Charlotte Dujardin's Masterclass: A Deep Dive into Dressage Excellence at Saddleworld Event

The recent Saddleworld Charlotte Dujardin Masterclass in Queensland was attended by over 2,200 dressage enthusiasts from all over Australia and New Zealand. Proudly presented by Equinesque, Charlotte’s masterclass was an overwhelming success, with everyone taking in all her wisdom and training advice. Leesa Murray from Equinesque sat down with Charlotte Dujardin to ask a few questions before the masterclass.

Welcome back to Australia, Charlotte. What do you enjoy about visiting? I love coming to Australia. I think for me it’s like home - the people are very similar here. I’ve always had a lovely experience - the venue, the organisation of the masterclass, the horse and rider combinations - it’s always been an absolute pleasure to be here, so I’m very delighted to be back again.

You have the gold medals, World Championships and World Records on your resumé. Quite simply, how have you done it? I don’t know, actually. For me, it’s always a very surreal moment to look back and see what I have achieved. I think through my past, I was always told I was never going to succeed because I never had the financial backing, but I was very, very determined. I’ve always been the kind of person who, if you tell me I can’t do something, I’ll make sure that I can, and I’ve just worked really hard. I’ve stuck it out and gone through the tough times to get to the good. I think believing in yourself as well is important. It’s not easy; it’s not always been in a straight line going up; I’ve had ups and downs, and I’ve learnt from the downs, and that’s made me a stronger, better person, and here I am.

Carl Hester has been a huge part of your success. What does your relationship look like now? Well, we always say we’re like a married couple without the extra bits. I’ve been with Carl now for 17 years, so we are very, very close in how we work together. We are absolute opposites, which is why I think we work so well. Carl’s a very laid-back person who needs pushing and motivating, and I’m the opposite; I’m quite motivated and very driven. He calms me down, and I motivate him, so we work really, really well together. As a team, what we have is really special because not only does he coach me, but I can also help him. If he’s struggling with something on a horse, I can get on his horse or vice versa; he can get on my horse. To have that partnership is so very special - he’s been fantastic throughout my whole career.

Describe the partnership you had with Valegro. Oh, there will never be another Valegro in my eyes. Everyone always tries to compare other horses to Valegro, but the bond that I had with that horse is very, very special. With every horse that I ride and train, there’s always a special bond. Every horse is different, but with Valegro, I think he was a horse who was just very unique. We always said that he’d read the dressage dictionary before his time, and having a horse like that who was so talented for my first international dressage horse – enabled me to become the rider I am today. I owe him so much. He really was a very, very special horse in the sense that you could put him in any environment - if I was nervous, he’d hold my hand; if he was nervous, I could hold his hand. When you have that bond and trust in a horse, it didn’t matter if I didn’t win, because that feeling is what you do it for. He would have gone through fire for me, so I think that is what it’s all about, having that relationship with your horses, and he was just a very unique horse.

How do you stop yourself from comparing each horse to Valegro? For me, it’s all about the fact that each horse is very different. Every horse has its own strengths and weaknesses, its own character and different personality. I knew Valegro was a very unique horse, and I think I have to understand that Valegro made it very easy, he just found everything very, very easy. Each horse is a new journey, a new chapter to the book, it’s not about looking back to compare them with Valegro; it’s about thinking that I’ve got a new chapter in my life, a new story, a new partnership to develop, and that’s what I do.

You’ve been quoted saying, “Getting to the top is one thing, but staying there is quite another. That’s the difficult bit.” Can you expand on that? Obviously, with Valegro, my career just became greater. Normally, in a competition career, you win, and then you don’t win, but with Valegro, I just kept winning, and the pressure became greater and greater. It became harder with the expectation that everyone would expect us to win. Staying at the top, that’s when it became difficult because I had so much expectation.

When I went to London in 2012, no one thought I was going to do what I did. As a team, we had high hopes to win gold; individually, I didn’t even think it was possible - I never thought for one minute that I was a contender to win gold. So I went and did it. Going to Rio, I had the pressure then, the expectation to obviously deliver, and that’s the hard thing mentally to try and hope it does go well. At the end of the day, a horse is a horse; you don’t know what’s going to happen, and I think that’s where Valegro was always very, very solid; he never wanted to let me down. I think that’s where having that consistency in that horse is what really made him so special.

What do you look for in a future dressage star? Most of it, a lot of it, is the character - the trainability. Obviously having a horse with a good walk and a good canter is important. The trot I don’t really worry about; that’s something I can always make. The character for me is very, very important.

What has been your biggest lightbulb moment as a trainer and rider? Everything. Everything that I’ve done has made me the person I am and the rider and trainer I am. Even when I’ve had the lows, one thing it’s taught me is not to see the lows as negative; to turn it around to be a positive. To think, what can I learn from that? Why did that happen? What can I do to stop that from happening next time? I think everything that’s happened to me through my career, through my competing, through my different horses means I’m always learning.

I have such a range of horses from young horses all the way through to Grand Prix, and having that variation means I’m always learning. I would never want to think that I know everything because I don’t. I’m always trying to pick up new things, always learning, seeing what other people do as well, and taking that onboard.

How do you balance publicity with training, riding and motherhood? Most media is at a show, so I know I have that to do. Sometimes, it is hard because you just want to see your friends and family and celebrate, but you’re taken away and interviewed and interviewed, and by the time you get to see your friends and family, you’re absolutely over it, because you’ve explained it so many times, and you’ve relived that moment so much that you’re just exhausted. But it’s part of what I do, and I know it’s something that I have to do. Obviously, now with Isabella, I try to take her with me, so she’s there in an interview or at a press conference, and I always want to have her involved in my life.

What was it like returning to the international stage after the birth of Isabella? To be honest, it wasn’t ever planned to be as quick as it was. I never planned it, as I didn’t know how I was going to be after having Isabella. Carl was trying to schedule shows, and I was like, “Carl, I don’t know how I’m going to cope; I don’t know how I’m going to be. If I have to have a c-section, I’m out for six weeks doing nothing; I can’t do anything.” So he was like, ‘we better make sure you don’t have that,’ and I ended up having a c-section, and then three months later, I was back competing at Windsor. It was crazy. I felt like a massive part of me changed from having Isabella. She is my everything - she made real life, real life. It hit home that as much as I love what I do, there’s always another day. If I don’t win or it doesn’t go well, it made me realise there is another day I can do it again; I don’t need to worry about it, and I don’t need to stress about it. It is what it is. Isabella is now my priority, and making her happy and being the best mum I can be are what are really, really important to me. I’m really driven, and my whole life was pretty much competing, riding, and training, whereas now I’m a mum, and that’s my priority. My training and my competing are still there, but if it doesn’t work out that day, then that’s how it is; I have other priorities in my life. It’s been amazing; it’s changed me as a person, I would say.

How do you enjoy progressing the young horses through the levels compared to the experienced horses? I don’t ever really take on a trained horse. For me, I love having them as young horses. That’s when you really get to know the horses and understand their personality and their character. You build that bond with them from having them as young horses. For me, that’s what it’s all about. I love that journey - sometimes it’s a bit of a hairy, scary journey, you know, when they’re young and they’re a little bit fresh and excited, but again, you learn so much about them. For me, it’s that journey that I like to create, training them from young horses to Grand Prix horses. I also love having horses that people look at as young horses and say, ‘Why are you riding that?’ and then five years later, they’re like, ‘That’s a nice horse,’ and you’re like, ‘Yep!’, I love doing that.

Who are your up-and-coming stars? I’ve got quite a few up-and-coming stars. I’ve got a horse called Times Kismet, who’s a very, very special horse. I’ve got a horse called Alive and Kicking, and she’s going to start her international Grand Prix career this year. I’ve got lots of young horses coming through; I’ve got one called Secret Agent who’s a five-year-old. I’ve got so many lovely horses coming through. I actually ride nine horses a day, I used to ride 11 before having Isabella. I’ve cut back on how many I ride and how much I do, so I have time for her. All nine horses are so different. You can’t look at one horse and think they’re the same; they’re all so different. I have mares, geldings, stallions; I’ve got it all.

How are things tracking for Paris? It’s now all planning and trying to be ahead of the game, trying to work out how many shows to do before, what are the good shows that I need to do to prepare for Paris. I just want to hopefully get there and enjoy every moment and have no regrets - that’s the biggest thing I always tell myself. At major competitions, I never want to come away with any regrets. I never want to come away thinking I wish I’d done that, or why didn’t I do that? To live the dream - it’s what you’ve worked so hard to do. Representing your country is always one of the proudest things you can ever do, so fingers crossed it will go well. We do have a very special team. We always have a team who always gets on. I think because Carl teaches the majority of the team, it’s always such a great feeling and everyone who knows Carl knows his character. He’s got the best sense of humour, so if anyone’s nervous, if anyone’s worried, he’s always there to make a joke, to make fun out of it, so we always have an absolute blast with him around. Hopefully, it won’t be his last Olympics, but we’re going to go out with a bang if it is.

What can Australian riders do to become more competitive internationally? I think it’s so hard for people over here because you don’t have as many trainers. You’ve got to bring people over, and obviously, it’s a very long way, as a lot of the top trainers and riders are in Europe. We always say that being in Europe is the best place to be because that’s where the best trainers, riders, horses and competitions are. The quality here has improved beyond belief; you see it from New Zealand and from here. The quality of horses and trainers is getting better all the time, so obviously, everyone’s working hard to improve, but it’s so hard, I think, to be so far away.

What is the one thing left to do on your bucket list? In my career? I genuinely feel that I achieved that in the three years that I had Valegro. Everything I achieved on him, I don’t think I can achieve much more. Obviously, for me, it’s always about creating more medallists. I’ve brought through many horses since Valegro, and to keep doing that is a huge achievement to me. Winning more gold medals, hopefully, one day becoming a Dame, and beating Laura Kenny to being the most successful British female athlete (I’m equal with her on medals at the moment) – maybe that, that would be great.