Charlotte Dujardin's fiancé breaks silence after six-time Olympic medalist was suspended in shame amid release of video footage which showed her whipping horse 'like an elephant in a circus'

Charlotte Dujardin's fiancé has broken his silence after the six-time equestrian medalist was forced to pull out of the Olympics yesterday when video footage emerged of her whipping a horse 'like an elephant in a circus'. 

The queen of Team GB's dressage team was sensationally banned from the sport just days before the Paris Olympics after being accused of whipping the animal on its legs more than 24 times.

Six-time medalist Dujardin was hoping to become Britain's most decorated female Olympian - currently tied with cyclist Laura Kenny - but was forced to pull out of the Games yesterday, as a former eventer said her career was 'in tatters'. 

It came after the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) was sent video footage on Monday allegedly showing Dujardin mistreating the horse at a UK training venue. Dujardin, 39, has been suspended pending investigation.

Now the Olympian's fiancé has spoken for the first time since the horrific clip was aired on Good Morning Britain earlier today and said the allegations had 'all come out of the blue'.

Speaking in front of the couple's home, Dean Wyatt Golding said: 'I can't say anything beyond Charlotte's statement.

'All we can do is wait and see what happens.'

Responding to questions about how the video might have been shared, Mr Golding added: 'No, we have no idea.

'Charlotte is obviously cooperating with the equestrian authorities for now.'

The couple have a one-year-old daughter, Isabella, who was due in Paris to watch her mother compete, with Ms Dujardin telling the Mail earlier this week: 'People say it's the end of your career to have kids but we are showing it isn't'.

She was back on horseback within six weeks of having Isabella, and said it would be 'very special riding in front of her in Paris'.

The footage shows Dujardin walking alongside the horse, which was being ridden by a 19-year-old girl, as she struck its legs with a whip.

Dutch lawyer Stephan Wensing, a lawyer for the whistleblower who shared the video, told GMB that his client had sponsored a lesson for the teen on the horse.

Mr Wensing claimed his client had seen the practice happen multiple times.

He said: 'My client used to be a sponsor, and she was in the UK, and she sponsored a lesson for Charlotte to a student. It was a young girl of 19 years old riding her horse, and she got a lesson from Charlotte Dujardin in the UK.

'Charlotte Dujardin was in the middle of the arena. She said to the student, 'your horse must lift up the legs more in the canter'.

'She took the long whip and she was beating the horse more than 24 times in one minute and really hard, really harsh, really tough.

'This is not just one incident. My client has visited Charlotte Dujardin's stable more times and she has seen it happen more times.'

Mr Wensing has previously compared the treatment to that of 'an elephant in a circus'. He said the incident took place in 2022 - but Dujardin claims her 'error of judgement' happened four years ago.

The athlete is understood to have struck the horse on the legs as she tried to teach the horse the 'piaffe' - the slow-motion trotting technique associated with dressage.

Those giving instructions on piaffe typically do so whilst tapping the horse very lightly - just enough to encourage it to raise its legs.

The alleged whistleblower had filmed the lesson but had been warned against making an official complaint due to Dujardin's previously sparkling reputation.

'In the video she takes the long whip and beats the horse more than 24 times; (this is) the biggest star in dressage,' Mr Wensing said last night.

'This is a black day for dressage as well as Charlotte Dujardin. But in their statement my client says that if dressage is to survive, they must stop doing this to horses.'

'It doesn't make any sense,' the lawyer added. 'It has no goal. It is unbelievable. At that time, my client was thinking this must be normal. She is an Olympic winner. Who am I to doubt?'

'My client asked around and was warned against speaking out in the UK. But last year my client saw others suspended in the UK and elsewhere.'

Alice Plunkett, a former eventer and current presenter on ITV Racing, said Dujardin's career lay in 'tatters' with the release of the video footage.

'It's not a video that makes anyone feel comfortable. It is not appropriate and it is not something that I have ever seen in terms of the years that I have been working with horses,' she said.

'It's not standard practice. She knows that and I just don't understand how she got into that situation because she is somebody who has made her life from horses because she manages them in a way that they work for her.

'Valegro [Dujardin's horse] would not have performed in the way he did for her if he was treating her like that. In that video she is training someone else's horse. She has made the wrong decision in how to solve a problem. It is not acceptable.

'We are heading into the Olympics with an extraordinary team and we want to celebrate the professionalism that got them there. The FEI do not stand for training methods like this.

'If anyone trains horses like this they would be pulled by the FEI. You cannot get away with that in the modern age. She has not got away with it. You will not get away with it. It is categorically a horse sport, the horse is front and centre.

'She will be hung, drawn and quartered. This will be her defining legacy. Her professional career is in tatters.'

In a bombshell statement the three-time gold medalist revealed she had made an 'error of judgement' during a coaching session that is said to have put an animal's welfare at risk.