The team and individual eventing competitions used the same scores. Eventing consisted of a dressage test, a cross-country test, and a jumping test. The jumping test had two rounds. After the first jumping round, the teams results were determined. Both jumping rounds counted towards the individual results. Only the top 25 horse and rider pairs (including ties for 25th) after the first jumping round (adding the three components) competed in the second jumping round. However, each nation was limited to a maximum of three pairs qualifying for the second (final) jumping round.[3] The format used in London, was the same as the one used in both Athens and Beijing.
The cross-country course was 5,728 meters long, with 28 obstacles and 40 efforts. The allowed time was set at 10:03 for an average speed of 570m/min. The jumping course was 515m with an allowed time of 1:23.