Barbie Country Star Western Horse Wallmart SE USA (1994)

Another horse has joined my collection, which I have not even dreamed of! Considered to be a kind of rarity, the Country Star Western Horse - a special edition horse, produced for the American Walmart supermarket chain - was therefore available only in the USA.

Western Stampin' Star Horse 1993 (sc.: ebay.com)

The horse is very similar to another western Barbie horse that went on sale a year earlier, namely the Western Star Stamping Horse from 1993.

Not only are the horses very similar to each other, they also have very similar accessories - the same type of saddle and the same type of bridle, similar shape of saddle pad and boots.

Country Star Western Horse and Barbie Country Western Star (Sc. ebay.com)

Dedicated Barbie doll to Country Star Horse is Barbie Country Western Star - also produced for Walmart and available only in this chain. In addition to Barbie, this series also featured latin american version with Teresa mold and the beautiful dark-skinned Shani mold for AA, wearing the same outfit as Barbie. The dolls in this series are country music stars - each of them had a microphone.

Latin american and AA versions of dolls (sc. ebay.com)

Back side of all of the dolls boxes (sc. Ebay.com)

Front side of horse box (sc. ebay.com)

Back side of the horse box (sc. ebay.com)

First site of the manual (sc. ebay.com)

I managed to find a photo of the first page of the manual, where you can see the contents of the package - so we have the horse itself and its equipment:

🎠 bridle with reins
🎠 saddle
🎠 comb
🎠 6 horseshoes
🎠 saddle blanket
🎠 4 socks
🎠 3 hair ties

The specimen that came to me lost its horseshoes and brush somewhere along the way - the rest had survived. He came to me from Krakow, Poland, you could say for 2024 Children's Day.

Here's how my Country looked in the photos in the ad - I always like to come back to these photos.

Here I can move on to the topic of a certain defect that affects some Barbie horses from the 90s - the plastic from which the bridle and saddle were made tends to crack. It ages in such a way that it becomes hard and brittle, more than once I saw when someone tried to bend and adjust the accessories and then plastic suddenly broke. My Country Star arrived to me with a broken saddle and bridle, the defects were honestly described and shown in the advertisement.

The previous owner tried to repair the damage with Super Glue - but it didn't work. Both the saddle and the bridle were not properly shaped (bent), so the pressure and tension that was created at the gluing point easily overcame the rigid Super Glue connection. So she taped the cracked parts so that they would not get lost and break harder.

As soon as the horse arrived to me, I immediately rushed to the damage and started repairing it - so it's good that I have photos from the ad.

The horse had its hair nicely protected for transport.

This is what the bridle looked like, after taking it out of the package. It looked just like in the drawing from the manual, only the noseband was very slightly bent - it was flat as after taking it out of the original packaging or as if it was lying somewhere between books.

The saddle looked the same - quite flat. While the girth was quite flexible, the saddle itself was stiff and very hard. Forcing old plastics ends like this - everything cracks and breaks.

I decided to try the heating trick - it always works with plastics. I took a small hair dryer and gradually heated the saddle on both sides with it - the place where I wanted to bend it.

Then I used two-component epoxy glue to glue the cracks. I left it to dry and harden completely. The next day I carefully heated the places I wanted to profile plastic again - and just as I was affraid of - epoxy glue does not like heating - the adhesive on the front strap of the bridle did not hold. The other thing is that I have the impression that the bridle is too small. I don't have any other like this to compare it to, but I have never had such problems with any of them that it was barely possible to fasten on the horse's head. These fasteners are also new to me.

After struggling with the saddle and bridle, the effect looks like this:

As you can see, they no longer look like they were taken out of the press, they are visibly shaped for the horse. The epoxy glue is colorless after curing, although I have the impression that it can easily turn yellow - so far it is not very irritating to the eyes and most importantly - it works!

I got really excited about these repairs! And where is the horse?! - you ask! I am going back to the horse that first had an out of the box session... Oh no, sorry! First I fought a war with one of the boots. Namely, one of the four boots is a bit tighter, the previous owner decided to put it onto the widest hoof. I almost ripped off the gold fringes in this fight - one was clearly torn. I tried not to rub the paint off this hoof either. It took a while, but finally I made it! The boot fits loosely onto the other hoof, but it had to be put onto the largest one, of course!

After removing the boots, I could take his first session, eventually.

What can I say, I am certain that this horse has recently left its original packaging - no signs of play, no abrasions, hair in visible factory condition, no discoloration, no stains. None of my previous horses had been in such perfect condition!

The first thing that caught my eye was his huge green, black and white eyes. Perfect variation on the head - no scratches or damage. Strong seam and no abrasions on the ears as well.

Glossy paint on legs and hooves - no abrasions or scratches.

The only thing I was afraid of was the hair - it looked great, it's a horse from the 90s so the material is durable - but that doesn't apply to the shiny fibers, which looked very tangled. I was afraid to touch them with a comb - don't even think about a brush with these fibers - it will tear and break them all in one go. I decided to wash them gently with shampoo and comb them wet with hair conditioner.

It probably wasn't a bad idea, because on the comb it's only two fibres from the mane and two from the tail. I discovered other unpleasant thing about these fibers - it separates in two and twists like springs - I think it happens when you stretch them. I had to trim a few of them. But most often they were in place.

As for me - it looks terrifying - combing does nothing - they are bent like this and will tangle. Maybe it is also the effect of a bad ageing of this material, maybe 30 years ago they looked and behaved differently. - It just dawned on me that I am dealing with another model that celebrates a round birthday this year.

This horse has really recently seen the world outside the factory box for the first time, the end of his hair (now I'm talking about the hair itself, not the shiny fibers) tell me so - it is even, not bent and do not tangle - no one has combed it passionately (there would be no trace of shiny ones), no one has braided it or pinned anything into it. It is original in its original condition. This is my 41st horse in the collection, so I have some experience in this matter.

The same goes for these accessories - spotlessly clean, brand new.

Here I have to point out again that I'm afraid that the beautiful gold color on the fringes will wash off very easily. Fortunately, all the fabric items are factory-fresh.

Time for a session in full gear!