Le Puy -

My mum and dad went home yesterday after spending the week with us. I always miss them and the place seems empty without them.
It was a bit drizzly today, but no wind, and quite warm after a couple of frosty mornings.
I took Remy up to the school, my main aim to keep him relaxed and soft in the hand.  We started off on a long rein, allowing him to stretch out to the hand, keeping the mobility in his mouth, lots of transitions to halt/reinback-walk on. Then taking up the reins asking him for more bend with small circles, more activity with shoulder-in and counter shoulder-in and generally moving him around the school with lots of changes of bend and direction.
We practiced the trot too, obtaining a nice bend on the circle before asking for the transition, and then a couple of transitions from shoulder-in, keeping the shoulder-in for a few strides before taking him onto a circle. The trot's slowly becoming more balanced and he offered me canter a couple of times today. For the first time, I felt more able to guide him, keep him soft and balanced for longer.
As I noted in the last post, I'm concerned about him flapping his lips, and he did this again today. What's strange is that he's becoming so much more relaxed and maneuverable and he's giving me that lovely relaxed 'blowing through his nose' thing. He's still testing the contact also, and I give him the rein so that he can stretch and also lots of regular stretch breaks. He's a sensitive horse, and if this is a sign of worry, I hope I can reassure him and we can work through it.

I had a short lungeing session with Bonbon. It's been a few days since our last lungeing session and she was a little bit distracted. She contained herself until I asked her to trot and then started her antics, squealing and jumping about. She's not strong and doesn't pull me, so I stood quietly until she realised that I wasn't getting involved, joining in or chasing her. She halted and then we started again at walk until she relaxed before asking for another trot transition. She did it twice before settling and then she seemed to realise that there was nothing to be worried about. It's my fault really,  I need to get her into the routine of regular work!