Old Fashioned Kids With Large Toy Horses

Whenever I set out to make something, I always start by collecting reference photos to see how other people have made the same thing. When possible, I like to use really old photos from a time when there was less standardization in manufacturing and objects like toys were made by individual craftspeople. When my daughter told me her Christmas wish was "a toy pony she could sit on that wasn't skinny" I looked for old pictures of kids with toy horses that were sort of sculptural. Toy horses were popular props for early cabinet-style photographers so there were a ton of images out there. Ultimately these pictures helped me design the horse I made her for Christmas. 

[these photos come from various sources, including the Library of Congress prints and photographs collection, my personal collection, eBay, and Victoria Randall's book A Pony in the Picture.] 

Previous Inspiration
 

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