Charlotte Dujardin has paid tribute to her three-time Olympic gold medal-winning horse Valegro, who has been put down.
The duo won gold medals in the individual and team dressage competitions at the London 2012 Olympics and added another individual gold at Rio in 2016.
Valegro was the most decorated dressage horse in British history under Dujardin.
The 40-year-old Briton was banned from the sport for a year in December 2024 following an investigation into a video of her “excessively” whipping a horse.
The announcement of Valegro being put down, at the age of 23, was Dujardin’s first post on Instagram since receiving the ban.
“I knew of course this day would come, but I don’t think I could ever be ready for it,” Dujardin wrote on Instagram.
“A partnership that everyone talks about, but you can’t really know until you’ve experienced it. And we danced Blueberry, didn’t we dance…”
Alongside their Olympic triumphs, the pair won two gold medals at the World Equestrian Games and six golds at the European Dressage Championships.
Valegro’s stable-mate Uthopia, who with Carl Hester was also part of Britain’s gold medal-winning dressage team at the 2012 Olympics, has also been put down, aged 24.
Hester expained that the pair faced health complications in their old age.
“Valegro and Uthopia did more than win medals and write history, they gave our sport a golden era,” Hester said.
“They made a nation proud and inspired so many.
“Allowing them to leave this world together was the final act of loyalty and dignity I felt I could give them.”