A few years ago, I wrote about the Wonder Horse, a rocking horse made by a company in Collierville.
Working out of an old Quonset Hut a few blocks from the Historic Town Square, Wonder Products made several different versions of this popular toy. They first produced the “horses” from slabs of plywood, painted red, with details like the eyes, mane, and tail painted on in black. The whole horse was suspended from a wooden frame by four heavy-duty coil springs, and — as a former Wonder Horse owner — I can tell you that just getting on the thing was quite a challenge.
But once you did saddle up, and took hold of the reins (or the wooden handles protruding from the horse’s head), you could rock back and forth for hours. It took a bit of skill. A few kids got bucked off — either tumbling off the back, or (like I did one day) somehow flying over the steed’s head, but once you got the hang of it, you could ride for hours, and the toy was made so well that kids (or their parents) kept them for years.
The Wonder Horse became such a best-seller that Wonder Products explored better ways of making them, and soon came up with a molded fiberglass version, much more detailed and “lifelike,” with the colors somehow blended into the fiberglass. These now came with a tubular steel frame, so the whole toy was easier to transport (since the frame came apart), but also much more durable — though those springs could snatch the hairs from your leg, if you weren’t wearing the proper cowboy (and cowgirl) gear…