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    I must say that I'm more than a little bit excited for the 2012 Summer Olympics to get underway. The global competition, the pageantry of the opening ceremonies, the almost overwhelming choice of sports to view (trampoline is considered an Olympic sport?), and of course, the REAL athletes of the games - the horses.

    The equestrian games at the Olympics are comprised of three different disciplines, each with an individual and team portion, creating a total of six gold medals to take home. With approximately 200 riders and their horses competing across these events, there's a lot to digest, so here's an overview of what will be happening from July 27 to August 12.

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    1. Dressage: Considered by many to be the most elegant form of riding, dressage is sometimes described as ballet on horseback. Now, admittedly, it can be really boring if you don't know what you're looking at, since to the untrained eye it appears as a fancy dressed rider and horse skipping along a stuffy-looking ring. But, if you look closer, you may begin to appreciate the finesse of the horse's movements. Yes, there is skipping, but have YOU ever been able to make a horse skip? And still stay on its back? Didn't think so. I know I can't.

    They also move in tight circles while pivoting on their back legs, change from a short-strided trot to a long-strided trot without breaking the gait, and seem to move sideways across the arena with legs crisscrossing each other. All these movements have fancy French names like piaffe and pirouette and each horse/rider pair is scored on how well they perform a routine of movements. The pair with the highest overall score takes home the gold.

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    2. Jumping: This event is much more self-explanatory than dressage. There's an arena full of really big obstacles (sometimes spreads of three bars, water jumps, and simulated brick walls) and you have to ride over them in a certain order as fast as you can without knocking anything down or riding off course - or falling off. Did I mention these obstacles are high? Show-jumping can be heart pounding to watch when you're down to the wire. The winner is the pair with the fastest time and fewest penalties. If there is a tie at the end, there's a jump-off. How exciting is that?

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    3. Eventing: Here is a sport made up of three different sports, sort of like the triathlon of the horse world. Eventing is made of a dressage phase, jumping phase, and cross-country phase, where horse and rider take to the field and gallop over logs and water jumps. In my opinion, this is the most challenging of all the Olympic equestrian sports, and again, winners are made by having the best times over the cross-country and jumping portions and the highest scores in the dressage ring.

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    You may have noticed all three Olympic equestrian disciplines are English, meaning there are no Western disciplines like barrel racing or calf roping. This may change in the future, as there has been talk that reining, the Western sport where horse and rider perform an intricate set of maneuvers like spins and sliding stops that are used out on the range when working cattle, may enter the Olympic picture. Reining is already the only Western discipline recognized by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), so that may be an addition in future summer Olympics to look forward to.

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    Germany ruled the equestrian Olympic world back in 2008, taking home three of the six "golds." As of this writing, at least the U.S. equestrian team hasn't been finalized yet; apparently qualifications go up to the very last minute. The U.S. has had some success in past Olympics, but many of the European nations still seem to dominate. So, let's get our cheering voices ready: USA! USA! USA!

    Horses - The Real Olympic Athletes originally appeared on petMD.com

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