Mike Jackson’s Hartland Photos:
Palomino Western Horses

Text & Photographs Copyright Mike Jackson 1998-2008


800 Series Palomino Western Horses were used on quite a few sets during Hartland’s production run. Some are deep amber/ochre while some have faded to almost pea green. The Palominos are quite common, but finding one in near mint condition is still fairly difficult.
Champ with brown tack: Western Champ
Some brochures and literature suggest that this horse is actually called the “Western Champ” and his rider is called “His Master”, usually in brown chaps with blue shirt. I am fairly certain that other riders including the Jade Green Cowgirl rode this horse, though it is possible she went with the Palomino Champ with the black tack. Hard to say!
Champ with blue tack: Trigger
Basically, this is the same horse as the one above but it seems to have been adapted as an early Trigger by changing the tack to blue. Roy Rogers is seen on this horse for quite a while in Sears Christmas Catalogs and other places, apparently waiting for the release of the regular walking Trigger.
Champ with black tack:
I don’t actually own this one but news of it comes from a reliable source. My blue tack version of this horse actually has very dark navy blue tack, but this is actually black. It is possible a mount for the Jade Green Cowgirl, but actually it could have had a black Champ saddle and had a variety of riders, if at all.

Walking Palomino with wavy tail, blue tack: Trigger
This is the the second Trigger, following the earlier Champ version. For the first few years, this horse would have chain reins. It is a fairly common variation of the horse, though finding a palomino in near mint condition is hard to do. After this mold variation, Roy Rogers was switched to the slender tail version.

Trigger was also sold separately along with his saddle, often with this mold variation.
Walking Palomino with slender tail, blue tack: Trigger
This is the the second Trigger, following the earlier Champ version. For the first few years, this horse would have chain reins. It is a fairly common variation of the horse, though finding a palomino in near mint condition is hard to do.
Walking Palomino with wavy tail, black bridle and cropped mane: Bugler
Bugler is the most common horse for General Custer. The same horse is found for Custer with the slender tail, and later a head down prancer.
Walking Palomino with black bridle and cropped mane, slender tail: Bugler
Bugler is the most common horse for General Custer. The slender tail version seems to be less common than the full wavy tail version above.
Head Down Prancer with white points:
I have one reliable source that says he got this horse with his Custer set when he was little. Since later Lee sets did get this horse, I tend to believe him. Most have unpainted bridles, but I have another friend who has one with a black bridle which he thinks is a factory paint job. This horse was sold individually as part of the Remuda grouping for several years, too.
Semi-Rearing mane down with black tack:
Quite honestly, I don’t know if this horse ever had a rider. Recently, a collector located a Champ Palomino with black tack, too. This one normally has blue tack as shown below. It very well could have been produced later as a horse only piece.
Semi-Rearing with blue tack: Trigger
Sometime around 1961 and maybe into 1962, Hartland took the Roy Rogers figure and saddle off his full rearing horse and put him on a semi-rearing horse with blue tack. They are shown in several Christmas Catalogs that way, however this horse is still very hard to find. Roy normally came in the horizontal fringe mold when paired with this horse.
Semi-Rearing with mane down and black bridle:
Again, I believe this horse was sold separately as an 800-P horse in some of the later years. I don’t believe this one ever had a rider, however collectors might run across the variation.

Full Rearing 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.
Full Rearing without painted bridle or martingale:
Again, 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. As it turns out, every one of these horses have small staple holes in their hooves from being stapled to a box of chocolate. I've heard it originally had some sort of gold bridle.
If you have, or know of any other Palomino horses, please let me know!