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| Sunny in the garden - after 2021 refresh |
At the very beginning I would like to point out that the described horse is the European version and its correct name is Suncharm - Rose Of Texas (1989). However, for me since I was a child, it was Western Fun, which I mention below.
Finally, after the first two purchases, I managed to find my coveted Western horse in all its glory. It was the begining of the December 2005. He showed up at the auction and this time he had to be mine!
Here is how he presented himself at the auction, at his former home in 2005:
I remember that the previous owner pointed out that he spent most of his time with her on the shelf. It seems to me that he came to me from the polish Tri-City (Gdańsk, Sopot, Gdynia). All these first horses were from Poland.
My joy was tremendous, one of the greatest gifts I have ever made for myself. Aside minor scratches, the lack of one blue ribbon, spare horseshoes, packaging and the tiniest detail of a red or silver lasso - he is perfect. The harness is complete, all medallions, saddle pad, saddle, leg protectors, ornaments, 3 ribbons and 4 horseshoes, I also got an original brush with him.
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| Sunny in 2006 |
I consider him to be the most beautiful horse Barbie has ever had. Besides, there is no need to hide that I have a great fondness for him, after all, it was my huge childhood dream.
So maybe now a little more about this model. It is part of a series from 1989 called Western Fun in the US and Suncharm in Europe. Though, for some reason, it has always been Western Fun for me. The horse in the American version was called Sun Runner, and in the case of Suncharm for EU - it name was - Rose of Texas. He belonged, of course, to Western Fun / Suncharm Barbie doll.
As for the dolls themselves, there were two Barbies in this series - a light-skinned blonde and a dark-skinned brown-haired, there was also Barbie's friend Nia, and Ken. In addition to the horse, there was also a dog - of course also my unattainable dream at that time - a beautiful Scottish Shepherd Collie, which, like the horse, had two versions of the name. For Western Fun he was called Turquoise, and for Suncharm he was called Tabasco. Unlike the horse, which I knew mainly from advertisements and catalogs, a friend from my primary school class had this dog. The series also featured - a Jeep, a motorhome with a detachable car, and less popular - a clothing boutique, a chalet - something like a summer house, a camping set with a tent and a BBQ set with a grill. In addition, it was possible to buy additional clothes in the characteristic colors and patterns of the series.
Currently, Turquoise has joined my collection (but about it you can read here), so far I do not own any doll from this series.
Below are two of my Sun Runners (actually Roses of Texas - as they are both EU versions) in 2006 (together with Farben they initiated my herd):
The Barbie-Pferde-Sammlung website distinguishes between two types of this model due to the color of the hooves (light and dark), in my humble opinion this is not the criterion you should adopt. Overall, each horse appears to have a unique, perhaps hand-painted, pattern. It is clearly visible even in the photo above - the spotting on the rumps are different. They both have completely different eyes, but in the same color. However, there is another detail that I noticed. Both of my horses have brighter background in the places where the spots are. This is clearly seen on a horse without a saddle and harness. On the internet I found pictures of these horses without this backgrounds. Another difference is in the decoration of the bridle - horses without brighter backgrounds have full silver squares on their noseband, while those with brighter background - have the squares only with a silver border, the inside of the squares is blue.
- And that is the right criterion to distinguish US version and the EU. So if the horse has a brighter background on shoulders and rump - you can definitely say that this EU version, so it is called - Suncharm - Rose of Texas (as both of mine). And if you find a bridle with full silver squares on noseband - you can be assured that it belongs to the US version (horse without brighter backgrounds), the horse is the part of the Western Fun series and his name is Sun Runner.
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| Sunny in 2015 |
It is generally accepted that the Western Fun / Suncharm series dates back to 1989. However, I saw catalogs where it also appears in 1990. At that time it could be that the series was on sale for several years - but this also happens nowadays.
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| Sunny after 2021 bathing |
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| After bathing in 2021 |
Barbie Western Fun is still unavailable to me - as I mentioned before - at the time of purchasing my beloved Sunny, I decided to buy him an equally cowboy Barbie from the then-current Cali Girl series (2004). The doll most likely was never been a toy. Since 2006, both - doll and horse have been out of the reach of children.
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| Sunny with Barbie Cali Girl in garden in spring 2021 |
Its full original equipment included:
- bridle with silver ornaments
- western type bit
- two-piece reins
- western type saddle with shoe covers (tapaderos) decorated with silver trimmings
- saddle pad with folk patterns
- fringed leg protectors
- horseshoes - 6 pieces
- round medallions: for saddle - 6 pieces, for tapaderos - 4 pieces (plus spare)
- oval medallions for ribbons - 4 pieces (plus spare)
- 4 ribbons - 2 pieces blue, 2 pieces pink
- bridle decoration - medallion and fabric background with fringes
- lasso - red or silver
- brush
This year, after washing and refreshing, Sunny got from me an additional, unfortunately not original, but similar to the original, blue ribbon to braid on the tail. So now he is currently in his full catalog hairstyle.
Sun Runner is a typical Barbie horse at that time, created on the basis of the so-called Arabic mold, more precisely Prancer mold - the first Barbie horse in this shape, which appeared on the market in 1983. Therefore, on the inside of the thigh, all horses in this shape have this year in their signature, which many people confuse, wrongly assigning age to much younger models. Going back to the mold itself, as I wrote, it is a real horse shape, tailored to a Barbie doll from those years - a perfect horse. Exaggerated maximally, such a miracle does not occur in nature, not even that created by man. Sunny has Arab features, while his color indicates the American Appaloosa breed, perfectly suited to the Western atmosphere, as well as the Indian folk patterns of its equipment. Due to the unique color in the world of Barbie, this model cannot be mistaken for any other.
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