The wind and rain that buffeted the Olympic equestrian venue this week has dampened everyone except the horses, according to the Associated Press article at Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

“Conditions in the rain are horse-friendly,” said Michael Etherington-Smith, who designed the cross-country course obstacles. “The typhoon coming in Wednesday has cleared the air. We’ve been lucky with it, better Wednesday than Sunday” when the stands will hold a crowd of 18,000.

Hong Kong experienced record smog last week, followed by a tropical storm on Wednesday.

The dressage portion of eventing that will take place over two days started Saturday (late Friday in the United States, where there is a 12-hour time difference from Hong Kong and the East Coast). The cross-country endurance course will be run Monday, with stadium jumping Tuesday that will determine team and individual medals