Charlotte Dujardin's animal abuse further undermines the credibility of dressage – a sport in crisis.
Göran Åkerström, chief veterinarian at FEI, the international equestrian federation, reacted strongly to the images of the world star whipping a horse.
The first reaction is disappointment, he says.
The scandal surrounding Englishwoman Dujardin erupted earlier in the week. The world star brought out the long whip, abused a horse, and eventually got her comeuppance. A film clip showed how she delivered 24 whip lashes to the horse, ridden by a young rider during training, in just one minute.
The three-time Olympic champion has for a long time been one of dressage's dominants. With her soft riding, she has been an appreciated and admired role model.
"I am deeply ashamed and should have been a better role model at that moment," Dujardin wrote on social media.
"Took responsibility for everything"
She apologized for her behavior and defended herself by saying she made a "misjudgment" at the time.
In his role as chief veterinarian at FEI, Göran Åkerström is a key person in the Dujardin case.
We have a very robust process for evaluating evidence. In this case, it was a relatively long video. We had to work a bit to 100% confirm the identity. Once that was clear, there was no doubt that we needed to take action on a "horse abuse" case.
Before the response time expired, Charlotte Dujardin herself went out on social media and took responsibility for everything. An acknowledgment, of course, made it easier for us, so we didn't have to drag it through our tribunal, the sports arbitration court. She herself requested to be suspended during our investigation period.
Reforming the work
The Dujardin case will make FEI focus even more on horse welfare issues and ethics in the future.
We have presented an action plan with 37 points, including ethical training methods. The important thing is to get all riders, all trainers, everyone involved in this sport to act for better horse welfare.
Regarding the bits around "horse abuse", we strengthened the rules a few years ago so that they also apply outside of competition. There is also no statute of limitations, which means we can act on old cases.
Dujardin gets her punishment, she is provisionally suspended for six months, and her reputation is ruined. That another scandal in a row damages equestrian sports is something Göran Åkerström emphasizes.
All the scandals over the past year, of course, damage credibility. Partly, it's about ignorance, but sometimes it's worse than that. It can be greed for medals, but also about selling horses.
The Olympic dressage in Versailles begins on Tuesday. Swedish participants are Patrik Kittel, Therese Nilshagen, and Juliette Ramel.
