Some Schleich I Like

I don't have a very large Schleich horse collection.  When it comes to solid plastic horses, I tend to prefer the CollectAs (which have the advantage of being designed by a hobby artist, Deborah McDermott) and the Safari Winner's Circle horses over the Schleich selection.

That being said, there are some Schleich I like, and one in particular that I like a lot.

2018 Schleich Dartmoor Pony Mare and Foal 

I've featured a couple of my Schleichs on this blog before -- the Dartmoor Pony mare and foal set.  I've also featured an older Schleich Shetland Pony gelding.  In addition to these I have a Dartmoor Pony stallion, an Icelandic Pony mare, a male zebra, an older Lipizzaner foal, a Bashkir Curly foal, and a Haflinger Pony foal.

2014 Schleich Shetland Pony Gelding 

  

By and large, I think Schleich does better with their foals than with their adults, and better with their ponies than with their horses.  With the exception of adding perhaps a few more exotics or long ears, I see my future Schleich purchases probably concentrating on the pony and foal sculptures.

Schleich 2015 Icelandic Pony Mare

My favourite of them all, so far, is the lying Haflinger foal.  It's just one of those things that make you want to go "Aw, look -- how cute!"

Schleich 2015 Bashkir Curly and 2005 Lipizzaner Foals

I don't know who designed this little one, but I think it's quite a realistic replica as far as Schleichs go.  Since all Schleichs are not made to the same scale, it's a bit difficult to rank her within the standard Breyer scales:  she's really too small for a Classic scale foal (1:12) but too large for Little Bit scale (1:24).  Nevertheless, she looks sweet on the shelf tucked in besides horses of either scale.

2005 Haflinger Pony Foal 

  

While I'm not a huge fan of Schleich, they certainly have their fanatics.  YouTube is full of videos of Schleich collections, many of them housed in elaborate model stables.  You can get so many weird and wonderful accessories for Schleich horses -- every time I see these set ups I can't help but think how much they would have appealed to me if I can encountered them at a much younger age.  Since I was well-grown before I discovered Schleich, however, I tend to buy them mostly when I'm needing a cheap plastic pony fix.

Schleich 2011 Dartmoor Pony Stallion and 2009 Male Zebra

However, not all Schleich are super-cheap.  Although solid plastic figurines have been produced under the Schleich name since the 1950s in Germany, it doesn't appear that Schleich got into horses in any meaningful way until 1985.  Many of those earlier Schleich models are now coveted collector's items.  Schleich has also been in the business of issuing limited special run horses since about 2009.

There are several Schleich reference sites, both current and historic, you can go to to identify your Schleich horses, but one of my personal favourites is DH Stables' blog (see link on my Favourite Blog List).  It seems to be a deserted blog now, but it still provides big, clear pictures of various Schleichs and other lesser-known model horses, such as those from Bullyland and Safari.

I also enjoy the Schleich company's own videos on YouTube, which have taught me (more or less) how to pronounce the company name.  It seems like it rhymes with "like" in English, but with "mice" in German.  Go figure.

Despite my determination not to spend a lot of hobby money on Schleich model horses, there's a sneaking suspicion in the back of my mind that one of these years I'm going to cave in and buy a Schleich Advent Calendar (which I've traced from 2019 to 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, and as far back as 2014).  I don't really need all the riders and accessories they come with, but those little Christmas collections are just too darned cute.  

And as far as I know, there ain't no cure for cute.  All you can do when faced with it is give in and just say "Aw!"