“We need to do better” is the verdict of Will Connell, Britain’s equestrian team leader, on the performance of the three olympic teams - who brought home two bronzes from six competitions. The tally falls one short of the target of three agreed with UK Sport who - through lottery funding - invest a total of £13 million in the olympic equestrian and paralympic disciplines over the four-year olympiad.

Connell envisages some hard talking on his return. “We need to sit down and plan how we can follow the lead of the rowing, cycling and sailing teams who have all delivered. We do have the added logistic of the equine - and we all knew that Hong Kong would be different because it was difficult to know for certain how the horses would respond in the heat - but the overall conclusion is pretty simple - we have to raise our game.” Although there were inspiring individual performances - most notably Kristina Cook’s individual bronze on Miner’s Frolic in the three-day-event - there were also major disappointments. The 11th-hour loss of both John and Michael Whitaker from the showjumping team effectively scuppered what would have been the best chance of a team medal since the silver in 1984.

John Whitaker’s Peppermill ’seized up’ just before he was due to compete - but Michael Whitaker’s Portofino had been off-form for several weeks before arriving in Hong Kong prompting questions of selection. Ben Maher on Rolette and Tim Stockdale on Corlato exceeded expectations - until the final individual showjumping round, held on an oppressively hot, pre-typhoon night, when the two horses, both mares, decided they had had enough.

A personal best from Emma Hindle and Lancet - who finished 7th only six weeks after having major surgery - was the high point of the British effort in the olympic dressage contest. But the chances of the team gaining a medal - for the first time in Olympic history - disappeared when Laura Bechtolsheimer on Mistral Hojris and Jane Gregory on Lucky Star failed to produce their best performances.

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Yogi Breisner, the team manager, masterminded his third successive olympic medal for the three-day-event team - but even here the team underperformed. Only one member - Cook - could be fully satisfied with their performance. William Fox-Pitt, tipped for a medal beforehand, had the fates against him from the start. Selected with Parkmore Ed - rather than his favourite horse Tamarillo - they were unable to compensate for their average dressage mark - despite a heroic cross-country performance.

Mary King, exemplary in the dressage and cross-country on Call Again Cavalier collected an untypical 12 faults over the two showjumping rounds. Daisy Dick and Springalong excelled once again as pathfinders for the the team but had a weak dressage, Sharon Hunt and Tankers Town had an untypical mistake on the cross-country.

The early selection procedure - the team was announced at the beginning of June - will be one of the subjects discussed in the post-analysis. Zara Phillips and Lucy Wiegersma both had to be replaced in the team due to injured horses. “We selected early to take the pressure off the riders but it will be looked at again” Connell said. The crack German gold medal winning team, trained by Britain’s Chris Bartle, were selected a month later - after proving their fitness in the Aachen international event in July.

Despite the initial disappointment of having the equestrian events separated from the main Olympic Games - for only the second time in Olympic history - the decision, made on grounds of horse welfare, was fully vindicated. The horses had the best facilities anywhere in the world due to the massive 1.2 billion (HK dollars) investment by the Hong Kong Jockey Club. That these facilities included the most up-to-date laboratory testing system - allowing the FEI (International Equestrian Federation) in record time, to expose the four showjumping horses who proved positive for the banned substance Capasaicin, was a bitter legacy after the two weeks of unparalleled competition.