2015 Schleich Tennessee Walker Stallion

Here's the 3rd and final model of the new 2015 Schleich horses I recently purchased. He's the Tennessee Walker stallion, and since he looks so refined and elegant I decided to name him Solitaire, or Sol for short.

 Whilst not a new mould, the 2015 Tennessee Walker stallion features a brand new coat colour. This wonderful pale buttermilk buckskin with ebony black points really suits the mould in my opinion, and I love the contrast between the light creamy body and the satin dark points.

 As far as I can tell, the only change made to the mould is the updated branding on the belly (if you've got both, have a look at the underside of their bellies, you'll see what I mean). I think the horse is meant to be walking, turning to his left as he goes, but I might be wrong. His hooves are wonderfully painted and quite realistic.

 The shading on his coat is quite subtle but very effective. It's lovely to see shading, especially as some of the newer Schleich horses lack it. Colour wise, his coat is very similar to the Schleich exclusive Tennessee Walker mare (which sadly I don't have, so I can't show you them side by side), which makes me think that perhaps she was the inspiration for this model. I think the pale buckskin colour really suits her too, though I don't really like the high black points on her legs, so I'm glad they limited the stallion's black to below his knees.

 My boy has a bit of a flaw in his paintwork on his off (right) side, right in the middle of his belly. I think it's a blob of paint, but I'm not too concerned about it. Maybe I'll just call it a scar where he was wounded and the skin and hair grew back a little thicker in that spot :)

 The rich black of his mane and tail make the hairs look super silky here. I almost expect them to be soft to the touch :)

 The mould isn't flawless. The ears are too big and the legs are too thick, but since the mould is one of the 'older' generation of Schleich horses he's perhaps somewhat more realistic than many of the newer models. It'll be very interesting to see if Schleich continue to reuse some of the older moulds in new colours.

 Since the mould already has horseshoes sculpted on Schleich have painted them on this model. This makes him one of the only 2015 horses to still have horseshoes.

 Compared to my chestnut Tennessee Walker stallion this boy's eyes seem to be painted in a bit more, making them appear slightly larger and fuller. His mane and forelock have been painstakingly painted, so there are very few flaws to be seen.

 I love his face. He just seems so alert yet serious, ready to perform his duty at his rider's command.

 Here he is beside to original flaxen chestnut Tennessee Walker stallion. Personally I think the pale buckskin colour really suits this mould, and maybe even looks better than the original chestnut on him.

Overall I'm really, really happy with this stallion, and very glad I added him to my herd.