The Vintage Rocking Horse [before & after]

vintage rocking horse

The classic rocking horse toy dates all the way back to the mid 1800’s…Most of us have had one at one some point.  Pop into just about any thrift shop or yard sale and your bound to come across one.  When I was young, we all had the the big plastic ones on springs…not a good time for the rocking horse in my opinion.  I much prefer the old fashion wooden rocking horse.  They are simple, classic and timelessIn fact, now we are seeing lots of new wooden rocking horse reproductions popping up all over the place…Why have a reproduction when you can have the original? 

We came across the great wooden rocking horse recently.  The quality and structure were spot on, but it was in need of a major makeover.  Here’s how this rocking horse looked when we found him!

First things first, I gave the rocking horse a fresh, fun coat of paint.  I decided this rocking horse was a “she”, so we painted her a fabulous shade of “Coral Blush” by Americana.  I like using the acrylic paints sometimes on smaller pieces, they give off a nice smooth, clean finish.

 

The paint process took about 3 hours.  I covered the horse in two coats of paint, waiting 1 hour between coats, then 2 hours to dry.  Next, it was time to give the horse some hair! I really wanted to do something different, so I decided to use sage green fabric strips for the pony’s hair.  I cut the strips into varying lengths (between 6-10″).

This rocking horse had an inset area where the previous hair was, so it gave be plenty of room to add the new hair.  I simply used a hot glue gun to attach the fabric strips to the pony’s head and tail.  After applying the glue to the end of each fabric strip, I used the end of a screw driver to push the fabric in (to avoid any finger burns 😉 )

Here’s how The Vintage Rocking Horse turned out in the end…classic, yet a little funky-modern too! 

I’d normally publish the link to purchase here but this pony didn’t last long in the shop…She was sent out to her new home within the first week!

Once more for the drastic before & after comparison!

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