On Tuesday afternoon, during the first day of Grand Prix qualifier competition for the team and individual finals, seven-time Olympian Carl Hester and Fame proved they had come to Paris to play.
The pair laid down a solid test, earning a 77.345% toward their team’s qualification. And though they just missed out on direct qualification for the Grand Prix Freestyle individual final by 0.419%—a perk that only goes to the top-two riders in each group of 10—Hester certainly laid down the gauntlet.
Then, in the mixed media zone following the competition, he walked into one.
Very quickly, questions about his performance and the British team’s medal prospects shifted to that now infamous video featuring Hester’s former groom/rider and six-time Olympic medalist, Charlotte Dujardin, who is currently suspended, pending an abuse investigation by the FEI.
It was a progression Hester had clearly anticipated.
“I know everyone is going to ask me in a minute 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,” he said, referring to the private stable where the video was filmed.
“But Charlotte’s made her statement, and she’s apologized, and she’s given her thoughts on it, which I respect that she’s done that. And it’s now an ongoing investigation with the FEI, and I’m not going to go any further with it.”
Despite an attempt to mitigate the floodgates by media representatives, Olympic reporters were quick to seize on the moment. Throughout his post-ride interview, Hester was pressed both on the state of horse welfare in dressage and his own feelings on the matter as Dujardin’s former employer and coach.
He stressed that it had been a difficult time for all of them, going on to explain that he values transparency in his own yard, where he offers daily training to students from all over the world—”I have an open yard…everybody is welcome to come.”
Hester added that videos like that were not commonplace in dressage in his experience, at least not in the U.K. But he acknowledged that recent calls for change by the Head of the International Dressage Riders Club, and one of the sport’s most venerated riders, Isabell Werth (GER), were not undue.
“She’s absolutely right, we all need to change,” he said. “But we’ve seen [amazing] sport in the last few days. You see it in the care that everyone’s giving. The grooms that work here [in Paris] are incredibly hard working in how they love and look after the horses. I hope [it] really starts to show how that works.”
Hester joked about his physical appearance with reporters, who asked him about the toll the media storm had taken on his stress and ability to sleep.
“I went down the center line [today] and I actually relaxed and I started to enjoy the ride, and thought, I’ve got to think about my team now. That’s what I’m here for,” he said.
“I’ve known [Charlotte] for 17 years. You know, she’s a mom; she’s got a small child. She’s paid very heavily for this… And I know she will have to accept what the FEI gives her, and she will. But I just hope that she’s strong enough to be able to come back from that.”
Hester noted that he had not seen Dujardin since the news broke of her FEI suspension, going on to indicate that this event was not just a cautionary tale for her, but for all of us.
“Right now, it’s going to be a long road for her, and a lesson, for everybody, really, in the horse world, that we’ve got to put the horses first.”