I did a wild, crazy thing a few weeks back. It's along the lines of taking up surfing at 50 or learning to Rollerblade at 45. I started taking horseback riding lessons at a good school 20 miles north of Seattle.
Between the ages of 11 and 18, I begged, pleaded and pestered my Dad for riding lessons. His answer was always "no way". Horses were (and still are) large dangerous animals, I was (and still am) incredibly accident prone and my Dad was one of the most powerful attorneys in Monterey County. There wasn't a stable in central California that would take me. They were too scared he'd sue them if I slid off and broke an arm (an injury that happens to equestrians with monotonous regularity).
So as part of my effort to have a fun mid-life crisis, I started taking lessons. Last Sunday I tried "posting" for the first time. Of all the wacky physical shit I've done -- swimming laps in an Olympic pool at 29, fighting wildfires at 38 -- this is probably one of the most difficult. It's very technical, you have to concentrate on the horse and you have to time it just right. The video below makes it look effortless. Just bouncing up and down on a saddle, right? Wrong. It's way, way more involved than that.
And if one more idiot tries to equate horseback riding with some weird-ass form of masturbation, I will hit you right in the face with a sweaty, 10-pound horse blanket covered in pooh!
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3 comments:
you're right - it is extremely tricky at first (or so my daughter tells me), but it'll soon be second nature. your mid-life crisis sounds brilliant. the most enjoyable thing i've done so far is grow a moustache. x
I smell a dude ranch trip LOL Let's go shake up the Dakotas! I think with our combined clumsiness, it will be rather epic. We will go down in Cowboy history and ironically it won't have shit to do with Nevada.
It's interesting because I keep telling my instructor some of the things various 'cowboys' told me about equitation back in the day in Neevada and she's always like: "Wrong! That is so wrong! Who told you to do that?!" Pretty funny.
-- Mel
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