Wednesday, March 25, 2009

A Celebration of the Funrise Company

I'd never heard of the Funrise Company when I was a kid, but I tell you, I would have KILLED to have these fun little horsies in my carpet herd! They're bloated and lumpy and odd and have oversized genitals, but they're COOL! In a disturbingly fun sort of way.


Funrise Warmblood (it's trotting, and it's brown. Ergo, a warmblood!)



Tennessee Walking Horses! Well...they're walking...and they're horses! Works for me!



Guess what this is. If you guessed a Turkoman, hey, you're right!!! One nice feature of the Funrise horses is that they print the breed's name on the toy's belly, so even if you look at one and go "WTF is THAT supposed to be?" you can flip it over and it'll tell you!



This one's not so easy to guess. Unless you guessed Thoroughbred!



Hmm...let's see...pinkish purply-grey...weird splayed back legs...heavy edema in the lower legs, why, it must be a Funrise Sicilian Horse! Heck, we all knew THAT, didn't we?



A beautiful pair of Shires! It's the odd fat telescoping necks that give it away, isn't it?



Okay, I don't want to read any complaints about solid-legged tobiano Pintos, and the Funrise Company doesn't want to hear it either!



Keeping it simple, these are just called Palominos. Cute little black-dot nostrils though!


Funrise Mustang (gee, a Mustang that's not rearing, what's with that?)


A pair of Morgans, according to the Funrise Company.



Why bother sculpting a piece into a cool pose like a Levade or Piaffe, when you can portray your Lipizzan model standing on all fours?



No, not Strawberry Shortcake's horse, unless she rides a Knabstrupper!



This one just screams "Akhel Teke"!!!! Too bad Funrise calls it an Icelandic Horse! With a dog dinky!


This little fella's so homely he's cute, with his fat little feet and swollen face and little black piggy eyes. All the more enduring for a Highland Pony.



I'm ashamed to admit I have no idea what a Dunord is, but Funrise says this is one, so, enjoy.



Cute little red dun Brumby!



A Breton, the beef cow of the horse-eating world!



A Batak...another new one on me!



Okay, now I know they're smoking something at Funrise...this is supposed to be an Arabian! Yeah, easily identifiable as such guys. Guess they don't have many Arabians over there! Of course there's also the possibility that the eBay seller who had these listed made a mistake. Too bad I sold off all my Funrises or I could double-check.



Yaaah, this one's easy! Appaloosa with cute little spats!



And the magnificent Andalusian!



Last but not least, and in reverse alphabetical order, the famous Albino! Why his hooves are black, I don't know, unless he's heading for a horse show!

Thank you Funrise Company, for entertaining horse-crazy kids over the decades!

14 comments:

Laura Dotson-Thomson said...

Oooooo! I had like 90% of those when I was little!!!! They fit in this nice carry case too. I loved bringing those little things with me. I think I got rid of them though... will have to check my parent's basement someday.

Tara Oliver said...

yeah, I had most of them when I was a kid, too. we just sold them on ebay in the last couple of years. um, or gave them away.....can't remember. but yes, they were bloaty!!

Anonymous said...

The Turkoman and the Knabstrupper defined my childhood. I used to take them in the bath...

painting artist said...

OMG. I so had these when I was a kid, and I had all the breeds memorized! :)

Homer Horse said...

Wow...after seeing all the engorged 'junk' on the stallions, I'd bet money that Katja has a whole stable of these!

Charlotte said...

I got a birthday cake with these guys on it.

Anonymous said...

Old post is old, but the closest thing I could find to a "Dunord" isa Trait du Nord.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trait_Du_Nord

TuuliR said...

I have this bay TB, i think hes not so bad looking in real life, but when taking a picture from bad angle, you can make any horse look BAD :)

Natalie said...

I totally used to collect those when I was a kid! I remember the Turkoman very, very well!

Fairlyodd29 said...

Lol I went on an internet quest to find pictures of these. They were undoubtedly my favourite toys of my childhood and I still have a few very beat up horses (Danish Warmblood, Karabair and Pinto). I remember that I lost the Clydesdale a few months after I got it and I was devastated because it was my favourite. My god, I wish I still had my full set. They weren't accurate that's for sure, but they were awesome nonetheless. Sturdiest things ever.

Unknown said...

These were my fave toys as a kid. I have the first 2 complete sets of 12 and part of the 3rd. But thru the decades ive done searches for the 4th full set with no luck :-/

Leave a Whisper said...

I had the bay morgan as a child. I miss him dearly. :') He was my first "realistic" model horse and I've been trying to find one again. Thank you.

bag of atoms said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bag of atoms said...

I just bought some of these Funrise horses for my horse-loving niece at a barn sale, and was just searching the Internet to make sure that they didn't use lead paint. What a treat to find your website! You're a delightful and entertaining writer!