“All you can do is to do your best.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I have come from a background where I haven’t had lots of money to put me on the map. I’ve had to work very hard for what I’ve got.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“Every horse I get on I can adapt to. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I have walked into several pubs, and guys in there have said to me, ‘My God, you are the girl off the dancing horse.’ They have got no idea about dressage, and they said, ‘I can’t work out whether you make the horse do that or the horse does it itself – we just couldn’t tell – but it brought tears to our eyes.’”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“It is very rare that he makes a mistake, and I feel just privileged to have done what I have with him. There will never be another Valegro.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I’m quite happy with the way my life is.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“People recognise me now. I’ve got so much fan mail.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“People tell me I’m their idol and a huge inspiration – that’s really surreal.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I literally worked from the bottom up to where I am now.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I literally got a private invite for lunch with the Queen. There was just 10 of us. And I was absolutely petrified because you can’t take anyone with you, and no other sportspeople were there. There was the head of the military, and then the Queen sat next to me.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“My mum used to ride, and when she was mucking out, I always wanted to sit on a horse. And if she took me off, I’d scream my head off.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“So many horses get stage fright when they enter the arena, and that’s it – the performance is over.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“The sport is about finding the horses. But to find another Valegro is impossible.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I don’t ever want to be famous. I never want to live that life. I genuinely hate the fact that I would be stopped for a picture or an autograph all the time.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I want to get up and ride my horses, do what I love doing. I don’t want to be recognised.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I got asked to do loads of TV series, all sorts of things that weren’t me.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“It is probably like an artist. They see in their head what they want to draw, and they draw it. It is like I have a feeling inside me that I want to create on a horse, and that is what I do.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“The fan mail I get every day is incredible. It piles through the door from not just Britain but everywhere. It is so great to have that support behind me – everyone says I am an inspiration. It is great.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“It isn’t called dressage any more – it is called ‘dancing horses.’”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I turned the Gloucester Christmas lights on and our local Newent lights on, so everyone recognises me now. It is a completely different life for me.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I was frightened. I hadn’t really had any experience, and then all of a sudden I was thrown straight into doing interviews. Most people have build-up. I had none.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“When you’re doing well and you’re successful, part of being successful is that you get interviewed. But it ruins the moment.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I get called ‘the girl off the dancing horse.’ I just laugh; I think it’s really funny. It’s true, isn’t it? It’s great we’re getting that recognition.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I started as a working pupil in a yard, mucking out and doing all the duties… and I just never gave up on my dream.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I think I thrive under pressure.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“It’s going to be a rule, I think, for wearing a crash hat, and I actually fractured my skull through not wearing a hat. I was so lucky to escape from that, and now, it’s something I always do.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“London was my first Olympics. It was my dream to get there, and I literally had the time of my life.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“This will be Valegro’s retirement after Rio, so I want to go out there and want to enjoy every last minute.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I’m really, really excited heading towards Rio.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“Riding Valegro always makes you smile, so I enjoy it.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“Winning HOYS set me up for the future and prepared me for riding in front of lots of people, but the real highlight was the London 2012 Olympics. Being able to go out in front of thousands of people, on your home ground, representing your country and winning gold medals is something I’ll never be able to beat.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“For most athletes, there’s a focus on your own fitness, but I have to rely on my horse, too. I’ve been very lucky so far, and it hasn’t presented a problem, but you can never count on a competition going as planned until you’re there and actually doing it.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“We all get so excited about the big events, but when there’s an animal involved, it’s ten times harder.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I think we’re actually the only sport that has a mix of men and women competing together. The majority of other sports are separated by gender.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I’ve done more than I ever dreamed of.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I’ve had so many letters from people saying I’ve inspired them to take up riding, and that’s an amazing feeling.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“Getting to the top is one thing, but staying there is quite another. That’s the difficult bit.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“If I never competed again, it wouldn’t bother me. I don’t care.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“It’s insane to have won all those things – not possible. But what I love is learning, which never stops and is nothing to do with the medals you’ve won.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I love having horses from a young age and seeing how far they can go.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“That’s why success hasn’t changed me: because I don’t want to be famous or do TV or be a model or be recognised in a shop. I’m not interested. There’s nothing worse.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“When I used to say I did dressage, I got blank looks. No one had a clue what I was on about.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“You can’t do the same thing every day with the horse. Because they then know the thing inside out, and they’re leading you, not the other way round. You don’t want them to take over. You have to be able to ride the movements and set the movements up; you don’t want them starting before you are ready.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“For me, I wouldn’t mind if I never did another Olympics; nothing can beat London. The setting, the support, the military people. From start to finish, it was such fun. I had the most amazing time.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“My first ambition was to be a show jumper. I did a bit of dressage as part of it, and the dressage trainer saw me and said, ‘Why are you wasting your time with the other stuff? You should be concentrating on this.’”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“Every competition I do, I never know if it’s the last one.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“As much as you may be sitting in the top five or the top 10, sometimes you just don’t get that chance to get to the top.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I think it’s really strange for somebody that’s probably never been in the public eye. All of a sudden I was ‘big time’ – boom, it all just happened.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“Valegro just loves his job. I don’t have to force him to do anything, I just sit there and steer, and off I go. There’s no sweating, no pushing, no pulling. He knows his job, and it’s just fantastic.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I never set goals.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I’ve had dreams – there were three things I wanted to do during my career. I did them during my first year of Grand Prix.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“Moms being moms, they’re very supportive, and they’re always talking very highly of you.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“It’s been an absolute rollercoaster. The things I’ve done, I didn’t even dream of doing or achieving.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I love producing horses, and we have some great young horses at home. We’ll look forward and train those and start again.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“You need to believe in yourself.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“At an event in Germany, I realised the organisers had ‘The Great Escape’ playing as background music to my test, and I just thought, ‘It’s really cool. I want that.’ It is fantastic to ride to.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“My parents don’t have a lot of money, and it was only when my mum’s mum died that we could buy Fernandez, my first grand prix horse.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“It’s tough, but I have to remember that this is my passion and what I love, and that’s how I keep the nerves from kicking in.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“It’s always nice for the judges and the audiences to have something a bit different so they don’t always see and hear the same thing.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I’ve been riding Valegro since he was four or five years old.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“London 2012 was just fantastic.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“My ultimate dream was to get to the Olympics. I never thought I would come away with two gold medals.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I remember some people after the Olympics that had no idea about horses would ask, ‘Do you do that with the horse, or does the horse do it by itself?’ I think the fact that you can make it look like you are doing nothing is a real talent. And it is such a massive reward at the end of it.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“My family didn’t have lots of money or anything.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I literally did it through hard work and dedication. People out there who think you have to have loads of money to do this sport… it just shows you.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I never think of who’s in the competition. I never let myself get in that frame of mind, worrying about who I’m against.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I’m really lucky that I can control my nerves; it doesn’t seem to get to me.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I can’t help but smile when I ride Valegro; I think something, and he does it. I laugh, and I think, ‘God, how does he know? I didn’t even ask. I just thought it.’”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I owe my mum Jane a lot, as she’s supported me all the way, so I’m very lucky.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“It’s going to be hard to ever have a horse to replace Valegro. He is a professor. I think he read the dressage book and learnt it all before he ever did it.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“There is Rio in 2016, but it won’t be the same as going to London and hearing 24,000 people – nearly all British – cheering, stamping their feet, and screaming your name.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“I can honestly say I had the time of my life in London. I don’t regret one part of it, and I have never wanted the moment to end.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
“To be one of the first British females to get three gold medals, to join Laura Trott in doing that, is a huge privilege.”
― Charlotte Dujardin
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