Agree. But there is a difference between “scared” and “terrified.” My horse got scared once because there was a new pile of mulch just outside the arena wall. But he wasn’t terrified by it and after some hesitation and a few “What is THAT?” snorts, he went to work. Another horse I rode lost his marbles when he saw a deer on a trail ride - he wasn’t merely scared, he was absolutely terrified to the point of whirling and bolting. Those are just a few examples and IME (50+ years dealing with horses), I can tell the difference between one that may be a bit worried, or anxious, or even scared, versus one that is TERRIFIED. A truly terrified horse is a frightening thing to be around or be on - they are often dangerous because they are acting purely on their instinct for self-preservation. The horse in this video wasn’t terrified - he was still responding, not trying to dump his rider or bolt, was going around in a circle, made the circle smaller when asked, etc. He for sure wasn’t enthusiastic about it and he was getting a bit miffed about the whip but he had not crossed the line into terror. If that had happened, his rider may have likely ended up in the hospital. And again, I am not excusing CDJ’s actions in this sad episode. I get it that everyone has a bad day, but trainers - esp. the ones at the top of our sport - should have much better self-control and they should also have more tools in their arsenal than trying to whip a horse into compliance.
There have been a couple of posters imply that it may be impossible to have a “successful international dressage horse” without abuse. Not the case. There are many FEI riders - most of whom you’ve never heard of, that are ethical and treat their horses well. It is possible to be a successful FEI rider without drilling and abusing your horse. Also worth noting that I don’t think you have to be ranked number 1 in the world to have a successful and competitive FEI dressage horse. Also consider the many classical dressage people who do not participate in international showing but certainly have horses PSG+, several at GP plus high school movements.
I think what is extremely detrimental to the system are the time constraints placed on horses. Certain expectations for horses to be a certain level by X age. It forces trainers to use band aids and to whip, spur and drill. It takes a tremendous amount of time to develop a horse to GP but most high ranked competitive riders are trying to establish GP by 8. The fact that WBs are slow to mature makes this even more difficult.
ETA: to those saying everyone has lost their cool - fair. However, this wasn’t a video of CD as an ammy or 20 years ago or when new to the sport, etc. It was 2.5 years ago after 6 Olympic medals, a lifetime of riding, with massive reach and influence and with the best tools and trainers at her fingertips. There is no excuse, she damn well knows better.
Maybe the person laughing was thinking, “Aha! Now we’ve got her on film beating a horse!”
I’m curious what the rest of the lesson looked like. Obviously this 2 minute clip was sh*t training where neither the horse nor the rider was learning a damn thing (except to fear lunge whips), but I do wonder what went on in the rest of the session.
Was it softer, better training and this was just a sh*t 2 minutes? Was the horse later rewarded for moving forward and a nice chat had with the rider about the importance of a giving hand? Or was it more spank and crank abuse?
I also wonder what the context was - did the young rider come to the lesson saying she needed help with being more forward and Charlotte taught her the very wrong way to do it? Or was Charlotte just pissed that the horse was being ‘lazy’ and slow behind and got frustrated at the rider and took it out on the horse the whole session?
So sad. And she is a mentee of Carl Hester. Unfortunately, this can’t reflect well on him either. Wonder what he’s making of all this?
Don’t they say: Abuse begins where skill ends?
Hard to accept she doesn’t have the tools in her tool box at this level 
While the use of the whip in this way as shown in the video in my view is inappropriate, the witch hunt on social media and the lack of understanding of both horses and humans seems to be rampant. Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time actually training young horses I guarantee has made mistakes. Mistakes in controlling their emotions, mistakes in reading the horse, mistakes in timing, mistakes in methods. It is a part of the evolution of good horsemanship. The best thing is to acknowledge the mistakes, change your approach and try to do better next time. These trainers become the ones we look up to, the ones who always seek the better way, who ask for resources and help, who are constantly trying to do better by the animals while acknowledging the potential for human error. This British rider will no longer represent her country in the Olympics and her sponsors are dropping her because of public outcry. But for every person who rides these animals who has not trained them yourself from scratch, beware. Your rush to judgement without standing in those training shoes could change horse sport forever. And while horse welfare is well-intended and always something we all should be very very mindful of, if riding horses and equestrian sport becomes a thing of the past we all would lose. To partner with these amazing, powerful fragile creatures is a gift, a responsibility and something we should not take lightly. But we need to realize that we ALL have the capacity to err, and we all need forgiveness. Horses are some of the most forgiving animals I know of. Perhaps in this instance we could learn one more thing from them. If we all put ourselves in her place and realized it could be any of us perhaps we could save the sport we all love–save it from being banned from the Olympics of the future and enable another young rider’s dream to come true one day. If we all don’t stop the screaming before we know it riding horses will come to an end. No one wants that. Every single one of us can do better in some way related to our animals, so instead of villainizing CD let’s try to do better, gently teach others to do better and develop a better understanding of horsemanship and training.
Thank you for this. I have spent many hours thinking about the ethics of horse riding, much less dressage (I still ride) - much less international level dressage. There are no easy answers, and I really dislike the sense from some of the posts here that there is a clear right and wrong - because taken far enough, the clear “right” might be not riding horses at all.
I am very happy to read such a balanced and thoughtful comment.
Thank you.
If you define “successful international dressage horse” as a horse that is happily showing/riding FEI tests, sure, I agree that it’s possible to ethically train horses to do these and do reasonably well. Based on what I’ve seen I quibble with the idea that it’s possible to do it without any drilling, but without abuse, absolutely!
I’m much less sure it’s possible to be competitive at the tippy-top (Olympics, for however long they last; World Cup; etc) with what is currently rewarded without, at a minimum, toeing the line of what is fair to the horse. And in a lot of cases wildly crossing it.
When folks like Patrik Kittel, and rides like some of the really awful Glamourdale and Everdale tests, consistently win with high marks…then we see that the people who were largely regarded as being gentler and more ethical, who put out tests that generally look better are pulling stunts like what we see in the video… well, I’m pretty tired of trying to defend it. I’m not sure it’s defensible anymore.
If she grew up seeing other trainers do this you’re basically saying Carl Hester does this too. He was her trainer.
I too am so disappointed in CD. There was a documentary about her on YouTube and she was so humble and grateful…I became a fan of her as a person, not just a rider after that. Now, I wonder how many horses everywhere are subject to this on a regular basis. My trainer is kind and empathetic and strictly French Classical. So of course she and everyone else in our barn doesn’t show and it’s a drama free environment. No pressure, just enjoying dancing with our horses.
With so much scrutiny, I wonder how many more Olympic games will include horse events. Just the cost of sending a rider, horse grooms, trainers, equipment must be much more expensive than most of the other sports.
I was really looking forward to watching her ride this time. How closely will Carl Hester be watched, or maybe someone will come forward and expose him as well.
I’m curious about the way the video is constructed.
It’s appearing online and being referred to as a “two-minute video” but it’s really one minute (more or less) of recording that is looped twice. Likely because that’s the run time the editor needed for the captions to make their point. Which makes sense as a produced piece of news, but also implies her obvious loss of her temper and her abusive actions lasted twice as long as recorded.
The sound editing strikes me as odd, too. My first impression on seeing it this morning was that it could have been doctored. As someone said above, the whip appears to be flailing around. Yet it constantly makes the snapping/cracking sound we all know how to produce when longeing with a long-lashed whip. Even when her arm motion doesn’t appear to be cracking the whip, it cracks. And when it touches the horse it also makes the same sound as when a longe whip cracks air. I admit I have never cracked a longe whip ON a horse’s flesh so I’m not saying for sure it won’t make that sound. But it seems off to me that it’s the same audible snap repeatedly when the whip is doing different things visually.
Those aspects of the video seem worthy of more analysis.
In my experience, I’ve met many trainers (not Olympians but locally successful trainers of various disciplines) that I do think love their horses and believe what they are saying… But I wonder if for some the ego just gets SO big that they don’t check themselves. Or that they think “I’m a very successful trainer, how dare this horse not do what I say.”
I trained with someone (not a dressage trainer) that waxed and waned about horse welfare a lot but over time the words didn’t always match the actions. Like she was extremely diligent about vet care, high quality feed, turnout. She preached about being fair to the horse.
But there was this very aggressive side to her. Once she was loading a horse to go be retired in another state. The mare was hesitant and I went over to help. I offered some treats to get the old mare on… Because this was to be her last trailer ride in her life. But she insisted that would be bad training and went wild with the whip instead. She did get on but I just thought it was so ridiculous. I don’t know if it was abuse but it sure seemed a little cruel. But I know she doesn’t think at all of herself that way…but her ego proved to be huge and detriment imo. She never held herself accountable for anything that I saw and I think as horse people we have to be humble!!
Exactly. The horse was being beaten for doing precisely what the rider was asking it to do. He was a good boy. That is why it is horrifyingly abusive. CD should know better. She should also be able to coach the kid to ride better.
It is shocking how results driven this sport has become. I believe that is because of how much money has influxed over the last 20 years. When the price tag for a competitive Jr/YR horse is in the in the mid six figures, the parents do expect results. The sponsors expect results. The horse dealer expects results. In this scenerio, the horses have no voice and shortcuts are devised and classical training is forgotten. If monster gaits were not so rewarded, there wouldn’t be bungees, tie downs and weighted bell boots. Blue tongues and blood wouldn’t be so common. I cannot imagine the pressure on the international riders, but fame has tempted them to go astray. CD has lost her sponsors. It will be interesting if she can make her way back. But clearly the sport is getting a wake up call about losing the horses and the principles of dressage at the bottom of their money sacks.
Yes. I’ve even had Hester come to my page in an attempt to scold and bully me for questioning LDR. He told me his methods and I asked him then how is it any different than what they do/use to get western pleasure horses heads down.
It was a poor choice on his part.
But for here I’ve been put down too. Until the Parra thing. Not so much after that.
Charlotte turned NOTHING around. Anky moved to reining. I think because she was getting hurt.
I think the personality and drive/obsession needed to reach the top in any sport is the dark side of our top equestrians. Other sports, the athlete punishes their own body and mind with their drive, in the worst case scenario. Our sport demands an animal reach the same heights. It is possible to train a horse to Grand Prix without the intense need to win competitions. The “athlete” vs the “artist”? Just my thoughts.
This is exactly what I’ve been mulling over this afternoon and exactly how I was feeling when Zach Brandt was carded this spring at Kentucky. So much competitive nature is required to get to this level of horse sports. You cannot let your competitive nature and emotions override your empathy for the horse and your commitment to being fair and respectful to the animal. If you’re in any other sport, you can be as competitive as you want and it will only be to your personal benefit. Not true in horse sports. There is another animal that has to show up every day and do their best. I think some horses like an audience and some racehorses definitely understand being in front or winning but horses by nature are not competitive in the sporting sense.
This is why so many, including myself, are questioning the validity of not having horse sport at all.
If the “best people” can’t do it without hurting horses then it should not be done.
