Stupid Mistakes and Seromas

Why do we go against our gut feelings? One of the girls at the barn asked me if I wanted to join her for a walk/trot trail ride on Sunday afternoon. I explained that Kwik hasn't done much trotting in the fields/in the open, and I wasn't quite sure if it would go well. She said let's give it a go, and I was so appreciative for the invite I figured what the hell. What I should have said was, "thanks so much, but we'll probably just stick around here and do some arena work and finish up with a short walk around the farm."

The ride started off fine. Kwik was relaxed and seemed to be enjoying himself. When we reached one of the fields, my friend suggested we try a little trot. We managed to make it to the other end, but at that point I was ready to just walk since he was pretty strong. We attempted some more trot work in a circle with some suggestions from my friend, but I could tell this wasn't going to go well. I was quite happy to do some stretchy walk work while my friend finished up her flat work, but she offered to hop on. She's an experienced rider (way more experienced than me) so I said sure, and she immediately put her leg on, sent him forward, and attempted to put him into a frame. I could see the wave of confusion and frustration wash over poor Kwik's face- he had absolutely no clue what she wanted him to do, and he answered with some strong bucks, a rear, and some more porpoise bucking. My friend ended up coming off, and Kwik took off back to the barn.

I wanted to cry. There is absolutely no excuse for that kind of behavior, and truth be told, I'm a little concerned he has that in him. At the same time, I couldn't really blame him. I knew he wasn't ready for trot work in the field, and he was absolutely clueless when my friend hopped on. We were lucky no one was hurt, and this incident was completely my fault. From now on, I'm going to stick to my guns about taking things slowly with Kwik, only adding new elements when I feel he's ready, and choosing our trail outings wisely to ensure we only have positive experiences.

On another note, L and I took some photos of Kwik's maybe-hematoma and sent them to the vet. Dr. P was quick to resond, and she thinks it is a seroma (similar to a hematoma but more serous-sanguinous than straight blood). The plan is to treat once a day with DMSO tempered with nitrofurazone and see if the body will reabsorb the mass. Obviously we'll never know exactly how he got this, but I'm thinking he got kicked a day or two before we moved to Ashland since he wasn't turned out with anyone after we moved until last weekend.

Kwik and I had an amazing lesson with Anne on Monday that included some jumping (proof that he is not, in fact, a bucking, rearing, crazy horse)! Details coming soon!