With the new year well on its way and already four CDI's in the bag in the first two weeks of 2025, I want to do a quick throwback on 2024 and let you know which were the 10 most read articles of 2024.
Human interest stories and life tales always pique the most interest and unfortunately human and equine tragedy generates the most clicks. Five of our top 10 most read articles involve a person or horse passing away. We do spend much time on producing very detailed eulogies/obituaries which is probably also the reason of their "popularity
1) Elliot Patterson
Nothing was more tragic in the dressage world in 2024 than the sad passing of the talented Australian Grand Prix rider Elliot Patterson. The 32-year old succumbed to his injuries sustained in a fall of a horse. This news struck the heart of many and that article was ready 177,293 times. It also became our number 2 most read article of all time.
Australian Dressage Rider Elliot Patterson Passed Away at Age 32
2) Damon Hill
The second most read article of 2024 was the eulogy on Damon Hill. The liver chestnut stallion touched the heart of many dressage lovers and his passing brought back memories to his wonderful career.
Interestingly, after the publication of the article, we picked up the rumour that the stallion had already passed more than a year ago but it was never reported by the owner. We did not get confirmation of the actual day Damon Hill passed away.
3) Imhotep
Not Charlotte Dujardin's news of her suspension following a whipping video made it into the top three, but her horse Imhotep selling to Austria did. Now it has to be said that our server crashed when the news of the suspension came out (the only other time this happened was when Totilas died) so the statistics for that article are not accurate.
Either way it was Imhotep selling to Diana Porsche in Austria that was the third most read article of 2024.
Charlotte Dujardin's British Team Horse Imhotep Sold to Austria
4) Carina Cassoe Kruth
The concerns with animal welfare and how prevalent infringements are in high performance equestrian sport were without a doubt the hottest subject of 2024.
The article on Danish Olympian Carina Cassoe Kruth whipping her horse Heiline's Danciera in a training session with Andreas Helgstrand was the fourth most read article of 2024. It led to Kruth losing her spot on the Olympic team, just like Dujardin did not ride in Paris because of the video.
Controversial Video Forces Carina Cassoe Kruth to Withdraw from Olympic Team Contention
5) Marcela Krinke-Susmelj
In 2024 we also said goodbye to Swiss Grand Prix rider Marcela Krinke-Susmelj. In the late 2000s- early 2010s she was Switzerland's undisputed number one. She was forced to retire from sport after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer in 2019. Her eulogy was a top five article.
Swiss Olympian Marcela Krinke-Susmelj Passed Away
6) Du Soleil
Kristy Oatley's most successful dressage horse in her career, Du Soleil, passed away at age 20. The wonderful Hanoverian had a long sport career with successes in the young horse ring as well as at international Grand Prix level.
Kristy Oatley's Du Soleil Passed Away
7) Charlotte Dujardin
The controversial whipping video of Charlotte Dujardin not only led to a year suspension and her losing a spot on the British Olympic team in Paris, but it also caused a huge amount of reputational damage to the sport and has brought animal welfare in equestrian sport in the mainstream.
Our server crashed when we posted the article (meaning some people couldn't access the story straight away, while others could) but it still became the seventh most read article of 2024.
Dressage Icon Charlotte Dujardin Toppled by Horse Abuse Allegations
8) Ifar Tripletree
A story we did not expect to have such a traction was the freak accident Ifar Tripletree, the horse of Hungarian dressage rider Inez Benak. The horse spooked and ran into a wall, sustaining a life-ending injury.
This tragic news, which no rider ever wants to experience in his life, gained much traction on social media from know-it-alls who couldn't help themselves and sit on their moral "high horse", accusing the rider of abusing her horse and not recognizing stress signs. The online debate was disgusting and we ended up blocking the comment section.
Inez Benak Loses Ifar Tripletree in Freak accident at CDI Show
9) Olympic Scores
The Eurodressage score section is a very popular part of the website, probably because we present scores in a very fast, consistent and uniform way. Particularly with the Olympics it's sometimes hard to find the results on the official website, which is why they come to Eurodressage. The Olympic scores were the 9th most visited page of the website in 2024.
10) Dujardin on Repeat
As we wrote, the Dujardin news sent a shock wave through the horse world and the official press release posted by the FEI on the rider's provisional suspension was our 10th most read article of 2024.
FEI Announces Provisional Suspension of Dressage Athlete Charlotte Dujardin