Vintage Steiff Ride on Wheeled Horse

Description of Repair

This was a significant repair of a Steiff ride on horse from the late 1940's.  It was bought by the current owner's Uncle in Germany where he was stationed after WWII. It had lost it's tag and Steiff button but retained a tag saying made in US Zone Germany.  The tag means this was the first postwar version of this pony.  This was a popular design for Steiff with versions made up through the late 1960's.  The family also still had the original rocker rails that the pony could be clipped into to make a rocking horse.

The pony had been loved and played with by several generations of the family.  The pony had lost his mane, tail and ears.  There were remnants of the saddle and just a few parts of the tack.  There were large holes in the mohair and the head had come loose from the steel frame inside the body. Fortunately the wheels and frame were intact and not bent so I didn't need to do any heavy construction work. 

I was able to obtain original mohair fabric still used by Steiff today,  The head was detached from the internal steel frame so I was able to pull it back into place and retie the stuffing to the frame.  I then re-stuffed the areas that needed it. I was able to clean the remaining undamaged mohair so it matched the color of the replacement mohair.  I was then able to recover the holes with the replacement mohair fabric. I made the mane and tail using real horse mane and tail hair just like the original would have had. 

The original eyes were present so all I had to do was replace the nose, ears and mouth to get the head back in order.   I made a new felt saddle blanket from wool felt with the same scalloped trim as the original. I had most of the original saddle in poor condition to use as a template.  Unfortunately most the the bridal and other tack was missing.  After a little digging in my research library and online I was able to work out what the original tack looked like and was able to reproduce it from leather with all the felt trim and rivets matching the original. 

The owners were thrilled beyond knowing to see their little pony restored.  They were pleased that they could display it with pride and pass it on the future generations of the family.