Mike Jackson’s Hartland Photos:
Slender Tail Walking Horses

Text & Photographs Copyright Mike Jackson 1998-2009


Slender Tail 800 Series Walking Horses
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.
Walking Appaloosa with slender tail:
This is the only horse used by Tom Jeffords. The horse was later sold separately as part of the Remuda grouping, but without the painted bridle. It was not used with any other rider. The paint film is very thin and rubbed easily. The Jeffords’ horse shown in the brochure phote indicates this horse should have three white stockings, but I have never seen a production piece with it.
White Stallion with black bridle, slender tail:
This horse seems to be a temporary mount for Brave Eagle. Evidence indicates there was a problem getting the semi-rearing wavy tail horse ready in time, causing a ripple effect through the product line. Brave Eagle does not set very well on this horse as he is leaning over shooting his bow. The box also shows Brave Eagle on a Semi-Rearing horse.

White Stallion with black tack, slender tail:
This is the second walking version of Clayton Moore’s Lone Ranger mold. This one is less common than the wavy tail mold because they switched him over to the full rearing horse shortly after moving him to his version.

Silver was also sold separately along with his normal saddle.
Several collectors report owning a Cropped Mane White Worse (Ajax) with a slender tail and black bridle, but I do not own one at this time.
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 Horse with Straight Tail, Full Mane and brown tack:
The straight tail mold was created after the wavy tailed version. This is a farily common version of the horse use with Preston.

I believe there is a cropped mane version of the straight tailed Preston horse, too. Actually, I thought I owned one, but I didn’t see it today.
Black Walking Horse with Straight Tail, Full Mane and red bridle:
This seems to be a very unique horse. Most seem to have a red martingale when it has a red bridle. This one doesn't have the normal silver dots. I can't give many details except to say it might be a Black Beauty or an odd variation of a horse used with Preston.
Walking Horse with Straight Tail, Full Mane & red tack:
This horse was probably a Black Beauty . If so, I am guessing it received the later smooth red saddle. Some brochures mention "Red Tack" for Preston, but I don't have any sort of documentation or confirmed sightings indicating this one was paired with Preston.
Walking Horse with Skinny Tail, Cropped Mane & red tack:
Phil Duncan owns this horse and sent it to me to photograph. Another identical horse recently appeared, so it appears to be a legitimate factory piece. Phil’s mane was a little bit on the rough sawed side, leading to some initial speculation that it had been cut off by a collector or dealer. This horse would have been used exclusively with Preston. A rare piece.
Black Walking Horse with Straight Tail, Full Mane and brown bridle:
This horse would be the standard mount for Josh Randall and would be unique to him.
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.
Walking White with black points, black tack:
General Lee’s standard horse in the later years. His first one would have been the same walking version with the wavy tail. At the end, he was moved to a Head Down Prancer. Somewhere in the meantime, he did the get horse shown below without the martingale. This horse is named “Traveler".
Walking White with black points, black bridle:
This a quite unusual horse for General Lee. I have no idea why they dropped the martingale on a few of the sets and they are farily rare. This horse is nameed “Traveler".

Brown Walking with black points, slender tail:
This horse is the most common version used with the Rifleman even though an earlier wavy tailed version does exist. Look for the black stockings!

His name is “Razor”. I've watched several of the old TV episodes and his horse always seems to be black.
Walking with slender tail, black mane and tail, brown paint over white plastic, white stockings & blaze:
This horse and the one below seem to be common horses used by Seth Adams (Ward Bond). I don’t really know the percentage of each, but there are probably more of the white over brown around since it gets shared with later Wyatt Earp sets. There just doesn't seem to be enough of this one around to suggest it was only used with Seth Adams.
Walking with black mane and tail, white blaze and stockings over brown plastic:
Later Wyatt Earps seem to share this horse with Seth Adams. It is more common than the similar horse above with the brown over white painting. Over the years, these two horses have been mixed and matched by collectors, though Earp does have a couple of other horse options.
Walking Race Horse with cropped mane, black tail and mane, very short tail:
Turf King seems to have only been produced for a year or so and then discontinued. Actually, this horse’s tail is glued onto the rear as opposed to the other slender tailed horses on this page who’s tails are actually part of the mold halves.
Walking Horse with black mane and tail, cropped mane, and white stockings and small straight glued-on tail:
Unlike the later slender tailed horses, this one was from the early walking horse mold. The tail on this odd one is the same tail as used on Turf King. Hartland may have just been trying various color schemes for their race horse. Currently, I know of only one like this one, and two like it with the wavy tail.
If you have, or know of any other slender tailed walking horses, please let me know!