diff --git a/include/proto/connection.h b/include/proto/connection.h
index 28e7580..79722d8 100644
--- a/include/proto/connection.h
+++ b/include/proto/connection.h
@@ -676,7 +676,8 @@
 	/* Remove ourself from the session's connections list, if any. */
 	if (!LIST_ISEMPTY(&conn->session_list)) {
 		struct session *sess = conn->owner;
-		sess->resp_conns--;
+		if (conn->flags & CO_FL_SESS_IDLE)
+			sess->idle_conns--;
 		session_unown_conn(sess, conn);
 	}
 
diff --git a/include/proto/session.h b/include/proto/session.h
index c34866d..d54e945 100644
--- a/include/proto/session.h
+++ b/include/proto/session.h
@@ -112,7 +112,6 @@
 		LIST_INIT(&srv_list->conn_list);
 		LIST_ADDQ(&sess->srv_list, &srv_list->srv_list);
 	}
-	sess->resp_conns++;
 	LIST_ADDQ(&srv_list->conn_list, &conn->session_list);
 	return 1;
 }
@@ -120,17 +119,19 @@
 /* Returns 0 if the session can keep the idle conn, -1 if it was destroyed, or 1 if it was added to the server list */
 static inline int session_check_idle_conn(struct session *sess, struct connection *conn)
 {
-	if (sess->resp_conns > sess->fe->max_out_conns) {
+	if (sess->idle_conns > sess->fe->max_out_conns) {
 		/* We can't keep the connection, let's try to add it to the server idle list */
 		session_unown_conn(sess, conn);
 		conn->owner = NULL;
-		sess->resp_conns--;
 		if (!srv_add_to_idle_list(objt_server(conn->target), conn)) {
 			/* The server doesn't want it, let's kill the connection right away */
 			conn->mux->destroy(conn);
 			return -1;
 		}
 		return 1;
+	} else {
+		conn->flags |= CO_FL_SESS_IDLE;
+		sess->idle_conns++;
 	}
 	return 0;
 }
diff --git a/include/types/connection.h b/include/types/connection.h
index f1fd7a0..b273ece 100644
--- a/include/types/connection.h
+++ b/include/types/connection.h
@@ -196,6 +196,8 @@
 	/* This flag is used to know that a PROXY protocol header was sent by the client */
 	CO_FL_RCVD_PROXY    = 0x20000000,
 
+	/* The connection is unused by its owner */
+	CO_FL_SESS_IDLE     = 0x40000000,
 	/* unused : 0x40000000 */
 
 	/* This last flag indicates that the transport layer is used (for instance
diff --git a/include/types/session.h b/include/types/session.h
index 1675f8f..328372d 100644
--- a/include/types/session.h
+++ b/include/types/session.h
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@
 	struct vars vars;               /* list of variables for the session scope. */
 	struct task *task;              /* handshake timeout processing */
 	long t_handshake;               /* handshake duration, -1 = not completed */
-	int resp_conns;                 /* Number of connections we're currently responsible for */
+	int idle_conns;                 /* Number of connections we're currently responsible for that we are not using */
 	struct list srv_list;           /* List of servers and the connections the session is currently responsible for */
 };