The Mountain that Rides learns to ride

Conan Stevens has another blog post up at his official site where he talks some more about his preparation for Game of Thrones. He mentions getting an email from George R. R. Martin, meeting Sean Bean, and talks also about his horse training. Here is a snippet:

Yesterday I flew back to England for a week of horse riding training. How is that?

Well to be honest, it is somewhat like riding a bicycle, I have picked up the basics again rather quickly, and am already sitting (bouncing around) on a trotting horse, if I can notch it up into a gallop by the end of hte week things will be going rather well. Unlike riding a  bicycle horses go up and down, sometimes sideways as well as forward and reverse which makes it a bit trickier.

Luckily for me the horse I have been riding so far is rather lazy and would rather stand still then try to throw me or bolt, so everytime I slip up he just stops still in his tracks.  Not much of a Warhorse, but good for training on.

Tomorrow I think I get to try a few different horses to get an idea of the different personalities of the horses and learn how to control them. My back and legs are already sore.

In addition, Stevens mentions he will be heading home “at the end of the month” which gives us an idea of when filming for the tourney scenes will be complete. It seems likely he would return to Belfast in a few months, during a later block, to film the rest of Gregor’s scenes.

Winter Is Coming: Stevens is doing an awesome job at keeping us fans satiated during this down time while we await any leftover casting news or the release of some more promotional material from HBO. Or how about a set photo or two? I see Camelot has already had some set photos hit the ‘net. But I digress, the thought that Stevens will soon be ready to don his Gregor armor and climb on top of a war horse, is pretty exciting.

• Published on 08/10/2010 at 11:23 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/20/2016 at 5:14 PM CDT