800 Series Champ Cowgirl Sets

Text & Photographs Copyright Mike Jackson 1998-2009
This page is dedicated to the smaller 800 series Cowgirl Riders. To view all the 800 Series Champ style Horses, click here!

The Cowgirls #802 were introduced sometime in the middle of 1954. Some of the first confirmed sightings show up in fall magazine ads of that year. Some evidence exists to confirm they were still being sold as late as 1958, but it appears their main sales were during the earlier years, before the introduction of Dale Evans. The Cowgirls never even made it to Hartland consumer brochures!
 
800 Series Cowgirl Riders
800 series Cowgirls are roughly 7" tall, with both hands resting equally over the her upper thighs. The first two figures are usually considered to be the Cowgirls (often called Champ Cowgirls since they rode on Champ style horses), and the figure on the right is often described as the early style Dale Evans by collectors.

Mold Mark
Figure: not marked. Horse not marked.
 
#802 Champ Cowgirl Sets

Jade Green Cowgirl, Palomino Champ Horse
The Jade Green Cowgirl figure is very rare, along with her difficult to find hat. The Palomino horse with brown trim is not common, relative to many of the other Horse and Rider horse, but not scarce. This combination seems to be the more common known variation, but again, the limited number of known Jade Green Cowgirls doesn't give us much of a definite pattern to go by.
 

Jade Green Cowgirl, Brown and White Pinto Champ Horse
Besides Jade Green Cowgirl figure being rare, finding a rich colored brown pinto is equally tough. This combination is reported by several collectors to have been released, but I have not seen any sort of documentation yet.
 

Red and White Cowgirl, Black Champ Horse with white markings
The Red and White Cowgirls are harder to find than the early Dale figures, however this horse can be found without much of an effort. The horse is sometimes called an ebony "Blacksnake", as defined on the Chief Thunderbird instruction sheet.
 

Red and White Cowgirl, Black and White Pinto Champ Horse
The Pinto Champ horses are generally difficult to find. This horse is called "Paint" on the Chief Thunderbird instruction sheet.
 

Red and White Cowgirl, White Champ Horse
This combination is fairly easy to make, considering how many of the horses are around. The Chief Thunderbird instruction sheet lists Cowgirls being available on a Palomino, White, or Black horse.
  

Green Dale Evans Cowgirl, Dunn and Brown Champ Horse
After Hartland introduced their new Roy Rogers, Hartland quickly adapted the color scheme of their Champ Cowgirl to serve a temporary companion set. Besides the new paint colors, this set received a new hat. The figure seems to be more common than the horse.
  

Green Dale Evans Cowgirl, Dunn and Brown early Chubby Horse
As an intermediate combination, Hartland painted a brown bridle on their early Chubby horse in the traditional “Buttermilk” color scheme. The smooth style saddle wouldn't be ready for quite some time, so all early Cowgirls were paired with the pointed tapadero saddle. This horse is less common than the later version with the molded on bridle.
 
Documented!—but an unlikely combination:
Just for grins, I shot a set of photos of the combination shown in the old Hartland photograph on the left. Based on the hand positioning of the Cowboy, they are obviously 900 series sets. The colors clash on this pairing, and I really doubt this combination ever went out the door. Small Jade Green Cowgirls are so scarce that it is very difficult to get a good grasp of any kind of pattern.
 
Numbering:
Considering how many 800 series Champ sets were sold, it is surprising to me that so few of the boxes remain. Maybe part of that has to do with the fact they are quite generic, without any sort of colorful photo. Many of the boxes that do show up were printed for multi-purpose use, as shown above. The packaging department could simply circle the style of horse and rider that was inside. Additional letter codes include B, Bk, Br, and possibly others. 801 sets were used with Cowboys and 802 sets were shipped with the Cowgirls. While this box indicates there was a 800 Pal, I've never really seen other documentation indicating they sold the early Champ horses by themselves. With that said, an occasional oddball horse shows up once in a while which might fall into that scenario, such as a Palomino Champ horse with black tack. The box shown above contained a Red and White Cowgirl on a white horse.
 
Literature:
This is the only brochure photograph I have found so far and he is labeled #801P. It appears to be the blue shirted cowboy, and in this case it actually appears to be a 900 series horse and rider. The hat has the distinctive slant back on the crown and the figure’s legs are bent more at the knees. Click on the link above to see additional photos from magazine advertisements and other catalogs.
 
Cowgirl Pistols:
It is hard to say which of these two pistols was most commonly used with the Cowgirls, but the mold photo near the bottom indicates a similar gun to the one on the right was intended for the set.
 
#800 Champ Saddles
Hartland produced Champ saddles in basically two different molds, but in several different colors. The saddle on the left was generally used with the Cowboys, while the saddle on the right was most often used with the Cowgirls. In fact, that saddle can be clearly seen in the Cowgirl mold. The basic colors are Black, Brown, and Red, however a couple of shades of brown exist. Additionally, a few collectors have found a mysterious Blue Champ style saddle, but it unclear which rider (if any) was paired with it.
To view all the Champ Saddles, click here!
 
#800 Champ Hats
802 Hats: This hat above is the one shown in the injection mold below and was probably used with many of the Cowgirl sets. The hat below was produced to go with the Dale Evans configuration when in her green outfit.
 
802 Mold:
in This photo clearly shows the saddle with the big laces or dashes, along with her special hat. It also indicates she had a second generation gun, as opposed to a Champ style Cowboy pistol.
This page last modified Thursday, October 18, 2007