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
This will be Valegro’s retirement after Rio, so I want to go out there and want to enjoy every last minute. – 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
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 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
The sport is about finding the horses. But to find another Valegro is impossible. – 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
I want to get up and ride my horses, do what I love doing. I don’t want to be recognised. – 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
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 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 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
When I used to say I did dressage, I got blank looks. No one had a clue what I was on about. – 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
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
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
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