Road Ride and a Bump

Just got back from Vancouver, BC and the weather was gorgeous at home so I couldn't wait to ride!

A nice, sunny day is such a nice break from nonstop rain and coldness...

First up was Tux. He hasn't been ridden in quite a while so he was a tad bit hyper but very good. We warmed up in our neighbor's arena and then hit the road! I've never ridden him down the road though I have ponied him and he was very good.

He thinks barking dogs are something to play with (he perks his ears and wants to trot over and play. I swear he thinks he's a dog!) and bikes are funky to look at but he had no problems. We had to cross over some water which he had to stare pretty hard at and he didn't quite like it, especially when something, possibly a river otter? leaped into the stream with a splash and gave him a bit of a scare. But he got over it and it was a fun ride. I miss trail riding in the winter so this makes up for it a bit :)

Skeptical ears with the water

Steamy boy

Then I went to ride Jetta - I was super excited to work on some of the stuff that we'd done with KO. She walked up to me and was all snuggly - something I love about this horse. She loves (or at least tolerates) me hugging her head and smooching her nose. I went to pet her on the neck and she stiffened then turned tail and ran a few strides away then stopped and stared at me. That was odd, so I followed her and went to pet her again but she wouldn't let me touch her neck. I moved her mane away and she had a large bump that was obviously very painful to the touch no matter how lightly I tried to touch it. So odd! Last night it was about the size of my fist and a couple centimeters tall.

This morning I went out to do a full check and her temp was normal and she has full range of motion in her neck. She let me touch it and it's sort of soft to the touch. Still tender at the top, but it kind of migrated south and that's not tender at all. It is now about the size of my hand.... So weird. I'm thinking she got kicked in the neck, but I called and left our vet friend a message and I think I'll try to get her to come out and take a look anyways just to be safe, I wouldn't want it to be a strange sort of abscess (no wound at all on her neck though). So no ride this weekend, I'd prefer this bump to go away first!

You can faintly see the lump...