Charlotte Dujardin Sells Alive and Kicking to Australian Olympian

Dressage

Australia

Former Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin has sold her Grand Prix horse and potential British WEG team candidate Alive and Kicking to Australia.

Alive and Kicking is a 12-year old Westfalian mare by All at Once out of Fee (by Furst Piccolo x ). She is bred by Michael Schulte.

From Germany to Holland and Sweden

The black mare was discovered as a youngster by American Lauren Asher, who put the initial training on the horse. They competed once in Holland in the 2017 VSN Trophy Finals, a 3-year old talent scouting competition. The pair placed eighth. After that Dutch Lennart Bos had been training the black mare.

In the autumn of 2018 Asher sold the 4-year old mare to Swedish horse dealers Bjarke Laustsen and Patricia Florin in a swap deal for the then 5-year old Danish warmblood stallion Conde Nord (by Charmeur x Hohenstein)

Sold to Great Britain

One month after the swap British Charlotte Dujardin acquired Alive and Kicking. On 3 - 6 October 2018 Dujardin was in Sweden as the guest judge rider for the 4-year old division of the 2018 Swedish Warmblood Young Horse Championships in Flyinge. At the time rumours were rife that she had discovered a "Swedish" horse. In a 2022 interview with British Dressage, Dujardin stated that she bought the mare off a video.

The mare was first competed in the UK by assistant Sadie Smith and in 2020 Charlotte McDowall took over the ride for two years and extensively competed her nationally from medium to small tour level through 2022. The pair also debuted internationally in the Young riders division at the 2022 CDI Wellington Heckfield where they were fourth and second.

As of 2023 Dujardin was back onboard consistently and rode the mare in her first Inter II test in May 2023 at Somerford and in her first Grand Prix test at the home show in Hartpury in November 2023.

At the start of 2024 Dujardin sold a co-ownership share to Austrian investor Ulrike Bachinger and the horse was her Olympic hopeful for Paris alongside Imhotep. At their first CDI in front of a panel of international judges in Lier in February 2024 the pair immediately rode to a winning score of 75.043% in a field of no less than 41 starters. They won the Lier Special with 75.192%

From there they went to Hagen and Hickstead to cement their place on the British Olympic short list.

Come Back Horse

However in July 2024 she got suspended after a whipping video was disclosed and her Paris Olympic dream shattered. It brought global negative attention to horse and dressage sport which had a tremendous impact on the perception of equestrianism.

After her one-year suspension Dujardin returned to international competition with her student Ellie McCarthy's Brave Heart as well as with her own Alive and Kicking. She first competed Alive and Kicking again at the CDI Le Mans in October 2025 to a double win (74.739% - 75.128%) and rode the World Cup qualifiers in London and Amsterdam, finishing fifth and sixth in the Kur.

In March 2026 Dujardin registered herself back as sole owner of the horse with the FEI, dropping Bachinger from the ownership list (as well as Carl Hester's whose name was added in February 2024).

Dujardin accepted the "extra starting place" for the 2026 World Cup Finals in Fort Worth with Alive and Kicking, but then withdrew the horse without providing a reason.

Sold to Australian Rider

The reason has now become apparent: Alive and Kicking has been sold.

The new owner of the horse is the company of Australian Olympian Kristy Oatley, Bollmoor Partner Gmbh, as well as Kristy's mom Rosalind Oatley.