Olympics-Equestrian-"That's not the Charlotte I know", Britain's Hester says of Dujardin video

VERSAILLES, France (Reuters) – Britain’s veteran dressage rider Carl Hester on Tuesday said the last few days at the Olympics had been difficult for the sport and himself after a video of British rider Charlotte Dujardin involved in horse abuse shocked a global audience.

Six-times Olympic medallist Dujardin was suspended last week after she was seen on tape whipping a horse’s legs multiple times during training. The FEI equestrian governing body has launched an investigation into the case.

“Difficult, that’s all I am going to say. It’s difficult,” Hester told reporters after his ride in the Paris Games’ first dressage exercise.

“I’ve known her for 17 years. She’s a mum. She’s got a small child. She’s paid very heavily for this in a way you just wouldn’t believe … I just hope that she’s strong enough to be able to come back from that,” Hester said.

Hester, 57 and currently in his seventh Olympics, played a major role in Dujardin’s career since he spotted the rider’s talent and offered her first coaching and a groom job in 2007.

Dujardin has said the footage shows her making an error of judgement that was out of character and did not reflect how she trained her horses or coached her pupils. Hester on Tuesday made clear he was unaware of the footage before it surfaced.

“That video is fairly obvious and nobody is going to support that. You can’t. But my personal opinion of Charlotte, in over 17 years, I have not seen that. That is not her that I know of.”

The scandal, which grabbed global headlines just days before the Games, renewed the debate about equestrian sports and their future as Olympic disciplines.

“We are all in shock and we all are making an effort now to show how much we love our horses,” Hester said.

Asked about comments to Reuters from Isabell Werth, another great of the sport, that dressage needed a culture change if it wanted to convince the world it has a legitimate place as an Olympics, Hester agreed.

“She’s absolutely right. We all know it needs to change… But as we’ve seen from the sport here, the last few days, we’ve seen amazing sport.”

No major incident of animal suffering was reported during the first three days of Olympic riding.

The FEI, however, sanctioned a Brazilian rider for having caused “unnecessary discomfort to the horse” during a training session, while an Italian rider was disqualified after his horse was found bleeding from the mouth.

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Ken Ferris)