How do you emulate the Bluegrass State of Kentucky hosting the previous World Equestrian Games? Staging them in Normandy seems like the answer and the successful bid by the “cradle of French breeding” to hold the Games was widely hailed in the equestrian world.

Waiting at the busy Charles De Gaulle airport terminal is the Normandy press trip guide, Stéphanie Deshayes. She was also appointed to lead the 3,000-strong volunteer division for the Games and as we head west from Paris, explains that many of the London Olympics volunteers will again be part of the Normandy experience.