Step by step

I continued with Bonbon today, a short lunge session and then a short sit-on. She was a little more settled to the ridden work and felt more forward. Just a short session, starting by asking for a release and relaxation at halt, asking her to take the weight backwards, followed by a couple of circles on each rein with halt transitions. She feels very different to Remy, much softer in my hand with very little resistance through the neck. We're just starting out and I'm really looking forward to it.

I came away from my session with Remy yesterday feeling pretty good. He's learning all the time and despite my doubts about my training, he is progressing,
We've not done any vids for quite a while so Jim videoed the session. After watching it, I realise that what I'm feeling and what I see on the vid don't always tally. It's that thing about trusting the feel that you're getting which hopefully will get better as we progress, but I'm just not there yet!  He gives me the feeling of being more round and relaxed than he actually is and in my attempts to not let him get too low, I've been keeping him too high. I don't know if it makes sense, but when I ride him he doesn't feel hollow, he feels pretty good in the hand and in good balance, and on the vid I can see there are times when he's not holding and he is genuinely relaxed, but there are too many times when he isn't.
My first thought was that he needs more rein! He needs to extend his neck more, and I need to allow him to do it.  This will also stop me opening my elbows too much, keep the relaxation through my arms and stop me having the tendency to perch forwards. Why couldn't I feel that?
I tried it today, my sole purpose in the session was to let him find a place where he could really relax. Could it be that simple, just a little bit more rein? Well, I don't know, but that's what I did today and it felt like something clicked into place. There were times when everything felt so fluid and easy. We tried some trot transitions, and the trot was softer and better balanced, and he was blowing contentedly. It's taken a while to sink into my feeble brain, but I think we may have taken one step closer.