Charlotte Dujardin’s withdrawal for repeatedly whipping a horse has intensified pressure on her mentor Carl Hester, who must now rally his teammates as Britain aims to reclaim the Olympic team dressage title from 2012.
At 57, Hester will be the oldest British rider, competing in his seventh Games – a significant milestone as he was once the youngest rider at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Hester, who gave Dujardin her start in the sport as a groom in 2007, condemned her actions in a letter.
Dujardin, known as “The Girl on the Dancing Horse” due to her partnership with Hester’s horse Valegro, won double Olympic gold in 2012 and added another gold and silver in Rio four years later. However, Hester must now focus on boosting the morale of his remaining teammates ahead of next Tuesday’s competition.
He will team up with 2022 world champion Charlotte Fry, 28, part of the bronze-winning team in Tokyo in 2021, and Becky Moody, 44. The Paris Games venue, the grounds of the Chateau de Versailles, offers a stunning backdrop for the competition.
“Yes! I very much want to be the Sun King,” Hester jokingly told AFP before the Dujardin revelations. Hester’s achievements include a gold postbox on the island of Sark, where he was raised – an honor given to British gold medallists from the London 2012 Games.
Hester’s journey, which is the subject of the biopic “Stride,” reflects his rise from driving tourists in horse-drawn carriages on Sark to becoming one of the top riders and trainers in the dressage world. He operates from a picturesque stable in Gloucestershire, humorously called ‘Hestershire,’ where peacocks, boxer dogs, and horses coexist.
Despite his success, Hester is frustrated by the assumption that dressage is an elitist sport. He emphasizes his humble beginnings, stating, “My story, for instance, coming from a family that could not afford horses, showed there is another way of doing it. My family had no involvement or interest in horses. I do not know where my interest came from. My family are more surprised than I am where I ended up.”
Hester’s inspirational journey serves as a reminder that success in the sport is possible regardless of background, a message he hopes resonates with aspiring riders.