Warning: Contains footage that some viewers may find offensive.
The person who leaked the video of Olympic dressage medallist Charlotte Dujardin whipping a horse has explained why they did it.
The video, which shows Dujardin repeatedly whipping a horse 24 times around its legs, was released yesterday inciting uproar and leading to the withdrawal of the rider from the competition.
After her announcement she would not be competing in Paris, the 39-year-old was provisionally suspended by the FEI, equestrian’s governing body, which received the footage on Monday.
Now the person who handed in the footage has spoken to the BBC via her lawyer, Stephan Wensing.
Wensing relayed that his client had mixed feelings about the reaction since the news broke, but she believed it is a widespread issue in dressage.
He said: “It’s not fun to ruin a career. She’s not celebrating; she doesn’t feel like a hero.
“But she told me this morning this had to be done because she wants to save dressage.”
On Tuesday Dujardin had claimed that the video was from four years ago, however Wensing has said the video dates back just two and half years.
The Dutch lawyer explained that his client is a sponsor who was sponsoring a 19-year-old student to have a lesson with Dujardin when the video was filmed.
He said: “When she filmed this and was aware of this two and a half years ago, she was thinking everything this superstar, the best rider, is doing, must be OK. This must be the way to train horses and how to deal with it.
“Charlotte Dujardin was explaining during the lesson that she wanted the horse lifting the legs up more in canter.
Wensing explained that later on his client had began to think that the treatment was not acceptable despite speaking with several people in the profession who warned her not to fight it.
He said: “She was really afraid. There was a sort of fear culture and she was also thinking ‘when I do something, it will be victim-blaming’.”
The whistleblower claims they only came forward now with the video after seeing Danish dressage rider Carina Cassoe Kruth excluded from Denamrk’s Olympic team after a video of similar treatment was delivered to the Danish Riding Association.
Wensing explained that because of the Olympics his client was worried Dujardin would win medals if she did nothing.
He added: “On the other hand, people are thinking wrong that she could have done this during the Olympics, and that would destroy the whole British team.”
The backlash has been strong toward Dujardin with rumour circling she was in line for a damehood before the video’s emergence and could even be at risk of losing her CBE.
Earlier today UK Sport suspended its funding of the six-time Olympic medallist pending the outcome of the FEI’s investigation while she was also dropped as an ambassador for horse welfare charity Brooke.
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The charity expressed that it was “deeply disturbed” by the footage.
It said: “Our whole ethos is around kindness and compassion to horses, and to see the opposite of this from someone with such a high profile is beyond disappointing.
The dressage rider’s fiancé, Dean Wyatt-Golding, has spoken out about the video defending Dujardin.
He said: “I can’t say anything beyond Charlotte’s statement.
“All we can do is wait and see what happens.”
Wensing has claimed that this was not an isolated incident despite Dujardin’s claim that she had made an “error of judgement.”
He said: “‘This is not just one incident. My client has visited Charlotte Dujardin’s stable more times and she has seen it happen more times.”
Dujardin will await the conclusion of the FEI’s investigation to discover her fate.
The Paris 2024 Olympics open Friday 26 July.
