I can't take my eyes off the moon

When I started riding Olive again in September, our big rehab goal was to make it to the Red Tree.

I'd kind of forgotten how close that tree is to the barn. We made it there - and beyond - weeks before the tree turned red. Clearly, we needed another goal.

I found one in the barn newsletter. 

I've gone on a few moonlight trail rides over the years, but never with Olive. It was something I'd hoped to do this summer, before everything went sideways.

"That's it," I said to myself. "That's the new goal. Olive and I are going on the last moonlight trail ride." 

photo by Corina Roberts

To that end, Olive and I have spent the last month preparing for this ride. 

I was feeling completely confident until the Thursday before the ride.

That's when the temperature dropped, the winds took off and suddenly, my quiet pony turned into a dragon.

To make matters worse, I looked at the calendar and started remembering another October 19 ride.

Ugh. Don't wanna do that again.

Not going to lie, I started having some serious seconds thoughts.

Fortunately, Saturday was warmer and drier than predicted. Olive displayed no dragon tendencies during her morning turnout, so I was back to feeling reasonably confident when I returned to the barn at sunset.

It's been a long time since I tacked up in the dark!

I snapped a quick selfie.

Then we mounted up and headed out.

The first half of the ride was dark.

I took a few pictures anyway, but they're all terrible.

Lol.

I don't even know what this is. My foot in the stirrup? Maybe?

We rode past the Sixth Avenue bridge and turned around at the Coal Creek Arena.

As we were heading home, the moon finally made an appearance. 

My photos don't do it justice. It was huge and orange.

This one's a little better, mostly because I parked Olive under a light before I took it.

Olive was an absolute rockstar, and as the newsletter predicted, she was, in fact, less looky than usual.

I'm so glad we were able to do this!

As far as I am concerned, Olive is now officially and completely recovered. It's been a long, hard road, but we made it!