Penny the Horse

[American Girl Rescue]

American Girl Horse
Item# F1746
$65

as quoted from Meg's Guide:
(Originally released in 1998 Item# GAAH1 $62)

"This beautiful horse looks just like Penny! Braid her thick brown mane and tail, and stroke her velvety chestnut coat. Then position the royal blue saddle blanket and leather saddle, adjust the stirrups, take up the leather reins, and you’re off!"

Penny is 19" tall and just over 19" in overall length. She is very heavy, sturdy and solid. Her hard, plastic body is covered in thick velour except for her nose, ears, shins, and hooves.

Her reins and 'bit' are permanently attached to her muzzle. She has a beautiful "blaze" under her bangs. Her mane and tail are long, soft hair that feels just like the dolls' hair. Very easy to comb, brush and braid.

Her saddle is thin leather but very strong. The stirrups are real metal and adjustable in length so you are able to pull them up snuggly onto your doll's feet to help her stay in the saddle.

The size is large for a toy, but really not to scale for a 9 year old girl. She does look good in the saddle and beside her horse anyway. You really wouldn't want a play horse that was to scale to an 18" doll!

Wonderful construction and durability. Grade A.

Felicity and her horse (size comparison)

Blaze on her forehead, and permanently attached reins

Saddle and adjustable stirrups

Velvety coat down to her shins

Felicity sits well in the saddle

[mollygirl1944]

I recieved Penny as a gift from my mom to me and my sis. I just opened her last night. She is amazing! She is even more beautiful in person! She is nice and soft and very well made! Her blanket and tack are very nice and realistic. My only complaint is that Lissie can't ride sidesaddle on her! WOuld it be possible to made or find an aproppriate saddle in AG size?

[EofA]

Moved from a post Gracie made in another PT section:

gracie said:

Penny: I know some people don't like the horse because it doesn't look authentic, but I have to say it is still a LOT nicer than less expensive horses. We've had Penny for about three years now and she has held up very well with play. Her flocking hasn't come off and her hair is still very nice. DD also got the horse styling set recently and it is really fun to use with the horses. We looked at the Target horses recently and they seemed extremely cheap and plastic. I don't think you would be going wrong with getting Penny.

[Felicityfan85]

I don't really care for the OG horses even if they look more realistic-they still aren't more realistic than the AG horses because they don't have "fur." I've always wanted Penny, ever since she came out, and so I finally bought her in Dec. 2007 for my Felicity because that was her ten year anniversery of being with me. So of course she needed her beloved mare.

Penny is so soft and very pretty; Felicity looks perfect with her. The only thing I don't care for is that her mane and tail are much darker than the illustrations. That's okay though. She still gets a solid A from me.



She can ride bareback too.

[nomad]

Just received Penny about an hour ago. I love her. She's beautiful. Nice quality, very sturdy. She is more to scale for a pony, or a colt, rather than a full size adult horse.

Her tack on the other hand, bleh. Have the designers at AG never seen a real saddle? It's a flat piece of leather, no seat at all. I was expecting the girth to fasten on the side like a real saddle. Instead, it buckles in the center of her stomach. If you tried to fasten the girth there on a real horse, you'd be in danger of getting kicked. Not to mention that it's hard to reach. I had to flip Penny on her side to get it fastened. I don't think that would work with a real horse. The "saddle blanket" is just a thick chunk of felt. It would cast about $.50 from a craft store to replicate. I've never seen a bridle, halter, etc. that looked like that. Nor a one-piece rein. It's not even reins, because there's just the one circular strip, not two separate straps.

Overall Penny herself gets an A+. Her tack gets a D. Seriously AG, go study a State Line catalog for a couple of hours.

[mamato2browneyedgi]

Just wanted to add that Penny's "bridle" (or sad excuse for a bridle as it may be) is held on by a metal bar that actually goes right through her nose. If you attempt to remove it, you need to be very careful or you can end up removing her nose instead!