Lesson on Mardi

Because Willig was beginning his three days of stall rest, I rode a fellow boarder's horse for my lesson. Mardi is a little cutie, but I think he's a couple hands smaller than Willig and he's much wider across his back.
At first, I kind of flailed around. It's weird how hard it was to ride someone who moved so differently than Willig. But after a few minutes, I got the hang of it and managed to adjust.
We did our basic 1st level movements, and while he was very different to ride and still needed work, in a lot of ways he was much easier. I've been trying to think how to describe it. He was like rowing in a calm lake. Willig is like being on water skis on the open ocean in a storm.
Now, the silver lining for Willig, mentioned by Mike before, is that he is so sensitive that when you have his attention on you (instead of the wall, spot, noise, outside, other horse, wall again!, etc.) and you're riding upper level tests (which I don't know how to do yet), you need that kind of delicate-doing-something-every-step reaction.
But for today, it was fun to ride someone new. I still had to work on mostly the same things (rounder, more consistent connection, better bend, relax my legs down), but just in a different way.
Since Willig will not be back to work for three weeks, Mike said for my next lesson I could probably ride one of his horses! COOL!