Stable Stars, another tiny horse series

I found some more little horses, which is of course very exciting.  These are in package also, but unfortunately, the top of the package has been cut off, removing any indication of what the series might be called! That's unfortunate, but at least I know some things from it, namely what the rest of the series looks like.

The package says CharterKing and Woolworth, and "distributed by F.W. Woolworth" so I assume it was made by CharterKing and sold in Woolworth stores?

Anecdotally, other collectors have said they found these same horses in the 80's under the name "Stable Stars" but that the packaging looked different, or that they found theirs at stores other than Woolworth, so it's also possible these same figures were distributed in other places under other marketing.

Here's the front:
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And the back:
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The horses themselves are nicely made, for such a small size. Sturdy plastic, good detail, and all stand up well. The colorways are mediocre unfortunately, but not terrible. There are two things that link them to, of all things, the Funrise horses. One is the black and white pinto on the back of that box. That is a very distinct colorway that I was seen twice so far, once on the Funrise horse and once on a Wild Republic horse that was in a set of other horses that looked like the Funrise horses. The color is not a usual one for a real horse, so it feels like they are so similar for a reason relating to their production. Here are the three of them together. (The third photo is not mine, it was provided by someone else.)
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To see it a third time makes me wonder if they were made in the same place.

This horse is the second thing that makes me think they might have been: Dutch Warmblood. Weird to call this one a warmblood since it is so clearly a gaited horse, and based on the Standardbred mold.  
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But interestingly, his colorway looks just like the Funrise Danish Warmblood (well, when you have one where the white doesn't bleed onto the hooves like on mine). So maybe there is a connection between these two sets. I don't know!
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Here is the Lipizzaner. I am not sure if it the white paint has yellowed or if that was the intended shading.
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And the Thoroughbred.
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If you have any of these or happen to know what they are called, I would love to know!

Immediate update, haha! I found this searching tonight (not for sale unfortunately).

"Stable Stars: International Horse Show Collection" is the entire branding name!   Weirdly similar to the Funrise's "International Show Horse Collection" I have to say. Also have to point out, they called the gaited mold a Quarter Horse here, and the one next to it that is actually made in the Breyer quarter horse mold the Tennessee Walker, an actual gaited breed. So close and yet SO far!!
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You're our expert at finding tiny horse figures nobody knows.
Charterking is defintely the company and you are right, they are conceptually very close to the Funrise series. These two set pictures is also what I can find in African websites. They tell they're imported from USA so one more US brand. As you know, those small labels don't have their own production, a China or Hong Kong based manufacturer produces the figures. What I suspect is that they're probably from the same manufacturer of the Funrise horses. Something like Toy Major or so.

I remember these little horses from my childhood!Woolworths in my home city stocked these and the Breyer Stablemates at the same time.

I wonder are these the same horses?They are not marked.
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Yeah that's them! :) Mine are not marked either except with "China."

That's great!Mine are just marked with China as well.I had them in a bag of miscellaneous models!

I opened a very rudimentary page about these tiny horses. To be worked and improved.
Here is the link for reference:
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Roger wrote:

I opened a very rudimentary page about these tiny horses. To be worked and improved.
Here is the link for reference:
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Wonderful, thank you! It looks like the "Dutch Warmblood" got put in there twice, as the Thoroughbred.

Also a bit of bad news for labeling breeds on TAW. I found another set (hooray!), but this one has the "Morgan" and "Tennessee Walker" flipped. I wonder if they were inconsistent with all the breeds? Here is how my second batch was packaged:

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Clearly they are packaged in many different ways, including the set of all 12 on the backcard of this one. This one also isn't labeled for Woolworth, so probably sold in other places as well. I think we can label the breeds as we actually find them in hand for TAW, but I wonder how many are just randomly labeled.

Quarter Horse (absolutely terrible breed assignment, just like the warmblood. It would have been inaccurate as a Tennessee Walker but at least that would have been a gaited breed!)
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Tennessee Walker
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Morgan
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Sorry, I'm lost again. These are many little horses for a poor crocodile.
Now I don't know which breed to use for each figure.
Another thing, doesn't this TWH looks like a Morgan and the Morgan like a TWH?

You are correct to be confused! It's a terribly labeled set for sure.

The Morgan and the Tennessee Walker breed label seems to have been applied to the same two horses but swapped in different sets. I labeled them according to the package I received them in. For confirmation, I zoomed in on the whole set picture on the back of the package and read the label for each breed as it was assigned in that set, just to see what they call them when they are all together. That feels the most official, and it matched the ones I purchased. Here is the complete list with the horses I have pictured under them:

1. Karabair
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2. Tennessee Walker
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3. Lippizaner
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4. Thoroughbred
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5. Palomino
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6. Quarter Horse
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7. Pinto
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8. Morgan
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9. Danish Warmblood
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10. Appaloosa
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11. Arabian
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12. Saddlebred
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Frustratingly, they used the wrong breed for most of these molds, but for TAW I guess it is important to list them as they appear on the package! But the fact that they included "Karabair" I think confirms they are pulling from the same pool as Funrise and Toy Major. Those are the only other companies including Breyer to ever represent that breed, however poorly.

thanks, now it is clear and that's the best way in my opinion too.
I need things explained like these, I easily mix everything even when there's no good excuses to use.

It is very easy to get all these tiny horses confused!

Could you check please if it is correct now? I doubt. :lool: Quarter and Danish warmblood almost look the same.

That looks correct! :) Yes, they used a lot of very similar looking colorways. But that also is very much like the Funrise set.

Jill wrote:

That looks correct! :) Yes, they used a lot of very similar looking colorways. But that also is very much like the Funrise set.

Exactly, I think there's a link between Stable Stars, Funrise and Toy Major. Look at the Danish brothers.