Tuesday 3 July 2018

Royal Highland Show 2018! - M&M and Part-Bred Arabs

I'm a little late to the party this year, due in part to the fact that I came home from the show with 2644 images to sort out and a super nasty sunburn on my face which is still visible over a week later! Flickr was also an issue as it took the best part of a full week to upload everything.😖

As ever, all photos sans commentary can be found -here- and feel free to use any for colour/drawing reference. 

The RHS' official facebook page had -this- wee video which gives you a feel for what the whole show was like.

Colourful Coo



This year's adventures began with an impromptu shopping trip before I’d even arrived at the showground!

I was due to meet up with Magda at the show as usual, but just as I’d got to the station to head into town, she messaged me to ask if I had a spare memory card as her’s was full and she’d forgotten a spare. Had she asked ten minutes before she could have had Old!Nigel’s cards as my new one uses a different format, but alas, timing was not on our side! I would be passing Jessops the camera shop en route to the bus so I said I’d see if I could find her one in there. As is the norm now at Jessops, I was met by two callow youths who weren’t hugely helpful, and it soon transpired that they no longer sold cards less than 16gb in size which was no use as her camera could only read up to 8gb! They suggested that John Lewis might have them and as it was just a short walk up the road I went to have a look. They didn’t sell anything that size either, but both the staff member and customer he was dealing with recommended trying Boots as they might have something that size. The customer actually rummaged round in his pocket and said if he had one to hand I could have it which was really sweet! 

Boots was the last chance or poor Magda would be left with her phone only, and first impressions weren’t great as everything was 32gb or 16gb at its smallest until, yes!
I had a moment’s panic as I’d just picked up a bit of card without the attached cards but the woman at the till took it off to the stockroom and a couple of minutes later they were mine!

So yeah, handy hint to everyone - make sure you have spares!


The journey there was uneventful, only slowing down to a crawl for some roadworks in the last couple of miles. A far cry from previous years when I’ve been stranded for literally hours! Still, it was frustrating to look at the map and see how close I was and yet so far away!

There was a bus already letting people off at the bus stop so our bus kept going, which I think worried a few people on board - myself included! The next stop wasn’t far away though, it just meant a slightly longer walk to the gates!

Once in, I headed for the main ring. Usually by this time the Ridden Highland class is in full swing but they were noticeably absent this time round and after meeting up with Magda and handing over her new cards, she told me the class had already finished! This is momentous as usually the class keeps running for hours!
Because it had finished earlier, we’d also missed most of the Welsh classes, which was disappointing as I love seeing them too. Instead we got to see the end of the Mountain and Moorland in hand class (I think) with some nicely put together ponies and a really cute foal.

M&M In Hand

M&M In Hand

I loved this really dappley palomino and recognised the handler from previous shows.

M&M In Hand

M&M In Hand

M&M In Hand

The very worthy winner!

M&M In Hand

M&M In Hand

This other grey immediately caught my attention with the 'bloodmarks' on his head.

M&M In Hand

M&M In Hand

I love really dark buckskins and this one was an absolute beauty!

M&M In Hand

(damn that fence post! DX)

M&M In Hand

M&M In Hand

These youngsters were just starting to grey out!

M&M In Hand

M&M In Hand

M&M In Hand

I'd noticed the foal in the background earlier but wasn't prepared for this level of cute.

M&M In Hand

So much floof!

M&M In Hand

We were thrown a bit off kilter without all the usual Highlands to watch, so headed off to the Thistle Ring at the back instead where the Ridden Part-Bred Arab class was in full swing. We passed the two collecting rings en route, so of course I couldn't walk past without grabbing a few shots...

Collecting Ring

Collecting Ring

Collecting Ring

Collecting Ring


 As soon as I spotted a foal I knew I'd be there for a while! He was a gorgeous little welsh, with some very striking sabino markings and a typical foalish attitude!

Collecting Ring

Welsh foal

Collecting Ring

Underneath that foaly floof he's already started to go grey like his mum.

Collecting Ring

Collecting Ring

Collecting Ring

Collecting Ring

Collecting Ring


The Working Hunter Pony class was still being prepped, so there were plenty of bouncy ponies warming up but I'll save them for another post.

I don't know much about showing classes to be honest, but the PBA class always has some really smartly put-together horses.

RIdden Part-Bred Arab

RIdden Part-Bred Arab

I'm a sucker for a dark bay so this lad was an early favourite.

RIdden Part-Bred Arab

RIdden Part-Bred Arab

RIdden Part-Bred Arab

RIdden Part-Bred Arab

RIdden Part-Bred Arab

This shot immediately reminded me of a resin!

RIdden Part-Bred Arab


 The other 'part' in partbred varies immensely, with some horses clearly favouring one side more than the other. Some had very obvious Arab heritage with dainty features and a slimmer build, while others like the big bay chunk from earlier, clearly took after their non-Arab side far more.

RIdden Part-Bred Arab

RIdden Part-Bred Arab

RIdden Part-Bred Arab

RIdden Part-Bred Arab

 Next post - M&M Championship!

No comments:

Post a Comment