It caps a meteoric rise in recent years for Dujardin (pictured above), who was second going into this summer's Olympics, and claimed the individual dressage gold as well as leading Britain to a team gold during the Games.

Her success was one of the highlights of the Games for the hosts, as she performed superbly to Land of Hope and Glory, music from The Great Escape and the James Bond film Live and Let Die and the chimes of Big Ben, scoring 90.089 in the process.

That brought to an end a century long search for a British Olympic dressage medal.

Charlotte Dujardin competes in the individual dressage event at the London 2012 Games

Dujardin is now 107 points ahead of Adelinde Cornelissen of the Netherlands, making her the first Briton to hold top position since the combined rider and horse rankings began in 2006.

The 27-year-old Dujardin teamed up with Valegro in 2007 and only competed at her first Grand Prix last year.

"It is fantastic to see Great Britain's Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro leading the Dressage Rankings after their incredible performance in Greenwich Park," said Trond Asmyr, FEI director of dressage and Para-equestrian dressage.

Carl Hester (left), Laura Bechtolsheimer (centre) and Charlotte Dujardin celebrate during the London 2012 team dressage medal ceremony

"The pair have been key to helping Great Britain re-write Dressage history and have highlighted the fact that the sport is in an exciting period of change, with lots of new faces now in the mix.

"Charlotte's natural talent and her partnership with the hugely successful Carl Hester mean that she is a valuable driving force for future generations of dressage riders."

Another Briton, Laura Bechtolsheimer on Mistral Hojris, is fourth, but Germany dominate with five of the top ten positions.

The biggest movers in the latest rankings are the United States' Steffen Peters with Ravel, up from 192nd to 16th, after a seventh place finish in the individual dressage Grand Prix special, and Dutchman Edward Gal.

Gal makes a similarly sizeable leap from 198th to 17th, after his performance on Undercover helped his country to a bronze medal in the team dressage.

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