Equestrian at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Equestrian competitions at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico featured team and individual competitions in show jumping, eventing, and dressage. Mexico City proved a challenging site since it was 2,300 meters above sea level, resulting in 30% less oxygen in the air. The horses at the 1955 Pan American Games, which was also held in Mexico City, arrived a few weeks before the Games to adjust, but had difficulty in the competition. However, racehorses that competed at the same location and who were shipped in the day before, and left the day after the race, performed fine. It was discovered that although horses would adjust immediately to the high altitude during the first few days after arrival, they showed weakness and decreased performance around Day 10, which continued to Day 20. Therefore, nations were advised to ship in horses 3–4 weeks before the competition, which would allow them time to recover from the long travel, as well as adjust to the difference in altitude. Argentina, Ireland, and the USSR were the first to ship horses over, who arrived mid-September. France and Germany were the last countries to send their horses, who arrived September 28, 20 days before the competition was to start.

126 entries (including 22 women) from 18 nations competed: Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, German Democratic Republic (GDR), France, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Soviet Union, Switzerland, and the USA. he youngest participant was Yevgeny Kuzin from the Soviet Union at 20 years old, while the oldest rider was Lorna Johnstone from Great Britain at 66 years old.

The 1968 Games timed the equestrian events manually and electronically, but for the first time the electronic time was considered official.

51 riders from 16 countries contested the team and individual competitions. The 14 obstacle course for the team competition had 17 efforts, and was measured at 631 meters in length. However, only 4 of 87 rounds were within the 96 second time, prompting some to believe that the course was incorrectly measured and was really 693 meters in length. The individual competition consisted of 3 courses. The first was a 750-meter course. Round B was similar to a puissance course, with its major obstacle being a 1.70 meters high and 2.20 meters wide oxer. Round C was a 370-meter jump off.

The Irish Team had tough luck this year, after their first rider on course, Diana Conolly-Carew, was eliminated. Due to miscommunication, the Irish chef de’équipe was told that his entire team had been eliminated. Therefore, the horse of second rider Ada Matheson was sent back to the stable, so was not ready when she was called, eliminating her from the competition. The final rider, Ned Campion, later rode, but with two of the riders eliminated the team was also eliminated.

...
Wikipedia