2015 Schleich Knabstrupper Mare

My last (for now) 2015 Schleich model: the new Knabstrupper mare.

 She's a black leopard spotted (appaloosa) colour, with a black mane and tail and black socks. Her pose is dynamic and full of energy, and if they'd braided her mane I'd say she looks like a dressage horse in mid canter. Her head is a bit behind the lateral line, however.

 Her spots are both very deliberate and very messy. Sadly, Schleich have neglected to paint any spots on areas of her body that are harder to reach, presumably to make it cheaper and faster to produce the finished models.

 This leaves her looking very unrealistic, especially on her belly and inner legs. Her ears and the underside of her face also lack spots, and for some reason known only to Schleich her skin is shaded black instead of pink. Like the other 2015 horses she lacks horseshoes.

 Her spots are very weirdly shaped, some looking more like paint smears than appaloosa spots. However, Knabstruppers do tend to have larger, more unevenly shaped spots than most other spotted breeds. I'd have preferred more oval shaped spots personally, and I find her black socks a bit weird: it would have been nice if they'd merged them into the coat colour a bit more realistically, like this or this.

 Her hooves are nice, but a bit boring. With spotted horses it's always nice to see striped hooves. Again, I imagine the plain hooves are cheaper and faster to produce.

 

Her ears are too big (very common with plastic horses), but she has a nice face with large, expressive eyes. The spot just below her forelock between her eyes resembles a charming black love heart, but it's subtly hidden among her other spots and doesn't leap out at you as unrealistic.

 

 

Over all, I think she's quite lovely. Not my favourite of the new models: she obviously has conformation flaws and her colouring annoys me if I look at it too long. On the other hand, it would be very easy to paint on some more spots on her blank undersides and neaten up her mane and other spots with black acrylic paint (something I'll very likely do). I'm even tempted to extend her black points to resemble more of a near leopard appaloosa, although whether I've got enough skill to make it look good remains to be seen. I still prefer the old Knabstrupper mare that this girl replaces, but I understand why the company would want a model that is cheaper and faster to produce.