Pride Glasgow 2018

I've had a fairly busy weekend with the Trump protest on the Friday and then Pride Glasgow the following day. Last year I went with one of my friends, but this year I went solo! The event as a whole had some serious issues, but I managed to be one of the lucky ones who avoided them!

Scotland Against Trump Protest

I usually try to keep politics off this blog as these days it's all depressing af, but when we've got a fascist wannabe dictator trying to take the US back to the dark ages, sometimes you just have to take a stand for what's right, and so I did my bit by going along to one of the many protests held here in Scotland while he (unfortunately) came over to visit this week.

Despite his arguments to the contrary, nobody here likes him. Not even a little bit.

Lake District Julip Live 2018!

As will have been pretty obvious for anyone who's read my blog for a long time, I haven't posted much Julip stuff in a while.

This isn't entirely by choice, but rather that my muse has wandered and affixed itself to my 1/6th scale dolls rather strongly. I still love my little rubber ponies to death, I'm just not really in the mood to do anything with them other than admire them on my shelf right now. On one hand this is incredibly depressing as they've been such a huge part of my creative life for so long, not making tack and stable stuff feels really weird, but on the other, I've still got lots of plans for the future which I fully intend to carry out at some point, so it's not like I've lost interest completely or anything. I still definitely want to make a new stable set as the old wooden ones took up waaaaay too much space and I'd like something a little more custom. I'd also really like to get back into my photostories as I really miss them and I had loads of drama that never actually made it into story form...

Anyway, I digress; you didn't come here to read about my chronic procrastination, did you?

(I mean if you did you're certainly in the right place but that's besides the point...)

Regardless of whether or not I'm in 'the Julip zone', I'm never going to miss out on going to shows and the annual Lake District Live hosted by Stacey and her mum is honestly one of my favourite shows to go to. As with all Julip shows, by it's very nature it's chilled out and great fun, with a really friendly atmosphere. I've been going with my friends Heather and Magda for the last couple of years which has only added to the great holiday roadtrip feel of the whole thing. We usually find a B&B to stay in near the show hall, but this time ended up in lovely Morecambe at the Trevelyan Guesthouse.

Royal Highland Show 2018 - Unicorn Turnouts!

The end  of the RHS posts is nigh! 

(and about bloody time too, this took way longer than anticipated!😅)

Royal Highland Show 2018! Highlands and Shetlands Ahoy!

Visiting the stables is always my favourite part of the show as it's really the only time you get to physically interact with the horses, and as I don't have any other horse time these days, it's a precious resource!

Royal Highland Show 2018! - Clydesdales!

Clydesdales are often described as 'gentle giants' and it's an incredibly apt description.

Royal Highland Show 2018! Cattle

After ogling the cobs for a good long while, we headed off in the direction of the stables, stopping en route to say hello to the cows in their big shed.

Royal Highland Show 2018 - Cobs, Cobs, Cobs!

 As everyone who knows me will attest to, I love cobs, so when I realised there was a Ridden Show Cob class at the RHS this year my heart leapt!

Royal Highland Show 2018 - Showjumping and Sunburn!

The showjumping was due to begin in the main ring, so we loitered around the big collecting ring for a little while, taking in the competitors warming up. 

Royal Highland Show 2018! - A Parade of Ponies (and Clydesdales :P)

By this time in the day we were both getting pretty hungry, and once Magda spotted a stand selling pizzas made to order, our fate was sealed. There was a really interesting selection to choose from (I was very tempted with the black pudding and apple!) but we decided to share a venison pepperoni one as, at a whopping £9 per tiny pizza, it was already pretty pricey! It was delicious, but half as small and twice as expensive as I'd have liked!

Royal Highland Show 2018! - Riding Horses

Once we'd had our fill of tiny ponies, we meandered up to the Thistle Ring nearby, to the Riding Horse class, and what a beautiful selection to look upon!

Royal Highland Show 2018 - Working Hunter Pony!

This year there were thrills and spills a-plenty!

One of my favourites was this tiny little pony who proved that size is by no means everything, especially when it came to going fast and jumping!

 

Royal Highland Show 2018! - WHP Warmup!

One of my favourite classes at the RHS is the Working Hunter Pony - nothing beats tiny ponies zooming around and flying over rustic fences! I always like the collecting ring for photography as its a smaller space than the actual jumping arena so you've a much better chance of capturing the action than when the ponies are miles away on the other side!

Royal Highland Show 2018! - M&M Championship

We never have any specific plans for anything, and as some classes linger on for far longer than the schedule would suggest, it's sometimes anyone's guess as to what's on when! At one point we stopped outside the main ring to watch the M&M championship, but we couldn't get very close for photos so moved on after a while.

As previously stated, I'm a sucker for a nice bay and what a nice one this is!

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.