The 1988 equestrian events were mostly held at the Seo-ul Gyeong-ma Gong-won, or the Seoul Equestrian Park, in Kwachon. This was built on the site of a previous horse racing track, specifically for the 1988 Olympics, but was not finished until April 1988. After the Games, it was converted again to a race track, now called the Seoul Race Park. All the events were conducted there except for the individual show jumping final, which was held at the main Olympic Stadium, and the endurance course in eventing, which was held at Gyeong-ma Gyu-yug-won, or Wondang Ranch, 43 km north of Kwachon. All horses travelling to Korea had to spend 21 days in pre-flight quarantine, and on arrival in Seoul the horses stayed for 36 hours in quarantine at the Equestrian Park.
Team and individual dressage events were contested over four days at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Nicole Uphoff-Becker won the individual title and led West Germany to the team gold medal, and Uphoff-Becker and West Germany would defend these titles in 1992 at Barcelona. The events were held concurrently with the first two days determining the team placements and the individual qualifiers for the final day of individual competition.