Similar to Dressage, teams of five riders were qualified at either the World Equestrian Games, a region competition, or through a composite spot.

For the individual competition there were a total of 73 spot allocated as follows: 45 team member, 1 host nation, 7 regional, and 22 at-large.

Additionally, there were already some stabling sites for horses within Hong Kong, hence less construction was needed to facilitate the equestrian sports required by the Olympics.

There were two main equestrian venues: Hong Kong Sports Institute (adjacent to Sha Tin Racecourse) and the Beas River Country Club.

The Sports Institute held the main competition arena, which included an 80 × 100 meter stadium will all-weather footing and seating for 18,000.

The Beas River Country Club was the site of the cross-country phase of eventing, which was held on the golf course.

[5] To combat the heat, the horses were transported from the airport in Hong Kong to the stabling facilities in air-conditioned vans.

The show jumping courses (both Grand Prix and the eventing stadium phase) were designed by Leopoldo Palacios of Venezuela and Steve Stephens of the USA.