Mixing it up a bit

Today at Xenophon I rode Bandit before all of the students came, it was the first time I had ridden him in about a month (when I was riding Echo instead). Bandit is basically the antithesis of what I've been working on in my dressage lessons: slow, doesn't particularly like contact, basically a western pleasure-type horse. And for what therapeutic riding is, he's excellent. So part of riding him, for me, is working on letting go of my dressage ideals and going with how he wants to be ridden. And once I get past that, his little jog and lope are so cute and comfortable I could definitely get used to them! Tomorrow I have a longe lesson, my first in about two years... should make for an interesting day!