Mike Jackson’s Hartland Photos:
Dunn & Buckskin Western Horses

Text & Photographs Copyright Mike Jackson 1998-2008


This is a catch-all category consisting of several range of colors. To many, the light Dunns might look white and the Coffee-Dunn horses might look brown, but Buttermilk is always described as a dunn to it is appropriate to put them here. Some of the white horses turn to dunn color, even yellowish over time but I didn’t include them here.
Light Dunn Chubby with brown points, brown molded bridle:
When this horse mold became available, Dale Evans got her final horse mold for Buttermilk. This horse was used for the rest of her production, even when they offered the Purple Dale version and also in the re-released Stevens version of Dale Evans.
Light Dunn Chubby with brown points, brown painted on bridle:
When Hartland decided to produce Dale Evans to go with Roy Rogers, they changed the color of their Champ Cowgirl and put her on a Champ Style horse. This horse is from the earlier Chubby mold which did not have a molded bridle. They simply painted the bridle on the horse. I believe you might find either the Early Champ style Dale or the later official Dale on this horse for a while.
Light Dunn Champ with brown mane, tail, stockings and tack: Buttermilk
This horse didn’t seem to show up until the release of the early Dale Evans sets and the colorization matches that of the later Chubby style Buttermilks. It was probably always paired with the earlier Champ style cowgirl painted with the olive green Dale colors.
Walking with black points, slender tail:
Matt Dillon rode this horse almost exclusively, with the exception of the semi-rearing mane up version shown below. These horses range in color from a buttery buckskin to a slate gray buckskin, but I believe this is all due to fading of the plastic. You can see some of the buttery color in the protected areas under the saddle on many faded horses. This walking horse never has a wavy tail in this color.
Semi-Rearing mane up with black points:
This is a very rare version of Matt Dillon’s horse. You can see a little bit of the buttery color where it has been protected from the sun by the saddle. I don’t believe Maverick ever was comibined with this horse. Quite a few of Hartland’s earlier sets were switched over to semi-rearing horses around 1961, possibly to get previous customers to purchase the set again. Hard to say.
Semi-Rearing mane down with black points:
Maverick rode this horse, I believe, as his exclusive mount. Some have suggested he might be combined with the Coffee Dunn semi-rearing horse but I don’t have anything concrete to base that upon. For some reason, this mold seems to have a flaw right behind the tail and there is often a crack running perpendicular to the flow of the hair about 1/4" from the rump. I see it mainly on this color horse in this mold.
Head Down Coffee Dunn Prancer with black points:
This is probably my favorite horse, especially when combined with his only rider, Gil Favor. They are very hard to find. I believe this was Favor’s first horse which was replaced by the mane down Coffee Dunn horse for his most common mount. The details are still sketchy right now though.
Semi-Rearing Coffee-Dunn with mane down, black points:
This the most common horse used with Gil Favor and is shown in some of the 1961 Christmas Catalogs. A few collectors have combined this horse with Maverick, but I don’t believe that is a correct combination.
Stevens Plastics 1993 Buttermilk
This horse was recast in 1993 by Stevens Plastics in Hermann, MO from original molds for the Dale Evans set. It feels more like Styrene to me and is not as glossy as older Hartland sets. The brown is a shade lighter and redder and there is an abrupt line where the stockings end, where the older sets were smoother in the airbrushing.
Stevens Plastics 1993 Traveler:
Also recast in 1993 or 1994, Lee was placed on a white Chubby horse with black stockings, mane and tail instead of his normal walking horse. The plastic might be acetate but it feels more like styrene to me and some paint had chipped off the horse’s hooves with little or no use or abuse. The old Hartland company never painted a Chubby horse with these colors for a production run.
Stevens Plastics 1994 Northwind:
I wasn’t sure where to put this horse, since it really doesn’t historically have a color grouping of other golden horses. This ia a very nice looking horse and quite hard to find even though they aren’t very old. Stevens only produced a few dozen, maybe as many as 100. The Indian markings are hand brushed as opposed to the typical mask and airbrushed elements of the original Hartland years.
If you have, or know of any other 800 series dunn and buckskin horses, please let me know!