7.11.13

A Special Toy - Action girl

When I was a child I was given the best present ever. I don't know if at the time my parents knew how awesome it was. I loved horses as a girl, like many young girls, and I had books galore about the,. I never rode except once on a farm holiday (where I fell badly) but like many young girls I dreamed of owning my own pony.

I wasn't a girly girl, I'm still not. I didn't love Barbie or her UK counterpart Sindy but the doll I was given one Christmas was the best doll ever. And she had her own horse.

Action Girl. The name says it all really. She didn't have pointy feet designed for high heeled shoes, she had sensible. normal feel and jointed ankles (how else to keep heels down, toes up while riding!) She was jointed, poseable, she had red hair. Red! Proper action hair. I adored her, I also adored her horse (who I named Blue. He was a dark brown, so dark as to be almost black, with a white blaze on his nose. He had brush-able mane and tail, he had saddle, bridle etc and the box that he came in converted to a stable.

I played with Action Girl (who never needed a name, Action Girl just summed her up!) and her horse Blue for years, well into my teens, making up stories in my room of her heroic adventures (I was watching Champion the Wonder Horse on TV a lot at this time too) letting her ride, groom and bond with Blue almost daily. To say I was in love might be going a bit far, but then again maybe not.

Image used with Kind permission by Donna at http://www.flickr.com/photos/joey_n_me/

Over the years Action Girl and Blue were moved from house to house, put into storage in lofts, moved again until at some point only Blue was still around. Now bridle-less and unsaddled. Wild, free as he should be. But also a bit lonely. Luckily there is Ebay. I now have another Action Girl to groom and ride him, bareback this time, she has no fear! and to ensure she wasn't lonely either I bought a second horse, black this time, and a rider for him too though she is brunette.

And sometimes, when no one is home, we still have adventures and all go riding together.

Is there a special toy in your life? Or the life of your child? A toy you had? Or never had but always longed for, nose pressed up against the metaphorical glass of your memory still?

I would love to hear your story of a special toy. 

Popular posts