Living in LoCo correspondents Marie Bertozzi and Laura Green sent in this item about Loudouners in the Olympics. Marie, co-owner of Cavallo Farm in Brambleton, and Laura, an MBA student at UNC-Chapel Hill who rides at Cavallo Farm, bring us news from the equestrian world.

Karen O'Connor of The Plains rides on Mandiba for Team USA in the eventing competition of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on Aug. 12. (David Hecker/AFP/Getty Images)

For the past few weeks, one story has dominated the news: the Olympics. Leading up to the Games, several former local Olympians made the front cover of The Washington Post magazine. During the first week of the Games in Beijing, locals have been among the athletes featured in the newspapers, on television and the Internet (e.g., Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff, both of Baltimore, and Kate Ziegler of Great Falls).

But we've noticed one omission in all this coverage: any mention of the equestrian Olympians from Northern Virginia.

Currently, David and Karen O’Connor of The Plains are at the 2008 Games. Karen, already a silver and bronze medalist from two previous stints at the Olympics, is a member of the U.S. three-day event team, and David is coaching Canada’s three-day team. As a three-day event rider, David won an individual gold medal and a team bronze medal in 2000, after winning a team silver in 1996.

Stephen Bradley of Leesburg, who was at the 1992 Barcelona Games, headed the short list for the three-day team this year but had to withdraw when his horse developed a hoof abscess prior to the final selection for the team. (A hoof abscess is a painful yet common and - thankfully! - temporary condition that usually resolves itself in a few days with no long-term impact for the horse.) Although such turns of event are disappointing, they are not unusual in a world where the “equipment” is delicate and has a mind of its own.

In the former column, we have a number of medal-winning equestrian Olympians. Show jumping rider Joe Fargis of Middleburg won both individual and team gold medals in 1984 and followed that success with a team silver medal in 1988. Other former medalists include Nina Fout of Middleburg and Linden Wiesman, also of Middleburg. Torrance Watkins of The Plains, who won the three-day event individual bronze medal in 1980, was the first woman to win a medal in that discipline. Phyllis Dawson of Purcellville and Katie Prudent of Middleburg have also represented Loudoun at recent Olympics.

A quick primer on what these riders do at the Olympics: They compete in one of three disciplines, both as individuals and on a team: dressage, show jumping and three-day eventing.

Dressage is the “ballet” of horseback riding, where horse and rider must complete a series of pre-planned movements; they are judged on how well the horse responds to the rider’s commands and how beautifully the horse executes the movements.

Show jumping requires horse and rider to jump a course of fences cleanly and quickly, with penalties accrued for dropped fence rails and seconds over the time allowed.

Three-day eventing, originally a test for cavalry officers, consists of three different phases completed over three days. The first day is the dressage test, and the third day is a show jumping test. The second day of cross-country tests sets eventing apart from the other two Olympic disciplines. Cross-country tests the bravery and athleticism of horse and rider as they gallop over a two- to four-mile course that includes 20 to 40 solid jumps. This year, the cross-country course was considered relatively short, with 29 jumps and a time allowed of eight minutes.

One other not-so-well-known fact about this year’s Olympic equestrian events: The riders are competing in Hong Kong, not Beijing, because of concerns over the transmission of the avian influenza virus (H5N1). Avian influenza, or “bird flu,” can be passed easily to animals, and the veterinarians were worried about not being able to protect the horses in China. So the venue was moved to Hong Kong. Due to its thriving thoroughbred racing industry, Hong Kong is more experienced and better equipped to handle equine quarantine procedures necessary to prevent the spread of the virus.

In Hong Kong, the horses are being housed in some of the finest stables in the world. The stables are air-conditioned, as are the training rings. Although the competition is held in an outdoor stadium, horses and riders are competing at night to reduce their exposure to the heat.

We will update you with the results of the U.S. equestrian teams when the Olympics wrap up, but until then, you can enjoy watching the action on the Oxygen network or on a live computer feed on NBC’s Olympic Games Web site.

The three-day event and team dressage competitions have already concluded. Individual dressage continues, as do team and individual show jumping. Team USA has won the gold in team show jumping, and dressage riders Steffen Peters of Escondido, Calif., and Courtney King-Dye of New Milford, Conn., have qualified for the final round of individual dressage. Be sure to tune in and cheer for our riders!