GLOUCESTERSHIRE'S Charlotte Dujardin has become one of the country's greatest ever Olympians and saluted wonder horse Valegro for calming her nerves as she retained the individual Olympic dressage title in Deodoro.

Dujardin admitted the pressure and expectation that surrounded another gold medal bid four years after London made a mark. It is her third Olympic title that now places her in an elite group of athletes who have managed that achievement.

She won team and individual gold in the 2012 London Olympics and adds this third gold to that, having won silver in the team event in Rio.

The response to the pressure in the equestrian ring on Monday, however, was unforgettable - an Olympic record grand prix freestyle score of 93.857 per cent - and the third highest score in dressage history.

With 14-year-old gelding Valegro now likely to be retired, it was a performance packed with emotion, and followed by tears.

"Coming here, I had to defend that title, I had expectation, I had the pressure and I did feel it a little bit for the first time ever," Dujardin said.

"I also knew it could be one of the last times with Valegro. I know I am not going to do another Olympics with him.

"But as soon as I got into the arena, Valegro gave me this most amazing feeling and it put a smile on my face. I knew I was fine.

"That is what that horse can do. He can give you confidence like I can't tell you. He's like a rock. He gives you that hug.

"If you think how many tests that horse has done in his lifetime, and how many times he has ever made a mistake. His consistency throughout his career has been absolutely unbelievable.

"I owe it to him to finish at the top, and I've done it. I am going to make sure it happens again (on another horse), but he is a once in a lifetime horse."

The score was comfortably higher than when Dujardin won gold on the same horse at London 2012, and the third highest of all-time behind two other mesmeric Dujardin displays.

Dujardin added: "It's another huge challenge to try to recreate and do it all again, but there will never be another Valegro, and I don't want anyone ever to compare a horse that I ride to Valegro, because there is never going to be another him."

Valergro is co-owned by Dujardin's Great Britain team-mate Carl Hester, Roly Luard and Ann Barrott, and it would be no surprise if he bowed out at Olympia's London International Horse Show in December, the event where they set their freestyle world record of 94.300 per cent in 2014.

Hester said: "Consistency is hard with a horse, but he has been at the top for six years without hardly a blip on its record, which is phenomenal.

"You always imagine these top horses to be difficult characters, but he gets ridden out by an 80-year-old at home, kids can get on him in the stables, Charlotte can ride him around the Olympics.

"It's his work ethic - and a 10-year partnership he has with Charlotte."