Horses
HORSE RIDING FILES SINDY & HER EVERLASTING LOVE OF HORSES
Hello Dolls! Welcome to this special XX-page supplement free with your March subscribers' copy of Mam'selle - a mini magazine for Sindy doll lovers, fans and collectors. We always knew we would need some space to share Sindy's lifelong love for horses - we just didn't realise we would need so much space! So, here you have a special supplement filled with equestrian themed scenesetters, accessories, and stylish riding fashions through the decades.
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Sindy Doll Supplement: Free with the March 2024 Issue * 03 All About Horses: Sindy’s love of horses through the decades 18 Way out West 22 Sindy Pony Club
COVER IMAGE: @dresslikeasindy / BACK COVER IMAGE: Pedigree Archive dresslikeasindy@gmail.com *Magazine subscribers only
ALL ABOUT HORSES
Images Pedigree Toys & Brands Ltd Archive
Sindy & her love of horses through the decades
1960s
Top: Sindy with her horse, Peanuts, and Patch with her pony, Pixie, from the 1969 Sindy brochure. Above: A horse of her own, 'Sindy's Horse', 1967 Right: 'Pony Club', 1963
Sindy was born in the swinging sixties, a time of massive change for young people, so it would be only fitting that Sindy would be one step ahead of the pack. She was launched as a funloving, grown-up girl in the city, but she certainly had one stylish boot rooted in the countryside. In 1963 she arrived with 16 designer fashions, separates and accessories. It made sense that one of those looks would be for riding; it was named 'Pony Club'. Horse riding was one of the first women's sports to receive widespread coverage on TV when, in 1958, the BBC first aired Grandstand. That same year a female show jumper, Pat Smythe, shared the Showjumper of the Year title with a man. In fact, Smythe was the first woman to ride in the Olympic Games in 1958 and again in 1960.
Image @sindytude
Above: Be it on country rides or at the gymkhana Sindy, of course, would be stylishly attired in her tailored and vented jacket, twill jodhpurs and checked blouse. 'Pony Club' 1963 and 1965 versions. Left: Sindy's Pony Gift Book, 1967. In this laminated casebound book Sindy shares all she knows about ponies and pony riding over 96pages. Includes full colour images and black images with a secondary colour.
1970s Top Left: 'Pony Rider', 1978. Above: 'Sindy's Horse', 1973 - Peanuts came with saddle, nosebag, broom and bucket. Below: New for 1977 was the strong and robust 'Stable' made in Holland by toy company SIO.
Images Pedigree Toys & Brands Ltd. Archive
Image @sindytud
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1970s
Top Left: Sindy's new pocket wise fashions, 'Jodhpurs and Sweater', 1971 Top Right: Sindy and Patch with Peanuts and Pixie in the 1971 Sindy brochure. Above: In 1974 and 1975 Sindy's Horse and accessories also came with a set of jodhpurs, a sweater and a riding hat for Sindy. Right: Sindy Pocket Money Play Situations offered a value 'Horse Care' playset in 1977.
Sindy may have received her first horse, Peanuts, in 1966, but by the next decade Sindy's love of horses had expanded vastly. In 1971 she had a colourful new riding outfit with red jodhpurs and a white sweater and Peanuts also got some stylish accessories in 1972. Three years later she had a new yellow sweater and beige jodhpurs for riding. The most significant horse accessory came in 1977 with the introduction of the wooden stable. The half-enclosed stall with outside grooming area is similar in illustration design to that of the first Sunny caravan (because both were made by the Dutch company SIO). The Sindy stable version can be identified by the towel that hangs on her wall - it has the Sindy logo on it.
Images Pedigree Toys & Brands Ltd. Archive Top Left: 'Pony Club', 1981. Top Right: Sindy got a new 'Foal' in 1984. Above: New 'Posable Horse', 1984. Right: 'Horsebox', 1980.
1980s
Left: Launched in 1982 Sindy's new 'Horsebox' was now made of plastic. New for 1984 was the 'Gymkhana Set'. Below Left: The new 'Gig and Horse, and 'Dapple Grey Horse', both 1982 Outfits from L-R: 'Horse Mad', 1985; 'Pony Club', 1982; 'Show Jumper', from 1984 had two outfits.
1980s The decade of excess certainly hit Sindy and her favourite hobby in the eighties. She had no less than nine new riding outfits and a number of accessories that meant she could take her horse-mad ways to the next level. 1980 saw the first new 'Pony Club' outfit - jodhpurs paired with a stylish navy sweater with a horseshoe motif. Sindy also got a new vinyl stable - the sides opened out to give a large play area. A wooden-effect double horsebox was also added to the range and could be towed behind her yellow buggy car.
Top Left: 'Horse Care Set', 1980 included horse blanket, nosebag, bucket, comb, brush, broom, rosette and trophy. Top Right: 'Pony Club', 1987 (image @sindytude); 'Pony Club', 1984. Right: 'Sindy's Gig and Horse' from 1984.
Other key horse themed scenesetters were launched during this time that further cemented Sindy’s equestrian career. Firstly, a 1982 maroon moulded gig set that was harnessed to her new dapple grey horse. There was also a separate navy gig - with the same large yellow wheels and tack - sold to add to an existing horse. Come 1985, Sindy had also acquired a gymkhana set with realistic jumps, and a bright blue injection moulded horsebox with a jockey door, dropping tail and front ramps. What's more, it could house two horses. >>
Images @sindytude
Sindy's livestock also grew. In addition to her chestnut horse and aforementioned dapple grey horse, in 1985 Sindy was given a new posable head horse and a chestnut foal to join the family Her riding wardrobe was updated with some high end outfits like 'Dressage' (1983), 'Show Jumper' (1984) - which included a mucking out ensemble too - and 'Spanish Eyes' (1985). A series of collectable motif jumpers, cravats and scarves were also added to updated outfits over the decade.
Above: 'Spanish Eyes', 1985 Below: The 'Stable' came out in 1980; this is the 1981 version.
Top Left: 'Gig and Horse', from 1985. Left: 'Palomino Horse Star', 1986 by Hasbro (image @sindytude). Below: 'Palomino Horse Star' with new moveable head, 1987 by Hasbro. Right: 'Pony Club', 1980 and 'Showjumper', 1983 (images both @sindytude)
Images @sindytude & Pedigree Toys & Brand Ltd.
Image @sindytude
Left: 'Pony Rider', 1983 Above: 'Pony Club', 1984. Below Left: Sindy and her foal in 1985. Below: Sindy and her horse).
Image from the Mirror newspaper
Images: Hasbro brochures Images: 'Show Jumping Play Set', 1993, Hasbro.
1990s Equestrian sporting highlights in the 1990s included two Olympic Games and three World Equestrian Games, the first of which was held in Stockholm, Sweden in 1990. Sindy therefore stayed ahead of the game with some show-stopping ‘show jumping’ looks. In 1991 a classy tweed jacket was teamed with detailed jodhpurs in a new career options collection. Two years later she got a new look, including a fitted pink jacket and printed scarf - which matched her beloved horse’s blanket and saddle blanket. Definitely looks for a horse riding champion in the making.
1990s
Image @sindytude
Images: 'Horse Rider' part of the Options collection from 1991 by Hasbro
2000s+
2000s+ Horse riding was still important to Sindy in the early years of the new millennium. This time as value playsets, the year 2000 saw Vet & Rider, with two outfits in one. Sindy could be a vet by day and tend to her Palomino horse, Zoe, with some colour change magic (a red injury on her knee that cleaned up and bandaged), and rider by night or weekend. The following year saw a fairytale Cinderella-style horse and carriage.
Left: 'Animal Hospital Vet & Rider Sindy', 2000. Below: 'Cinderella Horse and Carriage', 2001, both by Vivid Imaginations.
2020s+ 2020s+ The next time we would see Sindy with her beloved riding companion would be with the launch of Riding Club Sindy in 2021. This playset included a horse (admittedly a little smaller than Sindy’s original horse) and a modern blue and grey riding outfit for her early starts at the riding stables. In 2022, approximately 283,800 people participated in equestrian sports in the United Kingdom - so Sindy again was still very much on trend.
Images: 'Riding Club', part of Sindy Play by Kid Kreations, 2021; (illustration by Rachel Godfroy-Scott).
WAY OUT WEST
Howdy, Sindy!
Images this page and previous page @sindytude
Hot on the (horse) tail of successful late seventies shows ‘Little House on the Prairie’ and ‘Dallas’, Sindy too looked west. For the American and Canadian market a ‘Western Sindy’ swung into town in 1982. She wore dark jeans, one of two red designed checked shirts, a neckerchief, a tan brushed nylon fringed waistcoat and matching chaps. Distributed by Wesco there was also a gift set that included a horse, western saddlery and a trio of barrels for rodeo practice. The soap ‘Dallas’ may have been at the peak of its popularity in the early eighties, but a cowgirl style for a British Sindy was a more watered-down version of western style, with the Miss Sindy ‘Rodeo’ outfit (1982.) It featured a checked fringed shirt, light wash jeans and white cowboy boots - it was paired with ‘a hard to style’ floppy white felt hat.
Once upon a time in the West...
Right and below: ‘Western Sindy’, 1982 (international release)
Images Pedigree Toys & Brands Ltd Archive
Images The Little Sindy Museum Image by Starla
Above: The selection of ‘Western Sindy’ products showcased in the Pedigree 1983 International brochure. A ‘Western Sindy’, 'Western Horse’ and the gift set which also included 3 competition barrels. Below: ‘Western Sindy’ in her box.
Images @sindytude Images Pedigree Toys & Brands Ltd Archive
Above: ‘Desert Escapade’ and ‘Down Texas Way’, two paperbacks from the set of six Sindy Adventure stories that were published by Young World Productions in 1966.
Right: ‘Western Sindy’, 1982. Left: ‘Rodeo’ from the Miss Sindy range, 1982. Below: in packet.
Pony Club
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