Do you have to be really careful with the AG horses?

Joy-
I just saw them on ebay. I think they were played with horses from a child, but they had holes (one had a rather large one). Is this a common problem?

Thanks
Shanna

It's also a problem that's very easy to fix, and easy to fix without letting it show, if it's done with care, if the holes are small (which they usually are). If you need to know, I can tell you how I've done it in the past.

Joy

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ August 16, 2006 01:10 PM: Message edited by: djsnjones ]</font>

One of our horses is really old and has had no problems, but we have tried to be gentle with her.
She hasn't even been outside which I am sure would be a common place to play with the horses. A reasonably careful child that played on the lawn would probably not have any trouble. If a rougher child got a hold of the horse or it was dragged over cement or rocks, I am sure it would develop holes rather quickly. For a child that played like this, I would think the Target horses would be better.

My niece and nephews are visiting us right now and I am letting them play with some of my dolls, but others have been put up and I am not letting them play with the horses. They are great kids, but haven't been taught to be careful with things and the boys are twins that can get very rambunctious. I have a Target scooter that I let them play with last night and it didn't take long before they were popping wheelies and trying to run over the dolls with it. [img]eek.gif[/img]

As for which horse to get, I really can't say. I have Penny and Steps High and I like them both very much. I don't have the saddle on Steps High so I am not sure about her, but Penny does have a saddle and it is still a balancing act to get the dolls to stay on her. If you are buying them as an accessory for the dolls, you might be happier with something else. If you love horses, then I think you will eventually want both or possibly even all three horses. They cost almost as much as a doll, but I like them almost as much so that works for me. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Thank-you Joy and Mary-
I would want one as a play accesory. It's too bad that they are so tricky to balance! Thank-you for your opinions on this matter [img]smile.gif[/img] .

Shanna

Ask the seller if her horse has a black spot or a black "X" at the top of the white spot on the nose, up under the top of the forelock. If it does, it's from the MCM sale.

I don't know if it's a common problem generally. The feedback that you've gotten here so far would seem to indicate that it's NOT a common problem generally. But several of the horses that we got for repair had that problem. Most of the horses that we got seemed to have been played with and returned to AG after the child ruined them somehow and wanted to exchange them for a new one. I don't have a sense for what percentage of our horses had this problem, but it was something that we routinely checked for, as we assessed each one for what it needed. But then again, many of these horses showed other signs of abuse as well, so maybe it's just a symptom that shows up with abuse. If I had to guess, I would guess that maybe one in 10 or 20 had holes in the skin, but I'm not sure. Last year we had about 700 Kaya horses to fix and sell, and this year we had maybe 400 Kaya horses to fix and sell, and that wasn't including the Felicity horses and AGOT horses.

Joy

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ August 16, 2006 01:17 PM: Message edited by: djsnjones ]</font>