Charlotte Dujardin and "The" Steward Meet Again at 2020 CDI-W Amsterdam

Dressage

Great Britain

Christopher Hector of The Horse Magazine was at the 2020 World Cup qualifier in Amsterdam last weekend and sat down with Charlotte Dujardin for an interview.

Dujardin talked about meeting "the" steward that eliminated her at the 2019 European Dressage Championships in Rotterdam last August, which also led to Great Britain losing a team medal.

The same steward officiated in Amsterdam.

“Yesterday was the first time I’ve seen her since Rotterdam, and she was just so happy to see me, and I gave her a hug, because she feels guilty for having to eliminate me, but the rules are the rules," Dujardin told Christopher Hector. "It was lovely. I appreciate all the stewards, they do a fantastic job and they are there for a reason and what had to happen, happened. It was nice that she was very friendly and supportive to me when I was eliminated. She knew how hard it was.”

In the Rotterdam Grand Prix Dujardin knicked some skin with a spur with rowel and drew blood. At the tack inspection this leads to automatic elimination. Dujardin issued an official statement after the class, as well as an emotional one on Facebook.

In her interview with Hector she looks back on the Europeans:

“There was nothing there after," Charlotte opined. "It was a shame, there was a slight mark and with the white tissue, there was a tiny spot of blood, and that’s that. It’s amazing when you read things online and you see how they can make pictures look as if you have done some real damage. There was absolutely nothing, after she was washed and dried, you wouldn’t have even known there was anything there. I rode her the next day and she was fine. She’s clipped now and I can ride her, it was just an absolute freak accident that happened. I can only put my hand up – it was there, the steward did her job and I had to take the consequences, and I did.”

Dujardin added that she will be competing Mount St. John Freestyle more this 2020 show season to give her mileage and ring experience. So far she placed second in Lyon and Amsterdam, behind Werth and Weihegold, and won the World Cup qualifier in London.

Her next show will be the 2020 CDI-W 's Hertogenbosch, followed by the World Cup Finals in Las Vegas.

Read the full interview here.