News After sailing, volleyball, triathlon and rowing, the fifth Rio 2016 test event will be for equestrian From 6 to 9 August, the Olympic Equestrian Centre in Deodoro will host the Aquece Rio International Horse Trials Like the World Rowing Junior Championships, the equestrian competition is considered a ‘major’ event, meaning that it will test a variety of operations at levels very close to what will be in place at the Rio 2016 Games In all, 102 staff from the Rio 2016 Organising Committee and 486 volunteers will be in action, putting 40 departments to the test Thirteen riders (12 Brazilians and one Colombian) will compete They may ride more than one horse, forming different combinations This will be the first test event closed to the public, but it will be watched by around 1,200 guests, including members of national federations from 16 countries Representatives of major powers in the sport, such as Germany, Great Britain and the Netherlands will be in Deodoro, observing the operations planned for the Olympic Games “The presence of foreign federations is very important for our test,” says Alex Titan, the Rio 2016 equestrian competition manager “They will help us to analyse the event’s structure and facilities, which will be the same as in the Games, and the flow of operations They will also, naturally, observe the competing riders’ experience and take back some tips and guidance to their countries’ athletes ” There are three Olympic equestrian disciplines: jumping, dressage and eventing, and the latter will be the subject of the test event Considered the ‘equestrian triathlon’, eventing brings together dressage, cross-country and jumping contests, in this order, which will take place one per day, from Friday to Sunday, at this test event Starting today on Tuesday (4 August), the course is free for riders and their horses to practise On Thursday (6 August), the horses will be inspected To see the full list of Rio 2016 test events click here