Collection Review: Schleich Andalusians

Figure Brand: Schleich

Figure Name(s): Andalusian Mare (13793)
Andalusian Stallion (13821)

Sex: Male and female

Name: Andalusian Mare – Andrea
Andalusian Stallion - Carlos

Year Made: Andalusian Mare – 2016
Andalusian Stallion - 2017

Observations/Thoughts:

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Andrea is really pretty horse, definitely one of my favourites, if not my ultimate favourite horse model, she is so pretty! I love both her pose and creamy pale beige shades in contrast with her dark brown mane. For once, her pose is made pretty or delicate and I don’t really mind.
I think Schleich did very well with her in every aspect of her. From sculpt, pose, colour etc. all work beautifully together and she seems more detailed than later horse models? Her face and mane are well sculpted with individual muscles and veins visible in her cheeks/muzzle area, her mane equally has individual locks of hair.
Her pose is an active one, made to look as though she is prancing, but elegantly, like in dressage? One foreleg is bent in a stepping forward sort of pose. I find her colour and coat pattern so well painted and detailed, what I love is the gorgeous little silver-grey spots all showing through on her coat. These speckled marking show up all along her flanks, thighs, and shoulders. They look so soft and perfect on the creamy beige brown coat behind. Her body shows interesting markings and gradients, with her face being white then turning creamy brown all the way down her neck. Her legs then turn dark brown, then beige cream with one foreleg being longer or higher in white than the other- this little detail is so cool and realistic looking. The same on her hind legs, one white stripe is higher than the other. I’m not sure about her tail, it seems to be two toned with dark brown first, then a gradient of cream at its tip. Though I’m not sure about it, it doesn’t stop me loving this horse.
I called her Andrea because I was looking for a suitably Spanish sounding name, even though I believe it’s Italian, it suits her grace but strength? It’s also a name that’s generally feminine but can be masculine too and indeed means ‘manly’. I like it on Andrea herself as in comparison to other Schleich mares she’s not made overly…boring? Static? Too dull and pretty in pose? She has movement and a gentle sort of strength…

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The Andalusian Stallion however is a lot different. In comparison to Andrea, Carlos is the version of a horse breed that has the somewhat static pose. Odd to see with a stallion. First off, I’m certain his outstretched foreleg looks strange? The elongated way it’s made to seem like it’s jutting out looks a bit weird to me.
He does have a nice well detailed sculpt with facial structure and some muscles being present, however his pose is less active, with only the foreleg outstretched. Carlos does not adopt a very active pose, he merely stands there with all four feet on the ground. He also seems to be made shorter and squatter looking than the mare Andrea? She at least seems elegant and with some height to her, but Carlos seems a bit shorter? With a bigger head? A strange but evident difference in both mare and stallion.
Other than that, his colouring and coat pattern is pretty too, just not, in my opinion as nice as Andrea’s but it’s still unusual and pleasing. In comparison to her he isn’t brown but cream and charcoal through to black.
His face, shoulders, ribs and forelegs are all cream with only a slight variant of dark charcoal grey to black on his nose and lower legs. However, unusually so, his lower half then turns completely grey, first with a gradient through tot to black in his hooves and tail tip His body does have the creamy grey speckles like Andrea but maybe because of his cooler colouring I don’t find them as beautiful as hers? Even though, of course his colouring and coat pattern make for a beautiful combination, I just wish he was given a more interesting or more active pose. Would be nice to see a galloping or rearing one for him, these are stunning horses and I think they do deserve a pose matching that.
Again, I gave him a suitably Spanish name Carlos, which means Valiant. A fitting name for a very deserving horse breed.

Rating: Andalusian Mare – 5/5
Andalusian Stallion – 3/5

Andrea is Italian and Spanish. Though, while in Italia is more commonly used as a male name, in Spain it is rarely used as a male name and commonly used as a female name. So, it is correct. I also agree the mare is a much more balanced figure. The pose and the very feminine style reminds me the 2014 Arabian mare but the Andalusian is much more serious.
You're right also about the stallion, the first thing I noticed was that very long head and I thought it could be the angle but it is defintely out of proportion and not elegant at all. Is there a chance that you show both figures nose to nose? However, there is something I love about your Andalusian stallion, it has the best name in the world.

I like everything about the Andalusian mare except her mane(hence why I don't own her).

Thank you Roger! I had to give him a suitable name, right?!
He reminds me of a pony actually, with a shorter squatter body and a longish head which come to think of it, it's definitely out of proportion

Ponies and Paint, it's that light cream tail end that I'm not a fan of with her, but that's the only thing really.

Brandubh94 wrote:

Thank you Roger! I had to give him a suitable name, right?!
He reminds me of a pony actually, with a shorter squatter body and a longish head which come to think of it, it's definitely out of proportion

I wouldn't say a pony. Some Schleich horse figures looks like a pony but it often happens when the whole figure is much chubbier than it should be. Here it is more like those caricatures which mix realistic elements with oversized ones. Even the head is not consistently large, it looks deformed as someone stretched it out. Schleich is commissioning different sculptors for their horses, I believe this pair is not the job of the same sculptor.

Overall I think he does look so strange, like some sort of oversized pony kinda thing, or at least a bad attempt at one. It's the elongated head with the overly small squat body just looks so odd to me

My favourite Andalusians!

I love both of them and I am very happy to own both in my collection.
The mare is absolutely ravishing! She looks very elegant and has such a sweet, almost shy look to her. I love her coat colour (such a beautiful buckskin) and her mane and tail look also pretty nice. The tail of my model is probably painted a bit better than yours as mine has a really nicely done ombre effect going from black to brown to tan (and almost to white). She just looks like an Andalusian.
I called mine Anna after one of the Anna's from my stories.

The Andalusian stallion is also a very pretty model. He looks very handsome and elegant. I think that he represents an Andalusian quite well. His body shape is actually typical for this breed as Andalusians are baroque horses and have a rather "powerful" conformation. I also like his head, he looks very "Andalusian - like". I've never noticed that his head is elongated or anything like that. He is just one of my favourite stallions in my collection.
Mine is named Prince of Aragon and Aragon for short because he always looked noble to me.
Carlos is a very Spanish name and definitely suits an Andalusian. It just reminds me of a character out of my stories that I called like that and he had a twin sister called Alicia. So if I ever would have called this model Carlos I would have most probably called the mare Alicia (even though I have these two as a couple and not as siblings).
But Andrea suits her just right.

Thank you Katy! Yeah sometimes we can give out a bit about models while other collectors here really love them! I absolutely agree on the mare, she's probably one of my top favourite models actually