Instead of writing my paper...

I'll post about why I'm sore.

I feel like I've gone a few rounds with Gabby (my former personal trainer who loved to box and made me love it too). We had our riding lesson this evening. It was dark, but the rings are lit. I had a fabulous horse, Justin, who is sadly owned by someone and thus not usually available as a class horse. It was all trotting and posting today. My legs, abs and arms are killing me.

I've ridden for a long time, being around horses from a young age. I, like anyone who learned to ride outside of a class or stable environment, learned to ride Western. There's a lot of differences between the two forms, but it boils down to purpose. The purpose of Western riding is to work. You keep your reigns in one hand so you have a hand free to work. You grip with your knees and thighs when at a run so that your feet are free to kick. The equipment is all different as well. In English, the purpose is to show the beauty, strength and grace of the horse. It's to showcase the animal (and secondarily, the rider). You grip with the calves and feet (while pushing through the heels) and keep the knees and thighs relaxed. All the equipment is designed for better communication with the horse. Even the dismount is different.

Needless to say, the differences have been a culture shock. Pushing through the heels and gripping with the lower leg is difficult to remember when my instincts kick in. Not to mention, every time I halt, I tend to transfer the reigns (which are connected and held with both hands) into one hand. I do admit that, now that I have the general motion of posting down, it's considerably more comfortable than sitting the trot. Trotting is evil. But with posting, it's not so bad. And I'm buildings towards things like jumping and dressage (so sweetly described by friends as horse ballet). Things that serve no purpose other than to do it. It's fabulous! It's also a killer workout. Up and down for an hour. Exhausting. But oh, so much fun!