Educating the mouth

I've not been able to do anything with  the horses for a couple of days, and this morning it was heavy rain so we had a session inside.

Remy is becoming more and more focussed with the in-hand work and today he was concentrating and waiting for me to ask. He was very relaxed,  mouthing the bit and the flexions were very easy, leading to a lengthening and stretching over his neck into one or two strides of shoulder-in.

Anky's becoming less and less wary of the bit and is starting to relax and savour it much more. She's beginning to realise that she can be relaxed in her jaw, mobile in her mouth and  that it's a good thing to stretch and lower her head and neck. The more she does this, the better the flexions are and the more she's staying  relaxed  through her body with genuine bend.

Bonbon had a short session too. She's happy with the bridle, and with a light upward movement of the rein on the corners of the lips, she relaxes her jaw and mouths the bit.

It's a great feeling, walking away knowing that they're all 'getting it', and even moreso that I'm 'getting it' too and that the pieces are starting to come together.

The penny drops..........

.....for me, that is. I had time for a short session in the stable with Anky this morning, but had to wait until this evening to take her up to the school.
We started in-hand, asking for the release and the stretch down, slight flexion inside and then transition to walk. 
 We were suddenly doing it, our first (albeit very basic) tension free, relaxed work in-hand. A light vibration on the inside rein to ask for the flexion and as she released, she also took the rein down. The more we did, the more she seemed to want to stretch. I felt a real connection, I imagined her sigh of relief that mum had finally 'got it'.
Of course, it was there all the time, I just had to find it.  It's a start.