Please recommend 'horse' toys for my DD (age 7)

[macnab]

My DD is fascinated with all things horse but doesn't ride! She has a few plastic horses that she plays with but I'd love to get her something good for Christmas. Was looking at the Melissa & Doug boxed set of 8 different breeds, and maybe a Breyer Stablemate set - has anyone had any experience with these? Are they good quality and well-received? Any other horsey type toys that you'd recommend? Thanks

We have the 8 boxed breed by Melissa and Doug, they are good and it got my 6 yr old talking about different breeds plus playing imagination games. The box is nice. Easy to tidy!

A bigger plastic horse to fit a Barbie sized rider could be nice, or some horsey books/ magazine subscription.

A good selection here op

farm toys

I think the Breyer sets are lovely and Schleich here are beautiful too, but my dd favoured bog-standard Playmobil - lots and lots of sets available that are horse-related!

She is older now but was obsessed with You Tube videos like this:

and after purchasing a glue gun, we ended up with really professional looking stables, dressage and show-jumping arena, veterinary practice etc etc all made out of cardboard!

Great suggestions, thank you so much

Will definitely show her the YouTube video (but after Christmas!) she's always watching "honey-heart-c" (??) who seems to be equally obsessed with all things horses, so I'm certain that the one you've suggested will go down a treat!

Not really what you asked for, but I bought my children these:

www.laureldesigns.co.uk/catalog/2

Lottie doll has horses and horse riding outfits.

Ponyopoly keeps my horsey kids amused. Also any painting by numbers or those foil art scratchy things with horses on.

Thanks, she has a Lottie doll and I hadn't thought of Lottie's horse!

Also looked at that Pony-Opoly - she'd LOVE that!

I would get her a proper grooming kit or if budget does not allow a body brush and curry comb alongside a big cheap unicorn or pony toy. If I can remember back to me as a horse mad 7 year old that's what I would have wanted and what my niece played with endlessly.

I got the Lottie horse riding doll for my horse-mad daughter and thought she would love it but actually she was very frustrated that the doll doesn't actually sit properly on the horse or stay on...

But she loved the Playmobil riding stables!

Lego friends have a stable and horse trailer which DD loves. She also has the Lottie doll and horse. Build a bear also do a lovely couple of horses, you can buy a stable, grooming brush, saddle etc to go with it too.

I definitely agree with playmobil, DS went through a horse stage and loved the Playmobil ones

This is a bit expensive but the our generation dolls have a horse. One of them is a hair styling horse, my daughter would love it!! I'm hoping it comes on offer somewhere!

You can also buy decopach kits of various animals, or sequin art horse would be nice!

The playmobil is lovely and lots of options.

This isn't a toy but (assuming there isn't a physical reason she doesn't ride) you could book her a pony 'experience'? Lots of riding stables do one off days like a ride + picnic, or an own a pony day etc.

I used to love Julip ponies are a pony mad kid.

Are they still going? They were realistic and poseable.

Not toys but a Pony Magazine subscription might also be a great idea. The cover gifts are pretty decent every month.

Redwings horse sanctuary does an online adoption for £12 Per Year.

The Schleich toys are really good quality. If you use camelcamelcamel to track prices on Amazon you'll find some great price drops.

My DDs also this series of horse books at that age.

If you can get to a tack shop there are some child sized brushes. Always found that they go down well.

There are some very good playmobil horse sets, particularly the pony farm.

Also some very cute My Little Pony hoodies on eBay with manes.

I bet she'd love a few riding lessons!

Send her to a riding school!

Have you discovered www.ponymaloney.co.uk if you want any clothing, bags, accessories with horses on.

My DS has these horse card games he got them for his 6th birthday but still plays with them every now and then at 9.

Also this!

(there are less pricey models on the market though)

Thank you all so much, really good suggestions here I've made many notes - DD will be very happy on xmas morning