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.

2015 Schleich Icelandic Mare

You're already seen her in the Curly Mare post, so here's an in depth look at the 2015 Schleich Icelandic Mare.

 

Whilst the last Icelandic mare (that this one replaces) was very clearly a flaxen chestnut, this mare is more of a palomino or flaxen chestnut pangare. She's got a lovely soft coat colour that is admittedly hard to photograph accurately: you'll probably see a lot of photos on line that make her look very orange, where in fact she's a much nicer palomino gold.

 Whilst her pose is very static and plain, the whole model is lifted out of regularity by the wonderfully windswept mane and forelock, which covers her near side (left) eye.

As with the other 2015 horses she doesn't have horseshoes. However, a wild horse living on the hills of Iceland probably doesn't need horseshoes anyway.

 She's solidly coloured with no white markings (unless there's a star hidden underneath that forelock). As with a great many toy horses her conformation isn't perfect (especially in her back legs), but the charm and character of this little mare makes her a lovely addition to the Schleich stable.

2015 Schleich Curly Foal

As promised, here are the photos for the lovely 2015 Schleich Curly Horse Foal.

This lovely foal is a female, although, to be honest, I'd have preferred it to be male. It just feels like there are far too many fillies and very few colts in Schleich's stables. But that's a minor complaint. This girl has a charming palomino coat with the same fuzzy, sheep's wool-like fur as her mother.

 Judging by her dark hooves I'd hazard a guess that her light legs and muzzle are the result of baby pangare (light undersides and areas of soft skin common on foal coats, thought to aid camouflage, that disappear after the foal shed's it's first coat). In other words, she'd probably lose the white legs and muzzle as she gets older and be totally solid like her mother.

 

 There's a bit of over spray on her mane, but I'm not too worried about that.

 Her tail is a little under sprayed (you can see the base coat showing through here), but again I'm not too bothered by that.

 Like her mother, he hooves are nicely carved with detailed painting. Her logo and text take up the entirety of her belly.

 Again, like her mother she has a sweet face, with totally black eyes and little smile on her lips. Looks like she's planning to get up to mischief :)

Here she is besides her mother. She looks quite big, although it's not really a fair comparison since the foal is standing square whilst the mare isn't. Even so, I don't think the foal is meant to represent a newborn. Since they've both got thick, woolly winter coats, perhaps baby is around 6 to 10 months old?

2015 Schleich Curly Mare

I've been collecting Schleich horses for probably about 7 or 8 years by now. Like most Schleich collectors I think the horses and ponies that have been released in recent years vary quite drastically with the models that were available when I started collecting. I believe the difference  is due to different sculptors, and perhaps a different direction for the company as a whole. Some of the new models I like a lot, some take time to grow on me, and some I'm really not that keen on.

As a general rule, I find that the official release photos don't always give an accurate idea of what the model will actually look like in real life. Some even have a drastically different paint job, depending on where the model was made (Germany, China, Tunisia, Portugal etc). That's why I normally like to see a model with my own eyes and turn it over in my own hands before I decide to buy it or not. Sadly, my local toy shop has just stopped selling Schleich, which is disappointing, so I now have to buy them online and hope I get sent nice models...

When I can't see the models in real life, the next best thing is to see photos that other collectors have taken of their models from various angles. And since there's more than likely others of you out there in the same situation as me, I thought I'd post some photos of my 4 new 2015 Schleich horses. Since these will be quite image heavy, I'll split them up into separate posts.

Curly Horse Mare

  

 Like most of my Schleich, this lovely girl is made in China. She has basic shading on her flanks, around her eyes and on her muzzle, but her main attraction is her wonderful thick, curly coat.

 

 Her mane and tail are black, and her body colour is a wild bay: that doesn't mean that she's a wild horse, but refers to the name of her colour. Instead of black lower legs, her black is restricted to her knees and fetlocks. I assume that the thick, curly winter coat makes the black on her fetlocks even more faint, but you can see it on the backs of her ankles.

Of the 2015 Schleich horses, I think this mare is one of the nicest. This combination of her unique curly coat and unusual wild bay colouring really make her stand out from the herd, and the way she's sculpted make her seem really sweet and gentle.

 

 

 

  Unfortunately this photo is a bit dark, but you can just make out the black on the backs of her legs and fetlocks.

 The painting on her mane is a little bit hit and miss, but I can easily touch up the bare spots with some black acrylic paint

 

 

 She's got really quite a sweet face.

   

 

 As with most of Schleich's newest horses and ponies, she doesn't have horse shoes. But her hooves are nicely carved with visible frogs (the triangular bits).

 

  

Since the breed is about 14.2 - 15.2 hh, she's quite small. Here she is next to the 2015 Icelandic mare for comparison.  Next time I'll show her foal.