Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour

Denmark's golden girl tells Oscar Williams about the privilege and pressure of working with Mount St John Freestyle, and her Olympic dreams

A LOT has changed since Horse & Hound last interviewed Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour in 2018. Back then, she was a rising star fresh from winning two bronze medals at the 2017 European Championships aboard Atterupgaards Cassidy - a remarkable horse who took Cathrine from juniors to the biggest stages of all. Today, Cathrine, 32, is an established icon in the sport, with multiple championship medals and an ever-growing legion of supporters.

Then of course there's the name - I'm speaking to her only a couple of days after her wedding to Rasmine Laudrup, the international showjumper and daughter of European Championship-winning footballer Brian Laudrup.

Apologetic, and not wanting to intrude on a honeymoon, I ask Cathrine if she's sure she doesn't want to rearrange.

"We were already back in the stables on Monday," she laughs. "It's been a full-on week so far and we're a bit tired, but we couldn't be happier."

You get the sense when speaking to Cathrine that she is perpetually in motion, and it has certainly been a whirlwind few months for her. Yet it comes at the back of an unusually quiet year in which she has largely had to watch on from the sidelines.

With Cassidy now retired and her other recent championship rides - Bohemian and Vamos Amigos - with new riders, Cathrine spent much of 2023 without a top-level horse and so slipped out of the world rankings.

"To be honest, I've actually enjoyed having a quieter season without having to plan both my and Rasmine's life around competitions," she says. "It's meant I've had more time to be with the younger horses, taking the time to educate them.

"But I've missed the rush of going into the big rings and trying to pull off the impossible. I miss that feeling of competing for my country and showing off my lovely horses."