Barbie California Girl Horseback Riding Summer and her horse

The girls came to me as a set, they had a shared bath, washing and combing their hair, so I will not separate them and I will devote one post to them. There will also be plenty to read and watch as this is the first horse of the California Girl series in my collection. The series was released in 2004. It was really special and I will write a little about it. In addition, I will describe a rather laborious and time-consuming process of preparing both ladies for the period of a quiet collector's retirement.

Jaqueline and Baja after cleaining

Summer is obviously not my first doll, nor is it the first doll of the Cali Girl series in my possession, but it will be the first doll to be described here. Her home name is Jaqueline as there is one more Cali Girl Summer in the collection who has kept the original name. To be precise, the first California Girl doll in my collection was a western or horseback riding blonde Barbie, which can be seen in the Sunny post. I bought it in 2006 as a temporary companion to the Suncharm / Western Fun series.

photo by Mattel

Cali Girl Summer & Horse
Product#: H0836
Released: 2005
Discontinued: 2008

Original Mattel Description:
Barbie® doll, Summer® doll, and Lea® doll - wear their own trendy horseback riding fashions for their super-cool, adventurous, outdoor lifestyle. Each doll comes with a realistic, highly detailed and fully articulated horse. The girls are ready for long rides in the canyon or a fast gallop along the beach at sunset with their laid back California look. Barbie® doll wears a cowgirl hat, capri pants with a halter-top and boots. Lea® doll wears capri jeans with a floral top, cowgirl hat and sandals. Summer® doll wears capri pants with a t-shirt, sweater and cowgirl boots. The horses even have sun-streaked manes and each comes with shells, beads and a cool beading wand for the girl to add beads to the horse’s hair or her own hair.

photo from the web

When the California Girl series was on sale in 2004 (the year horses first came out, beach dolls in the series were available from 2003) - 2005 attracted my attention, of course mainly because of the horses. Although I liked them very much, due to the representation of realism, I had mixed feelings. The price was quite high, and there was something wrong with the articulated legs. Although these horses are perhaps one of the most realistic, both in terms of paint and hair. They also have very realistic accessories - tack, panniers and although the saddles are without stirrups, they are also very similar to the real ones. The Western / Horseback riding collection includes three dolls - Barbie, Summer and Lea. Each of them had her own horse - Pacifica, Baja, and Topanga. The collection also included a stable and four foals, sold in pairs - Hermosa and Redondo as well as Torrance and Laguna. The first pair was lighter and the second a little darker. I'm not sure if they were related to adult mares. I would stubbornly assume that the lighter children are Pacificas and the darker - Bajas. Topanga remains without offspring, unless the designers intended it to be a stallion - the minds of Mattel's designers are unexplored.

photo by Mattel

Dolls and horses were sold separately as well as sets. In doll boxes stands were included, horse and set (doll + horse) boxes could be used as a stable. Of course there was dedicated stable set sold separately also.

photo by Mattel

It is also worth mentioning that the California Girl series was groundbreaking. The dolls were dressed in modern style, had modern hairstyles, more real make-up - it was a break with the previous image of the perfect candy princess that was Barbie in the 80s and 90s. In addition, it was announced that the main character had split up with Ken and had a new boyfriend - Blain.

Summer is Blain's sister and a friend of Barbie.

I didn't have a plan to get a horse, neither a doll. Of course, a coincidence made them join my collection.

Below - photos from the announcement.

The set appeared to be in good condition. As you can see, the doll lacks shoes, hat and belt. Also the doll should have a beach mat, jeans backpack, a plastic bucket, sponge and brush for horse care. As for Baja, looking at the pictures in the advertisement, I was afraid that she would not be able to stand on straight legs. The price was really attractive, so I assumed the horse's joints were loose.

The girls arrived on July 9th. Came from Turek, so it was also a domestic purchase. When I took them out of the package (photo above), I saw that the horse's legs were folded - I was convinced that there was something wrong with them. After unwrapping it from the foil, it turned out that Baja can stand on straight legs - the stone fell from my heart.

One of the front legs is a bit loose, but in the elbow joint, the hind legs have a slight slack in the ankle joints, but they bend only when the rump is loaded, i.e. when the doll is placed in the saddle.

The articulated limbs of both dolls and horses have the same disadvantage - they are plastic hinges that knead over time - especially when it comes to toys. Children play, bend them often, and the plastic deforms, rubs and crumbles. So when it comes to my filly's legs - there is no tragedy I was prepared for worse.

The first thing that caught my eye, right after checking if the horse is standing on straight legs, was the extraordinary beauty saddle. I have never looked at horses in this series in such detail, I thought they had standard accessories, like most Mattel horses. And here? Surprise! This is obviously not a fair representation of real saddles, but the quality of the embossed details, the floral pattern, the painting and the shading - made me admire this piece of plastic with not only my eyes wide open, but also my mouth - it just choked me. The saddle is western type and it's really lovely. Ofcourse, I am annoyed by these loops for the doll's legs instead of the stirrups that Sun Runner's saddle had (Rose of Texas), or Blizzard's. But in fact, no saddle has been decorated so beautifully and in such detail.

I was curious and I checked the saddles of the other horses - the Pacifica's and Topanga's - the first one has a saddle similar to Baja, but it seems less attractive, while the second one has a saddle based on a saddle, eg Blazzin Trials - the least decorated, but also painted.

Coming back to my Baja's saddle - it's made of a flexible material resembling a combination of rubber and plastic, just like Elza's saddle from the first Tawny.

The horse's equipment is missing two important things - a blue saddle pad and also a blue blanket, or a rug, which should be rolled up, and attached to the elastic bands sticking out of the belt with the panniers. As you can see, the saddle showed no signs of damage, nor did the saddlebags, while the reins were sticked out. This is also a characteristic feature of this series - the reins are not made of plastic. Baja has them in leatherette that has been glued. Both other horses in the series - Pacifica and Topanga - had reins made of sackcloth tape. The bridle itself is standard like most Barbie horses, it's a shame the designers didn't go in a more realistic direction, plus it's not stiff plastic. The bit is of course western style. It reminds me the most of the brown Farben bridle - both in terms of the material and the design itself. The less important missing items are mane beads and a device for putting them on, some bucket, sponge or combs.

After the initial inspection, it is time to release Baja from her tack. It turned out that her body is shadowed, but while it looks nice in the photos, especially from a longer perspective, it was actually nasty (you can see some minimal degree of this nasty in the above close-up of the front legs, shoulder and neck). I also wondered for a long time what it really was - is it shading or some kind of dirt? As you can see in the photo - the dark places were worn here and there and the original color of the plastic was visible in them. It looked the worst on the chest and around the withers - on the neck hinge - where the center of the hinge was not painted and clearly stood out from the whole.

Baja also has a mark after applying something hot above the spatula, you can also see it in the photo - a clear trace of melting plastic. I smiled seeing this defect - almost like real horses from westerns - except that such marks are burned on the hindquarters;) I really didn't expect her to be perfect, because she was a toy horse, so it doesn't suprise me at all.

The mare has a nice face. Very nice eyes, close to natural (I mean no color type - pink, blue, natural shape and no unnatural eyelashes). White shading on the face, doesn't look natural to me, it could be gray. As you can see in my copy there are abrasions, the plan is to supplement them with paint. The muzzle of these horses, right after the legs, is something that put me off. Although Mattel probably wanted this series to be closely related to natural, real horses - their legs and mouths did the worst - in my humble opinion of someone who does not have much in common with real horses. The face, as I already wrote, looks very gentle, friendly and sympathetic, but those lips do not suit me. The upper one is clearly marked, the lower one is completely different - as if it was not there. There is also no beard, and the noses are also very delicate, although maybe I'm already picking on here. Also, ears looks like a mule's.

In general, the whole body is devoid of details - only the furrows of the most important muscles are marked. Baja is also very slim, I noticed that the moment I took the package out of the parcel locker.

It is also worth mentioning that Baja appeared in one more color variant - with the yellow iris of the eye, a lighter shade of brown all over the body, and darker hooves.

I was afraid of the restoration work on the mane and tail. The idea of the series was that the horses have the same hair as their owners - dolls. Baja's mane and tail felt rough to the touch, feeling matted. The fact that the hair is very fine, I was afraid that it might be brittle and would break easily.

After inspection, Baja, along with the saddle, bridle and reins, landed in a bowl of detergents, and I took care of the second wrap, i.e. the doll. And here I was faced with a rather unpleasant surprise - Summer's knees are well formed and dangle according to the laws of gravity. Fortunately, the hand joints are in good condition. In addition, the hair looked more like dreadlocks than curls, and the clothes were yellow-brown, which is clearly seen in the photos, in the example of the blouse, which should be white. The whole doll was practically sticky with dirt.

When it comes to clothes - a sweater without fastening, lined with mesh material on the inside - quite an interesting solution, a blouse with a print with a rather deep neckline and fisherman's pants made of corduroy-like material. Amazingly, the pants have real pockets and belt loops. Barbie Cali Girl - blonde - only has these elements embroidered.

The doll landed in one bowl with the horse, and the clothes with panniers in the other. Clothes got soaked in powder and bleach all night. Baja spent half a day in the bowl. This is because all the time I couldn't believe that her dark spots were shading and not dirt. When I started washing it with a sponge - the color was wiping off, so I couldn't believe that the factory-applied paint would give up like that. Besides, its color reminded me of algae deposits from the aquarium or garden ponds.

Washing the doll was easier, but her tangled hair terrified me.

I put doll aside and went back to horse. Since the shading was reluctant but washable, I decided to get rid of it completely. As the water with the powder and the bleach was barely making it, I decided to bring my heaviest cannon for this battle - technical alcohol. The dirt combined with this strange paint gave up without discussion. What was left on the swabs in the picture is brown, in fact it was a typical algae shade - yellow-green-brown - with a greater proportion of the first two colors in this palette.

The water left by the doll, the horse and the saddle (which was very dirty on the bottom) was also not clean. By the way, Baja breaks the record when it comes to washing time and amount of scrubbing.

Finally, very late in the evening, Baja left the bowl. Time to detangle, the mane wass first:

It was not as tragic as I expected, but it is not the type of hair that is grateful to combing. Mane loss was minimal, mostly broken hair. It was worse with the tail, in which I had to be careful not to stretch out. The defect was also not large, but already visible:

Below, Baja is exhausted after soaking, scrubbing, washing with alcohol and brushing. So she stayed in the bathroom until the next day.

Already at this stage, I concluded that getting rid of the shading did not hurt her much. The mane and tail dried naturally overnight without help. They regained their softness and shine. They also collaborated with the comb much more willingly.

And unfortunately the time has come to bring the doll's head in order. Fabric conditioner seeped from hair. I divided them into numerous sections and one by one, as gently as possible, untangled and combed each part patiently. As in the case of a previously purchased doll, which I will certainly devote a post to (it is Teresa Cali Girl Surfer), I separated the parts braided into braids and combed them separately to recreate her original hairstyle. After detangling Jaqueline vel. The Summer Cali Horseback looked like this:

The next step was to recreate her hairstyle - three braids that I had braided into one at the back of her head. I don't know if that was the case in the original, but I found that this solution will make her hairstyle permanent. After washing and combing, the doll's hair also became soft, shiny and fluffy.

After the clothes and doll were dry, I started working on Baja's damaged reins. I immediately decided not to glue them - I sewed them together by hand with a needle and thread. This way they look more real. I was also irritated by the lack of a saddle pad. I managed to find fragments of my old jacket in my warehouse - the material matched the color and texture of both the horse and the doll. I lined it with a soft material like velvet. Jackie borrowed shoes from Barbie Cali and both ladies were ready for the first shots.

Cali Girl Horseback Riding Summer and Baja

And the next evening (because it's so hot during the day) I went with the team to the garden for a real session :)

So that the rubber bands on the belt from the panniers would not stick out stupidly, I rolled up my doll's blanket and tucked it there. It even matches the color, I plan to make such a blanket from the remaining material from which I used to make a saddle pad.

Did washing off the shading hurt Baja? I don't think so.

And, family photos, at the end :) There are no horses, which are left in the countryside (First Western, Farben and Dixi), and also Blizzi. All my dolls are also missing. On the other hand, the first pony in the family is making its debut, and also the first full custom, with the royal name of Henrietta Haflinger Princes Alien. Henia is still a project in progress and as soon as she will be finished I will post history of her amazing metamorphosis.

Baja is quite tall on straight legs, and due to the fact that she is slim,she fits as a fifth in the transport box. And it solved my problem with horses falling over during transport :)

I also know what irritates me so much about horses from this series - the lack of articulation in the hock joints. If all the leg joints were mobile, the horses would look natural, and they are a bit clumsy. Plus, it's a pity that their neck doesn't fold so that you can position them in a grass-eating pose in a meadow ... Yes, dreams ... Not everything has to be perfect! ;)