Charlotte Dujardin, 27, who only started to ride at the Grand Prix level of dressage in January 2011, has done two extraordinary things: she has one Great Britain’s first individual Gold dressage medal and she did it wearing a helmet rather than a top hat. She saves her top hat for unmounted ceremonies.
After Courtney King-Dye’s accident, several top riders started to wear helmets in training and even in the warm up ring but they felt that they would be marked down by judges if they wore them in competition. Apparently, that’s not true. Dujardin set a new record score in the Grand Prix Freestyle of 90.089%.
What an incredible role model. In just a few minutes in the ring she made wearing a helmet be cool! Charles Owen must be thrilled, too.