Many were not happy with the new format. “Personally, I think the old format was way better. I believe the first day should count for much more than it does today,” commented Eric Lamaze. “I think the championship should be decided on every day, not just the [individual] final over one day.”
The first round was very inviting and saw 30 clear rounds of the 50 starters, including all members of team Canada and team USA. Although it was an unusually high number of clear rounds, Ian Millar explained that this was actually a very clever approach used by course designer Michel Vaillancourt to “desensitize” the horses fresh from training camp.
Team Final
The horses enjoyed one day of rest and came back for the two-round team competition. To increase the pressure, Vaillancourt made a tight time allowed, which caused at least one time fault in almost 75% of the rounds. “The time allowed is making it harder than the course actually is, which is great,” noted Lamaze. “I think Michel did a fantastic job setting an honest course with a short time allowed, which makes it ride a little bigger than it is.” Lamaze added that it is better to have a tight time allowed than to have bigger fences with some of the less experienced countries competing.