Riding and Stuff (Summer)

Another Satuday, another soccer game! It was tax season and Widji's (Wee-gee's) dad asked if Shane and I could take him to the game. They were Scottsville local, so I readily agreed.

I think it was cold? We had a few games where the wind was a terror! 

It's hard to remember four months ago, but I think I gave Shane my hoodie to mark himself as goalie. I'd recommended he'd dress warmer and, shock, he didn't. I was left to freeze instead.

I'm pretty sure this is the game where I put my foot in my mouth. The ref was terrible. I had prayed for a good performance and we won handily, so it wasn't that. He just seemed confused, made contradictory calls, and kids kept looking at me hoping I'd explain what was going on (like I really know a soccer rule book!).

At the end of the game, I said something to all the kids asking me questions. I don't think I was mean, but I was honest. I agreed with them and said yeah, that there were bad calls, but refs are part of the game. It was their jobs to play so well the calls are clear and in their favor. If not, it's on the ref and not on them. Play on!

It's basically the same spiel I give to my wrestlers, only I didn't realize the ref had come over close enough to hear my talk. He was offended and we had a talk. I let him vent a little and it went well enough because I was calm and ended on a friendly manner. Truth was, I was embarrassed. I hadn't realized he was behind me at first. Bad job or not, we need refs and it's not a job I want to do. If he was a professional referee, I'd say he should be fired, but for rec league? 

But that's enough me. I took Shane and Widji for lunch after the game. They got "pizza subs" from Wawa.

We'd missed our riding lesson due to the game, and Carrie had Shane hop on Maddie instead.

I could have gone inside and enjoyed the break, but I came out to take pictures instead.

I prayed that Shane had progressed enough through his riding lessons he'd impress Carrie (It's her dream to do family trail rides).

It started off with just Carrie and Shane, but Micayla came out on Abby and Barbara arrived, as well!

Barbara went out with Carrie and observed the lesson!

I kept filming and made sure Kila didn't run into the ring to herd anyone.

The lesson continued and it went well.

Shane didn't blow Carrie away with his improvement, but he didn't disappoint her either. I pointed out that where Shane had grown the most was with his non-riding skills. He can brush, tack up, and tack down a horse versus not knowing which end was up in the beginning.

You could argue he's better at it than me now. Depending on how competitive I'm feeling I might even agree.

I think these photos are from the same day. If so, the day ended with Carrie setting up a temporary pen on the west side of the house.

Indy gets to be a yard pony. Carrie's worried about him loosing weight. She doesn't think the girls (Abby and Lilly) are preventing him from getting at the hay, but she'd rather let him have free reign eating grass to get fat and happy than worry about it!

I'm sure that you'll hear about Indy's yard adventures in the future.