Warning: This article contains images and video which some readers may find distressing.
Charlotte Dujardin, the Team GB dressage star who was banned for a year after footage of her whipping a horse was released, will be able to return to the sport as her ban ends tomorrow (23 July).
She withdrew from the team due to head to the Paris Olympics just days before she was set to travel, saying the video showed her making a 'huge error of judgement'.
Advert
In the video, which was taken several years ago, Dujardin was shown whipping the legs of a horse while someone else rode it, prompting the dressage rider to apologise and say she was 'deeply ashamed'.
She was provisionally banned on 23 July last year, and an investigation into the footage found that she'd whipped the horse 'more than 24 times in one minute'.
In December, she was fined £8,881 and given a one year ban from competing backdated so the time she'd already been provisionally banned counted as part of it.
As such, her ban expires tomorrow and she will be able to return to dressage once again.
According to The Times 'Dujardin has every intention of picking up her career where she left off', though she has not yet decided which event she will attempt to make her comeback in.
Advert
They suggest she will choose a smaller event, but that even if she works her way back on a stage with less attention her actions will be closely watched by animal rights activists.
While the next dressage event is the European Dressage Championships, they report that Dujardin likely won't feature as the British Equestrian Federation has already picked a team without her in it.
There would technically be time to register her but it doesn't look on the cards.
Dujardin was banned after an anonymous complaint was made by a whistleblower, and their attorney explained why they'd initially been hesitant to say something but decided they had to.
Advert
The whistleblower's lawyer said: "It’s unacceptable that dressage sport should be accompanied by animal abuse.
“If top-level sport can only be performed in such a way that the welfare of the horse is compromised, then top-level sport should be abolished.
"Everyone who deals with horses has their own responsibility in this, and this also applies to bystanders who become aware of excesses.
“Equestrian sport must regulate itself and ensure that there can never be a discussion about horse welfare in sport again.
“This is a very important task for the jury members who have lost sight of the core value of dressage for far too long and have overvalued spastic movements of horses."
Topics: Sport, Charlotte Dujardin, Animals
Joe Harker