EXCLUSIVEDressage trainer who witnessed Charlotte Dujardin 'horse abuse' claims she was 'chased with a whip by medal-winning Olympian' and says top riders 'beat their horses up'

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  • Alicia Dickinson was reportedly present as Dujardin whipped horse in viral clip
  • In a now-deleted YouTube video she alleged she was ‘chased by an Olympian’ 
  • Follow Paris Olympics 2024 LIVE: French PM vows to ‘find and punish’ saboteurs behind devastating arson attack 

The dressage trainer who has denied being the whistleblower that triggered Charlotte Dujardin’s Olympics ban made a series of damning allegations about horse abuse from those at the top of the sport in a now-deleted YouTube clip.

Alicia Dickinson, identified by sources as one of those in the barn when devastating footage of Dujardin repeatedly whipping a horse around the legs ‘like an elephant in a circus’ was filmed, says she did not go to the authorities.

However, Mail Sport has seen a now-removed clip from Dickinson’s channel Your Riding Success in which she claims that her own dream of becoming an Olympic champion ‘stalled because I was not willing to do what the coaches wanted me to do’, claims she was ‘chased by a medal-winning Olympian with a whip’ and adds ‘top riders beat their horses up’.


Dickinson, originally from Australia but now living in London, is thought to have taken clients to Dujardin for training. After denying she was behind the leak, which saw Dujardin withdraw from the Games before being provisionally banned by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports, she claimed the pair’s business relationship ended after the lesson shown in the harrowing video which has stunned the sport.

‘I’ve seen so much stuff you can just not even comprehend,’ Dickinson tells her co-host Natasha Althoff in a clip thought to have been published around July 20 and then removed hours after the storm broke.

Alicia Dickinson is believed to have been one of those present during the viral clip of Olympic champion Charlotte Dickinson whipping a horse more than 24 times

The dressage trainer has claimed her career stalled after she wasn't willing 'to do what riders do to get there'

The dressage trainer has claimed her career stalled after she wasn’t willing ‘to do what riders do to get there’

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Dujardin has been suspended for six months after the video was sent to the International Federation for Equestrian Sports

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Dujardin has been suspended for six months after the video was sent to the International Federation for Equestrian Sports

‘The reason my career stalled – I’m not willing to do what top riders do to get there. I don’t want a medal enough to beat my horse up.’

‘If I look back at my riding there’d be moments I would be ashamed of. I followed my idols and forgot my own morals.’

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Dickinson, whose channel has 152,000 subscribers, called on her followers to help ‘clean up the sport’.

‘If we as little people take a stand and go: “We don’t want a medal that much, we’re not going to do it” then eventually the sport will clean up again. Anyone who is not a medal-winning Olympian… that does these things, you’ve got a chance to redeem yourself because everybody understands that you were only following the best. In this day and age, we know what’s wrong.’

Dickinson admitted to mistreating horses in her own career. ‘I must say there was a time when I also did it, I’ll be honest,’ she says. 

‘At the end of the day that was my goal (so) why wouldn’t I? They have achieved what I want to achieve. They’re telling me this is what I want to do – they’re telling me it’s not cruel, it’s not this, it’s not that, the horses look fine.’

She also claimed that those at the top are there because of how they treat the horses.

In a now-deleted clip from her channel, Dickinson claimed top riders 'beat their horses up'

In a now-deleted clip from her channel, Dickinson claimed top riders ‘beat their horses up’

‘It’s very hard to break through,’ Dickinson added. ‘Maybe they get 80 per cent (scores) because they do that. I don’t want to do that. Nor should anybody else. Maybe they get a bit of a higher score because they do do that and they break the horse’s spirit a bit but it’s not OK.’

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Revealed: Full horrific details of claims against British Olympic star Charlotte Dujardin

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Dickinson also called on other trainers to ‘be brave and make a choice not to’. ‘I have done it…there are moments I am not proud of. I guarantee moments where I was rude, very mean to students and not nice to horses because I was told to. Not only told to. Encouraged to.’

The footage, which Dujardin said was from four years ago, was handed to Dutch lawyer Stephan Wensing, who then made the complaint.

Dickinson took to Instagram to deny she was behind it. ‘She posted: ‘This week’s media revelations regarding Charlotte Dujardin have been difficult to process.

‘I would like to make it clear: I am not the whistleblower, I did not film the footage, any online speculation is unfounded. Our business relationship ended after the lesson in the video. I await the outcome of the FEI investigation and will not be commenting further at this moment.’

However, the YouTube star with more than 150,000 subscribers has denied leaking the now-viral clip, and revealed her business relationship with Dujardin ended after the lesson shown in the video

However, the YouTube star with more than 150,000 subscribers has denied leaking the now-viral clip, and revealed her business relationship with Dujardin ended after the lesson shown in the video

Dujardin, who needed one more medal to become Britain’s most successful female Olympian of all time, voluntarily withdrew from the Games before being suspended while an investigation was carried out.

The 39-year-old has since faced widespread criticism, has been dropped as an ambassador for a horse welfare charity and has lost sponsors.

Ms Dickinson is yet to respond to Mail Sport’s request for comment.