Charlotte Dujardin's team-mate and mentor calls for the three-time Olympic gold medallist to be forgiven and insists she has 'paid very heavily' for her actions after 'whipping' scandal ruled her out of Paris Games

Carl Hester – team-mate and mentor to Charlotte Dujardin – has called for forgiveness after she was banned from the Olympics.

The 57-year-old said the video which showed the prolific medal winner whipping a horse around the legs 24 times, was ‘not her’ and added that she had ‘paid very heavily for this in a way you would not believe’.

Hester gave Dujardin, 39, a job at his yard in 2007 and has worked closely with her in a career that has seen her go one medal short of becoming the most successful female British Olympian of all time.

He co-signed a statement ‘universally condemning’ her actions after the video prompted her withdrawal from the Games, subsequent provisional six-month ban and investigation by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI). And at the Palace of Versailles he again repeated that what she was filmed doing was wrong.

‘The video was a huge shock to me, I didn’t know it was there and it’s not from my property,’ Hester said. ‘That video is fairly obvious and no one will support that. You can’t. But over 17 years of knowing Charlotte, I have not seen that. That is not her.’

Hester, appearing at his seventh Olympics, said he had not seen Dujardin since the scandal broke. However, he did ask for sympathy.

‘I know things are very, very difficult,’ he said. ‘Very difficult, but she's surrounded by people that try to help her. She obviously accepts what she did, which she had to do and I'm glad she's done that for her and everyone can see that. This is four years ago. 

‘People do make mistakes. What do we do? Never forgive people for all the things that have happened? It's going to be a long road for her and a lesson for everybody really in the horse world. We've got to put horses first and show that.’

Hester, himself a three-time medallist in dressage, looks well set to qualify for Sunday’s individual final. He said it had been a ‘difficult time’ for those who know Dujardin.

‘We have to show the positives of the sport,’ he added. ‘I have an open yard at home where everybody is welcome to come. I have daily training. I have students from all over the world. People come in my yard every day. 

‘I take pride in the fact that our yard shows horse welfare to be at its highest by the way I keep my horses and through the training. I know everyone's going to ask me about the video. The video was a huge shock to me. I didn't know it was there. That's not obviously from my property. 

‘But Charlotte's made her statement, and she's apologised and she's given thoughts on it, which I respect that she's done that. It's now an ongoing investigation with the FEI and I'm not going any further.’

Before departing, Hester repeated his plea for forgiveness. ‘I've known her for 17 years,’ he said. ‘She's a mum, she's got a small child. She's paid very heavily for this in a way that you wouldn't believe. She will have to accept what the FEI gives her, but I just hope that she's strong enough to be able to come back from that.’