The Julip Riders
The riders and grooms have always been an essential part of the julip range, over the years many many different originals riders were made, from children in show gear to grooms in jumpers, farriers with leather aprons to side-saddle ladies. With the launch of the Horse of the Year range, the originals riders were discontinued, but lots of colour-co-odinated new riders have been made to match up with the HOTY models, some coming with their own horses in gift sets, others available seperately to match up with single horse sets. The HOTY riders are a bit bendy so they can ride their horses or be posed around the yard - the older ones tend to be more flexible, varying from the early 90's riders who can actually ride, to the newest ones which are so stiff they can only really stand there on display.
In the captions below, the names in brackets refer to the horse the rider came with. Riders without a name beside theirs were available only on their own. Charlie, Mandy and Caroline were sold both with their horse, and on their own. There are often little details that alter during the time riders are on sale - the colour of jodhpurs, hair ribbons etc. can change.
HOTY Rider ID Parade
Jack (Jigsaw), Maggie (Mulligan), Tara (Toffee) and Charlie (red collar version) (Black Velvet)
Annabel (second version, blonde), Mandy (red jodhpurs version) (Midnight), Caroline (red ribbon version only sold on her own), Bella (Bedsocks)
Alice, Bonnie (Banner), Daisy and George (lighter green version, ribbons on front of jumper only), with Patch.
David (Dandelion), Liz (Bob the Cob), Tasha (Tornado), Caroline (white ribbon version) (Conker), and the sleeping cat (mine is named Blott)
Kate, Sarah (navy coat version) (Sundance),Hazel (Harlequin) and Sally. Kate was one of the first HOTY riders, later only available with the 3-horse transporter.
Katie (not to be confused with Kate), Louise, Nicola and Sophie (Starlight).
Sophie (the 'groom' version), Sarah (the black-haired version), Nicky and Jenny. These four riders are from the launch of the HOTY range, they all have the smiling face (as does Kate the groom).
Caroline (loose hair version), Annabel (brown hair version, ribbons front and back), Milly (Moondance), George (darker version, ribbons front and back).
Maddie (Montana), Polly (Pandora), Sarah (royal blue jacket version) (Sundance), Christie (Cobweb & Black Diamond). Christie was originally released with Cobweb, but as so many sets were flawed, the accessories were taken out and matched up with new HOTY Black Diamond instead.
Milly in the spare jumper which came with her set (Moondance), green-collar Charlie, Hannah and Darcie.
Not pictured :
Event set Milly (black jumper with red ribbons, black jodhpurs), and White-jodhpurs Mandy, because I don't have them yet
To show the differences in the three styles of riders' faces, here's a photo of them all. Jenny (left) is the oldest, looking very happy and smiley, Sarah (centre) looks a little bewildered and serious, and Louise (right) has the current face.
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three faces
Jack, Maggie, Tara, Charlie
Annabel, Mandy, Caroline, Bella
Alice, Bonnie, Daisy, George
David, Liz, Tasha, Caroline
Kate, Sarah, Hazel, Sally
Katie, Louise, Nicola, Sophie
Sophie, Sarah, Nicky, Jenny
Caroline, Annabel, Milly, George
Milly, Charlie, Hannah, Darcie
Maddie, Polly, Sarah, Christie
Originals Riders
philip
ailsa
eddie
emma
fliss
helen
herbert
humphrey
molly
susan
olivia
lucy
The Julip Originals riders have varied a great deal over the years, having been made in different outfits and also in different styles of face sculpting and painting. Here are my riders.
Lucy, a small child rider who fits the pony moulds like Taffy, and the shetlands.
Helen, a lady rider in an unusual jumper and waistcoat (by far the commonest for originals riders is a show jacket). Helen has a really unique style face, too, I've seen no others like her.
Emma, a medium sized rider (between the usual child and adult heights). Her face is very three-dimensional and well sculpted.
By contrast, Fliss has a very round face, with just a hint of a nose, and her other features are picked out by paint alone.
Eddie is another medium height rider, he has painted hair instead of mohair like the girls. He came with Talisman the show hunter.
This is Ailsa, Colin's rider. They have the exact same shade of ginger hair! She's in great condition for her age (early 80's).
Another rider with a really well-sculpted, expressive face, Herbert is a real favourite of mine - he looks worried and cheerful at the same time. He rides Isambard the jumping horse.
Molly is a very old rider, from the 50's or early 60's. Apart from some paint touch-ups, her condition is original. She's only small, scaled to ride the pony moulds, but has huge hands and feet.
(Left) Humphrey is a small child rider, He had to have quite a bit of restoration to his coat, hat, hands and feet, and a new neck entirely, as well as new wires threaded inside his legs to support the original ones which had broken. He now rides Ichabod the donkey.
(Right) Susan, another small child rider, but in immaculate condition for her age. She rides the welsh ponies, Princess, Merlen Teg, and Misty the Second, pictured here with her.
(Above) I finally managed to get one of my most-wanted riders, this really smart side-saddle lady. Another rider with a really great, characterful face, I've named her Olivia. She's pictured here on Hermes the hunter.
(Left) Here's Philip, a very happy-looking adult rider. His left boot was damaged beyond repair so I had to make him a new one using milliput.