Excess Energy.

It's been a horrible few days, non stop rain, dreary and miserable. The horses have stayed in the stable the last couple of nights, they've been hanging around the gate mid afternoon looking fed-up, so came in for a feed and then just not wanted to go back out, can't blame them!!
This morning was quite bright and warm so I took Remy up to the school. He showed me some of the spirit I've been wanting to see, but not quite in the way I expected! As I was leading him up there he let off some of his excess energy by trying to spin round and rear. Not usual behaviour, but it just goes to show how much calmer they are when they're out 24/7. When we got up to the school, he bounced in and showed me just how he can move when he makes the effort. I lunged him at walk and trot until he relaxed and then I got on.
I've decided that we've got to start looking for more activity behind. I've not wanted to push him too much as it's just caused tension at the front. It's still a real balancing act, but he's more consistently soft in the hand now and I think he can deal with a little bit more from behind.
With this in mind, I expected quick reactions to the leg today and if I didn't get it I gave him a quick tap with the whip to remind him. He realised very quickly what was expected and we had a really good session. He was offering trot from a very light aid and then in the trot, offering canter. He's only ever offered canter once from the trot, and it was a run into the canter. Today he offered it 3 times from a fairly balanced trot, which, although I hadn't asked for it, I'm happy to accept, as I think he'll prefer to canter, it'll help his balance, and it can only improve the trot (which needs a lot of improvement).
I think I'm going to have to clip him. Not sure how that's going to go, he's never seen the clippers before. I'll just take his lower neck and belly, so unfortunately he'll be stripey - I hate stripey horses!

The last session with Bonbon was pretty heated, throwing herself around and squealing when I asked her to trot on the lunge. She's calm in walk when I'm working close to her and seems a little worried into the trot transition as I ask her to move out and away on the circle. I've tried to keep her relaxed and soft, with good bend before asking for a soft, calm transition into the trot, keeping a shorter line and going with her on the circle. This seems to help.
Today we had the same behaviour, but she was more determined ( more excess energy, I guess) and I'm not quite sure when the apprehension turned to  defiance, but when she started to throw herself around squealing and then dragging her head down to eat grass, I had to be a lot firmer with her, a quick 'no' and a tug on the rope to lift her head, and then straight back to walk on the circle, waiting until she relaxed and then trying the transition again.
I don't mind her letting off steam on the lunge, but within the parameters that I set, and if she's behaving dangerously, twisting and trying to spin, throwing her back legs around (you get the picture) I can't have that. She gradually calmed and we finished on a good note, with a trot on each rein. I think next session will be better, she's quite opinionated, but she's not a bad horse and today she seemed to realise that trotting on the lunge wasn't too bad really.  We'll see!