Barbie Sprint Horse (1994) - the horse that passed me by in the past- Queenie

As a child, I asked my grandfather to buy me this horse ,when he asked me what I would like to get from him. At the time, he was living in the United States and was going to visit Poland. He brought it and I could even hold it for a while, but he gave it to my younger cousin. My disappointment was huge because it was the thing I dreamed about and my sister was not very interested in this toy. None of my arguments reached my grandfather. The horse I am writing about was the US version - it was called High Stepper and it differed slightly from the version available in Europe.

Recently, while cleaning up, I found a page with this horse torn out of the Barbie Journal, at the top there was the name I gave this mare - Queen.

After I bought Blizzard, the seller from whom I bought it put on ebay a European version of the first self walking horse for Barbie - a horse that passed me by in 1995. The horse on ebay was in perfect condition, brush, hair clips and ribbons - were missing. I was watching the auction till ast day, and just before the end of the auction, something broke inside me and I decided to join the auction - the price was also attractive. And so on May 23, 2021, I won the auction.

Below is my Queenie at the auction:

Switch on tail

She arrived to me from Germany, on Children's Day, June 1, 2021. After unpacking, it underwent a gentle refreshment - wiping with moist wipes. Her saddle pad was washed and the bridle, reins and saddle were also cleaned.

Queenie is the European version of Barbie's first self-walking horse. Its Mattel name is Sprint. In the pictures above and below, you can see a few features that make it different from the US version, called High Stepper. Sprint has a different saddle - the High Stepper had no straps to support the doll, its saddle was more like the first version of the walking Tawny (the saddle my Elsa was wearing at the time of purchase). Other characteristic features of the Sprint are - no switch between the front legs, split arm housing, no visible screws in the joints, another type of batteries used to power up horse - US version requires four AA type, when the EU version uses two C type .

Another difference between the High Stepper and the Sprint is the head marking. Sprint has it ending at the lower corner of the eyes and is shaded. The High Stepper has a large overlapping blaze with a clear borderline and no shading.

The Sprint, as seen in Queenie's example, has a body that is the same shade as the neck and legs. The High Stepper's body was slightly brighter and shinier than the rest of the body.

This horse was sold in 1993/1994. In the Journals, featured Barbie was as a Camp Barbie. Hers denim saddle pad, on the other hand, refers to the US-exclusive Barbie Denim and Ruffles, which in 1994 was sold as a set with this horse. No one of these dolls were on the Sprint / High Stepper packaging.