Growing up, I used to play with these small, solid, red wooden horses. I would find them at my godmother’s house; she had a few red and white ones on her shelf. Since she was Mexican and kept them on the shelf with other Mexican trinkets, I thought these horse figures were from Mexico. She would laugh at me when I made these comments.

I have not seen these horses in years until I came across one at a thrift store in Baton Rouge. Not only did it catch my eye because it was the same type of horse I saw 30 years ago, but this horse was HUGE! The ones I used growing up were about 4 inches, this horse could be measured in “hands” (which is the official way to measure a horse). In normal terms, this toy is almost 17 inches tall.

This horse was large enough to have a label, and when I googles it, I finally see why my godmother was laughing. These horses were made in Sweden. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalecarlian_horse