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I took my camera to Maisie's barn today, but for some reason all the photos came out badly - it was a lens I'm not used to so perhaps that was it. She'd had some fun playing in turnout, and my daughter was cleaning her up when I got there. She had the slightest bit of heat in the inside face of her left front, probably from the playing. We saddled her up for her first ride since April 20. She seemed pretty calm, but we let her loose in the indoor first - a modest amount of trotting around, but nothing silly - she seemed pretty relaxed and looked sound.

Although my back is still very stiff and sore, I was determined to at least sit in the saddle for her first ride at the new barn. I've been icing and continuing the anti-inflamatories and started adding heat as well, and my back's slowly getting a bit better. I got on without too much trouble, and just rode her around the indoor a couple of times in each direction at the walk on a loose rein. I wasn't too uncomfortable, but the right side of my back is still pretty locked up so I didn't want to ride her long - my right hip basically can't move at all and that can't be very comfortable for her. So I got off and my daughter rode her for about 15 minutes at the walk - that's enough for a first outing after almost a month off. She was very well-behaved, even with other horses trotting and cantering in the ring.

As a precaution, I gave her one gram of bute in case the foot's acting up a bit - we'll see how she's doing tomorrow. My daughter won't be there tomorrow, and I can't tighten the girth yet due to my back, so she'll just get a grooming tomorrow. She seems pretty settled already, which is good news. I met a couple more boarders - several teenagers and one mom, and again everyone seemed nice.