Full Rearing Horses

Mike Jackson’s Hartland Photos:

FULL REARING WESTERN HORSES

Text & Photographs Copyright Mike Jackson 1998-2008

Full Rearing Horses rest on their tail for the third “leg”. There is a chance the mold was broken in around 1961 when Hartland substituted semi-rearing horses for several of the sets that had been getting the full rearing horse. Only Oakley made it through that period without the semi-rearing horse. Possibly the mold was remade or repaired, as several of the sets started showing up again with full rearing horses in years following the semi-rearing sets.

Palomino with blue tack:
This is the standard horse for Annie Oakley and one of the later horses for Roy Rogers.

When used with Roy Rogers, it would have been called Trigger and there is a possibility he was sold separately as Trigger for a while with just a saddle.When combined with Annie Oakley, it would have been called Target.

White with black tack:
The Clayton Moore Lone Ranger was paired with this horse in later years following years of production using a walking horse. It is less common than the walking horse but generally not that rare.

Palomino without painted bridle or martingale:
This horse was probably sold separately. Some brochures seem to indicate that Oakley might have been riding a horse with a painted bridle but no martingale, but I have never see or heard of that horse. Every one of these horses have small staple holes in their hooves from being attached to a box of chocolate. I've heard it originally had some sort of gold bridle.

Black Horse with red tack:
Black Beauty horses seem to have tagged along over the years using their most dynamic horse mold of the time. I believe this is one from the later years. I probably had one of the later style red saddles which turn up once in a while.

Full Rearing Black Horse with red bridle:
This is also probably a Black Beauty variation, though it seems to be very rare. It does appear to be an original factory paint job.

Full Rearing Horse with brown bridle:
Like the horse above, I don’t know for certain which rider went with this horse—whether they had one at all. Black Beauty documentation has always mentioned red tack so this brown bridle might lead me to believe it “could be” a Ranald Mckenzie horse.

(Note: I adjusted the red bridle color in Photoshop so I could show this horse here. I do not own this horse variation)

Solid Black Horse with unpainted bridle:
This is the normal all black horse used with Ranald Mckenzie. In later years, it appears that Hartland substituted an all black-semi rearing horse for Mckenzie.

One collector reports having a Solid Black Full Rearing horse with a brown bridle. I don’t own one.

Full Rearing Horse with brown bridle and martingale:
This is a recent addition to the Black Horse pages. It is believed to be a legitimate combination for Sgt. Preston.

If you have any other variations other than the ones shown here, please let me know!