Who knows about this intringuing and misterious horses set?... Toy Major!!!

Hmm, we don't have any horse colours called tan in English, bay with a cream gene is called buckskin.

I've only heard Isabella to refer to the palest palominos, it's not genetically any different from any of the brighter copper-coloured palominos (single cream gene on chestnut) but just a nickname for the palest shades - the story is Isabella of Spain liked that colour, so they were named in her honour.

This mustang model doesn't look like either though, a palomino wouldn't have a dark mane and tail, and a buckskin would have dark legs.
I suspect paintjob design by someone who didn't really know horse colours that well, and just thought some brown ones have black hair, we'll paint that

In my Toy Major information quest, I found this - possibly the origins of this set? These look like the originals, the one we have the complete set of on TAW.

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Their packaging matches this (at least the Horse Collection logo), where we can see the Toy Major label, and the seller listed them as Toy Major. So even though I can't find Toy Major on the package because of how the photos are cropped, I feel like it's fairly safe to assume that it DOES say Toy Major, off frame? Perhaps?

Sorry to have only other people's ebay photos as reference! But I have been anxiously watching for these guys to show up in package somewhere. (Unfortunately I cannot buy them with the shipping cost from Australia . . . but I know what I'm looking for now!)

What a wonderful detective work you're doing. I was just checking the breeds you posted [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and immediately I moved to this topic because the breeds are the exact same. Some designs are also very similar even if strangely the larger horses seem less faithful to some breeds.
As I posted on the 1994 topic, I am convinced the smaller Toy Major figures are not marked with the T.M. logo. With those evidences, it is clear for me those are Toy Major. Yes, it means I will rename all these models but that's the goal, to find the most accurate information as possible.

Now that you mention it, the better painted versions of this small set I have found so far seem to match the big horses somewhat - the mustang in particular with the tall back stockings and the orangeish body and black hair. I thought he looked familiar!

The two Mustangs and the two Budyonny - undeniable relationship!

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Jill wrote:

The two Mustangs and the two Budyonny - undeniable relationship!

Sure, I am surprised how much a horse can grow in a single year.
Certainly the Budyonny was the link between sets for me because it is a breed we never see in toy shape. Also, they are very similar.
An interesting point about these two sets is that the smaller ones have 12 different moulds while the larger ones use only six. It may explain why the smaller ones are marked with breed name while the larger models are just marked horse. It is not impossible to use different markings for the same mould but the manufacturing process gets siimplified when the markings are the same.

Roger wrote:

Jill wrote:

The two Mustangs and the two Budyonny - undeniable relationship!

Sure, I am surprised how much a horse can grow in a single year.

I feed them well

Quote :

Certainly the Budyonny was the link between sets for me because it is a breed we never see in toy shape. Also, they are very similar.

That true, it feels like one of Funrise's obscure breeds. Interesting they would choose to represent a little known breed and still somehow get the common ones like Clydesdale so utterly wrong.

Quote :

An interesting point about these two sets is that the smaller ones have 12 different moulds while the larger ones use only six. It may explain why the smaller ones are marked with breed name while the larger models are just marked horse.  It is not impossible to use different markings for the same mould but the manufacturing process gets simplified when the markings are the same.

I feel like the smaller ones are more accurate, too. The draft horses at least actually look like draft horses. So maybe the small set was first, and the list of breeds already existed, and they applied it to a more generic set of horses as well.

Jill wrote:

Roger wrote:

Jill wrote:

The two Mustangs and the two Budyonny - undeniable relationship!

Sure, I am surprised how much a horse can grow in a single year.

I feed them well

Quote :

Certainly the Budyonny was the link between sets for me because it is a breed we never see in toy shape. Also, they are very similar.

That true, it feels like one of Funrise's obscure breeds. Interesting they would choose to represent a little known breed and still somehow get the common ones like Clydesdale so utterly wrong.  

Quote :

An interesting point about these two sets is that the smaller ones have 12 different moulds while the larger ones use only six. It may explain why the smaller ones are marked with breed name while the larger models are just marked horse.  It is not impossible to use different markings for the same mould but the manufacturing process gets simplified when the markings are the same.

I feel like the smaller ones are more accurate, too. The draft horses at least actually look like draft horses. So maybe the small set was first, and the list of breeds already existed, and they applied it to a more generic set of horses as well.

I agree with all, especially with the fact that you feed well your horses.
Actually, those small horses are quite acceptable for their breeds. At least they knew what they were doing. Toy Major is a manufacturer, they have a lot of "already" designed products that other companies specifications are more about color and material. Though, a big part are also designs according with the exact specifications of their clients. I am convinced it was what happened with Funrise. I don't believe Toy Major had so many breeds in their catalogue, likely Funrise presented a project and Toy Major adapted to their own production methods and resources. It was probably also what happened with this 1993 set, it was probably released specifically to a brand and they adapted it to larger moulds in 1994. When they use the same mould for a Mustang and a Percheron or the pair of a Lipizzaner with a Clydesdale, it is quite bizarre. Maybe it was acceptable the same mould for a Lipi and an Andalusian, for instance but they clearly were much more interested in releasing differently colored horses, I guess. Play Visions is not a horse oriented brand, they even merged these horses with their Minis in the part of the catalogue dedicated to cheaper stuff.

Two more! More miniatures of the larger Toy Major set.

Andalusian E
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Anglo-Arab G
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George wrote:

Hmm, we don't have any horse colours called tan in English, bay with a cream gene is called buckskin.

I've only heard Isabella to refer to the palest palominos, it's not genetically any different from any of the brighter copper-coloured palominos (single cream gene on chestnut) but just a nickname for the palest shades - the story is Isabella of Spain liked that colour, so they were named in her honour.

This mustang model doesn't look like either though, a palomino wouldn't have a dark mane and tail, and a buckskin would have dark legs.
I suspect paintjob design by someone who didn't really know horse colours that well, and just thought some brown ones have black hair, we'll paint that

OK, so the english name for "Isabelle" coat color is "Buckskin". I'll try to remember that.

All these Toy Major horse pairs are wonderful!

So, I found this today while looking for tiny horse stuff. A different packaging of the same horses of the original Toy Major set (well, four of them, just like that set but not the same four). These were apparently made by Boley. I don't know if that means anything, or if it's still likely Toy Major making them and Boley is just a brand name. Unfortunately there was only one poorly cropped picture on the ad.

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Jill wrote:

So, I found this today while looking for tiny horse stuff. A different packaging of the same horses of the original Toy Major set (well, four of them, just like that set but not the same four). These were apparently made by Boley. I don't know if that means anything, or if it's still likely Toy Major making them and Boley is just a brand name. Unfortunately there was only one poorly cropped picture on the ad.

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Do you know WHAT YEAR this package was released? Did you see a release date on it?

The date on the tiny lettering on the package says 1995 but no other information or photos were provided.

Likely this is another set around the same moulds. Toy Major 1993 designs manufactured for Boley and released in 1995.