas, adult men intentionally cause their horse to misbehave near timid riders and/or horses. I have heard trainers yell at their students to “stick that spur in his side.” I observed fox hunters return to the trailers, leaving their horses who have carried them for hours tied to the trailers while they go off to party. I have been called a “stick-in-the-mud” for not joining their festivities because I insisted on cooling off my horse, giving her water and hay and removing studs from her shoes first. Can we talk about racing “two-year-old” babies who are not yet two?

My thought is that rather than martyr Dujardin, she should perform public service. She can teach horsemanship. She can become a role model for good horsemanship. She can help make commonsense horsemanship important. It would be a shame to simply heap ridicule and shame without benefitting our equestrian partners. I hope that the rider and horse who endured Dujardin’s error of judgement did not do so in vain.

Long ago I determined that there are horse-people and horse users. I am a horsewoman. My horses’ welfare is always my priority. I have shown vets, farriers, and trainers the gates of my farm who did not respect my values and/or my equine family. I have stood up to hunt masters and clinicians for the welfare of my horses. I refuse to sacrifice my horses or compromise my horsemanship for an award or ribbon. Finally, after decades of thinking that I am unskilled and untalented, I have realized that my priorities have consistently favored my horses. I choose to ride without spurs, draw reins, side reins, flash nosebands, and punishing bits. I choose to take small steps and develop my horses into willing, obedient team members even if a judge never writes, “nice team,” on a score sheet. Riding performance notwithstanding, if horsemanship is lacking, there is nothing but sad horses.

The Team GB boat just passed under a bridge of the Seine with a very notable absence. Heartbreaking on so many levels. Hoping that horsemanship ethics result from the recent events.