When the Cow Parade became so popular the idea of The Trail of Painted Ponies occurred. Westland Giftware made all of the reproductions. On 12/31/09 the contract between Westland and The Trail of Painted Ponies ends. As one would imagine Westland didn’t want to have inventory when they could no longer ship. They now have no inventory of any pony. I have very little inventory.

The new contract with the new manufacturer begins January 1, 2010. However, they will not ship until the end of March-early April. Why this change between manufacturers was scheduled for the busiest time of year???? Wasn’t my decision!

In the meantime The Trail of Painted Ponies is retiring 48 ponies. So, when my next shipment of Trail of Painted Ponies arrives there will be at least 48 of the current ponies not available. However, it might be worse than that. I have been given the order form to use for ordering – there are only new ponies on the form. It appears that none of the ponies currently available can be re-ordered. I know some of my competitors have already dropped The Trail of Painted Ponies and are replacing it with a new horse line that Westland Giftware is introducing. The jury is out as to what I will do.

As a retailer, none of this is good. It’s stealth. Why? I knew that Westland Giftware was parting ways with both the Cow Parade and Trail of Painted Ponies. I did not realize that they would run out of inventory so quickly. I did not realize that the new vendor wouldn’t start shipping January 1.

So, I now have no way to get any merchandise until April. Not good.

You will find that I have added a lot of pony and horse sculptures that have nothing to do with the Trail of Painted Ponies.