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Fantastic riding lesson today. The stable was really quiet when I got there and I think that helped. And my instructor kept getting called away to deal with stuff, but I wasn't weirded out to be left in the ring alone, so I t hink to a given degree I'm like I am with voice, and that's that I hate people watching me do stuff I am not expert at.

Anyway. Posting is frustrating the shit out of me, more out of having the strength (or rather not) to do it than anything else.

And then I had to put on heels and run to an audition for an industrial. My legs are in agony. And I am exhausted.

Meanwhile the industrial I was booked for for next week got cancelled, and I'm doing an encore of a previous live action industrial thing I did... with one of the days being on my birthday. Boo hiss. And, I have an audition on Sunday that I must bring a "personal object" to. Erm?

Speaking of my birthday, beware of the fictional wishlist I may post if I can find a way to make it more funny and less obvious.

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When you get the hang of posting, it takes almost no energy at all. :) It's only a struggle when you're learning. When you get it right, it's so cool.

My biggest struggle right now is that I understand the rhythm I have to find. That part is fine. And I understand why posting makes sense, but....

But my instructor keeps saying that I have to use my thighs more and my calves less, but how can I just lift from my thighs without pushing down with the rest of my legs, like, I have to push off from my feet somehow -- they're the only thing that's on anything. I just don't get it.

There's a kind of pivot point and once you find it, all you're doing is shifting your weight, you're not pushing, you're just moving your body and the movement of the horse is your momentum -- that's how my body remembers it. Maybe she's saying you use your thigh muscles to shift your body?

I dunno.

Granted, this is me trying to post while the horse is walking, because the trotting scares the crap out of me, and our current theory is that if I can figure this out at a walk, then I can just start doing it when the horse trots, and I won't frea out that the horse is going fast because I'll no longer feel as if I'm about to fall off the damn thing.

Trotting feels weird but it's not so much a speed as a gait. A collected trot is a lovely thing and it's not that fast at all. You're getting jiggled around but your speed hasn't increased that much. It weirds me out too. Also, I keep trying to post faster than the horse is going because I feel like I'm going WHEEFAST and I'm just going up and down a lot more. :p

I think part of my problem is I don't know hoe to ride a bike, I've never driven a car (I rarely even ride in them), I only rollerblade badly and in a rink, and in small planes honestly, you feel all the up and down much more than you do any forward motion -- so when the horses gait changes I'm like "holy shit velocity!" it's very scary to me.

I can completely understand this (as someone who wasn't allowed to ride her bike on the road until she moved away from home and who still doesn't have her driver's license). It is scary and trotting really feels fast. I've been on and off horses since I was 10 and galloping still makes me white knuckled. :p Trotting? Whee. Cantering? Oooh. Galloping? AUGH. That's about it.

One of my larger concerns is that I feel like I need to get this sorted out now, and get good at controlling a speedier horse before the weather gets much colder, as my instructor has made it clear to me that while the horses are happier when it's colder, the stuff that happy horses do will freak me out at my current skill level.

Well, maybe one of these things might help? You could ask to make sure you get an older, mature horse who tends to be slower. Another is to make sure you get a horse who's been ridden at least once on the days you ride. And, if you trust your instructor, you could practice being lunged, so that you're not trying to steer and control the horse while you're learning the body feel of what you're doing. Something some of the instructors at my daughter's school do is they're take a frisky horse for a good hard ride for about 5 minutes and really put it through its paces. They tend to listen a little better after that. They get their serious hats on. :)

It'll be okay. :) Are you on a timelimit for learning when to ride as a skill for acting or is this a personal development thing?

I'm not on a timeline (other than my own), but yes, one of the several roots of this could best be described as actorly stupidity.

The two horses I"ve ridden the most haven't really don't frisky things yet, but I've been told they will when it's colder. They've both always have had riders before I get to them, even if it's just my instructor (the two horses I ride are hers personally), so that's generally okay too.

I've just taen the warning about the cold weather seriously, much like I took the warning about warm weather and planes seriously (cold air is heavier, and a crappy overcast winter day is often much more pleasant to fly in that a bright summer day, where you will feel like you're bouncing all over the sky).

And, I have an audition on Sunday that I must bring a "personal object" to.

Like, with batteries? ;)