1982:

Flat Footed Ponies

It is a common trait in the Pony Collecting world to label pony sets with nicknames that have absolutely no resemblance to the original name Hasbro chose. Many people are familiar with the terms 'Non So Soft' and 'Non Beddy Bye Eye'...and the label 'Flat Footed Ponies' is a similar nickname.

Technically, the first six ponies do not have an official set name. Many of the early ponies were simply labelled by Hasbro as 'My Little Pony', and though these six characters were re-named 'Collector Ponies' for a mail order issue in the US in the mid eighties, they are still most commonly termed 'Flat Foots'.

The name derives - as many pony nicknames do - from the physical appearance of the pony. The original six characters had a unique style of hoof, 'flat' in design (see left) as opposed to the later used 'concave' or 'indented' style. The hooves were clumsily close together, and the pony's head low enough for her to easily tip forward, so when Hasbro decided to continue the release of this pose, they amended it to make it more 'upright'.

Though officially only the original six ponies should have been sold with flat feet, Peachy and reportedly Lemon Drop have also been found with this style of hoof. (Lemon Drop has not been confirmed, so if you have one and can take pictures, I'd be most grateful!).

The original six ponies were 'Minty', 'Bluebelle', 'Butterscotch', 'Blossom', 'Cotton Candy' and 'Snuzzle'. Cotton Candy and Blossom would go on to have the most releases, being re-sold as part of the 1983 set as well as several North American releases through mail order. All six ponies were sold on card with concave style hooves as well as flat ones, though how widespread this release was is still under debate. In the UK, Butterscotch and Snuzzle both had later playset releases - Butterscotch with the Gymnkhana and Snuzzle with an odd release of the Grooming Parlour. Snuzzle was also sold as a free pony via an Argos offer, with the Baby Pony Stroller in 1985. See the individual pony pages for more information on these releases.

Hasbro UK, when I was in correspondance with them, claimed inception here was 1985. It's hard to know what the pony release was like before that - whether imports were controlled by Hasbro RI in America, or whether it was largely store imports. It's possible that the records have simply been misplaced - by the time I wrote to Hasbro it was ten years from 1985 and who knows what could have been lost in the interim?

Confusion over these early ponies was rife though - to the point where Minty was illustrated in the Fact File in purple!