Charlotte Dujardin on how motherhood has changed her outlook as a competitor – ‘it’s really opened my eyes’

Charlotte Dujardin is back to her winning ways after giving birth to baby Isabella in March, and is campaigning for European Dressage Championships selection with her current top horse Imhotep (Pete).

They’ve already made a super start to the season, with Charlotte taking a double win at her comeback show, Windsor CDI4* – despite it not having been her original plan to return to competing quite so soon, just two weeks after getting back on board for the first time since the birth.

“I started riding, and Carl Hester said, ‘You should be doing Windsor’. I just said ‘Alright then’,” laughs Charlotte. “I was so excited to go to Windsor. Pete hadn’t competed since the worlds, and I hadn’t done anything since the nationals, so I just wanted to enjoy it.”

Pete isn’t the only horse Charlotte is excited about for this year. In the last two weeks she has already collected impressive wins at small tour and inter II with the talented mares, Alive And Kicking, Times Kismet and Hawtins San Floriana, and says, “I have so many nice horses right now it’s crazy!”

But, with her and partner Dean’s daughter now the number one in her life – “I just love spending time with her” – Charlotte’s priorities have shifted, and so has her perspective on the sport she loves so much.

“It isn’t about me anymore, it’s about us doing this together as a family, and I want to make Isabella proud,” says the double Olympic champion, adding that she has experienced a change in mindset since becoming a mother.

“You know, we stress so much about dressage it’s ridiculous, thinking about missing a flying change, or that my piaffe wasn’t good enough or my rhythm wasn’t good enough or my half-pass didn’t have quite enough bend,” she tells H&H.

“It’s an amazing sport, and what we do is incredible, but at the end of the day it’s a game. Dressage isn’t life or death. Now I have Isabella, I’m realising – this is real life. And it’s really opened my eyes; I feel so different, and I’m not going to worry or stress myself as much anymore.

“I feel so blessed because I have had the best of both worlds. I’ve competed up to the best of the best, and achieved the most fantastic things, but now I have the most amazing little person in my life, and I have Dean too. It’s a dream come true.”

To read our exclusive interview with Charlotte Dujardin in full, and hear more from her about baby Isabella and her upcoming horses, don’t miss this week’s issue of Horse & Hound, on sale 8 June.

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