Ponies rattle when shaken - should I be concerned?

[efelkay]

Yesterday, after years of looking at listings from afar and lamenting my monetary struggles, I got my hands on my first new ponies since I was a child! It's very exciting to me, I might post about that in the brag forum later.

Most of them have pen marks, and one of them has a slight haircut, but they're in good condition overall as far as I can tell - my main concern is that some of them rattle when shaken. There is obviously something loose in there, and since as far as I can tell the heads have never come off of these ponies the only thing that should be in there is the tail washers.

Which leads me to my concern. How could the tail washers be rattling around loose like that? All of the ponies still have their tails, and have more than likely never been opened up. Additionally, I'm not seeing any signs of rust, so if the washers rusted and fell apart they did so without staining the tails in any way - which feels unlikely to me, especially on three different ponies in the same box. But what else could have happened? Is there something I am overlooking? Am I overthinking it, or should I be concerned?

[shes-so-unusual]

I’ve had this happen before and the washers weren’t even rusted or anything! They came out as soon as I opened the rattling pony up and it just seems like they fell off at some point, likely due to play or whatever. The tails also don’t seem to pull out even if the washer has fallen off. The only pony I’ve had whose tail just popped out as soon as the washer was pulled off was a Medley who had a cracked tail hole anyway. It’s nothing to be too concerned about in my experience!

[efelkay]

Thank you so much! That's so strange. I don't understand how the washers can just fall off in there, considering I know there to be another metal piece also holding the tail in place - surely the hole in the washer can't fit around that!

I'm glad it's nothing to be worried about though. I haven't got any experience with pony restoration so I really didn't want to have to take any heads off.

[Leave a Whisper]

My dear Efekay, didn't anyone tell you that ponies must be stirred, not shaken? 

If the tail starts to feel loose, just open her up and you can put a new one on.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

sometimes the clamps holding the tail bundle all together come loose.  sometimes the factory put extra parts in.  sometimes the neck seal isn't glued and an item could have been put inside the pony.  actually if you are gentle, you can push the tail hair out of the way and put something inside the pony from the tail hole. 

[LadyMoondancer]

My childhood Cotton Candy's tail washer fell off . . . Her tail would periodically come out when I brushed her too hard!  But I would just jam it back in, ha ha!

[BabyTaffeta]

They tail washer of my childhood Baby Cuddles came loose just from playing, too. Sometimes with brushing the tail popped out with its metal part that’s around the hair but I always just put it back inside and everything was fine. Somehow I thought her rattling matches her because she now was like a little Baby Rattle in her Buggy

[Taffeta]

My childhood Cotton Candy's tail washer fell off . . . Her tail would periodically come out when I brushed her too hard!  But I would just jam it back in, ha ha!

I was going to mention this as well. As a kid, the most efficacious way of transporting ponies was by tail, so I would always carry mine like that. A couple of them ultimately worked their tails loose like this, but like LM, I would just jam them in again and get on with it.

Unless the pony shows signs of rust or other discolouration that might suggest the washer is corroding, I would avoid opening up the neck seal. Loose tails are fairly common and in my experience they don't have any relationship to whether a pony has a damaged tail clasp or any of the tail is coming loose. In my opinion (and it's just my opinion), breaking the neck seal and reconstructing the tail clamp is unnecessary damage unless there is an actual rust or mould issue to tackle.

I have a pony who belonged to a childhood friend - her tail does have loose hair threads so I keep it braided. But her tail does not come out.

On the other hand, my childhood ones with loose tails - Windy, Masquerade, Strawberry Fair - none of them have any damage to the tail clamp nor do they have any rust or anything else like that. They just worked loose from being carried around by a young kid for several years.

Since your new pony haul (congrats btw) also show signs of playwear, chances are that some child just loved the pony a little too hard

[efelkay]

Thank you all for your input! I'll leave them alone then (besides the general cleanup I need to do) - that's a huge relief, because I really didn't want to have to remove any heads. I don't trust myself and my clumsy, inexperiences hands. Some of them are already coming unglued (presumably from age and rough play) but I'd rather not damage them further.

I'll probably post in the Pony Brag forum with pictures later if anyone is interested in seeing the haul it's nothing super interesting, but it's very exciting to me and I want to share that.

[xCharx]

I've found that sometimes when a pony rattles, it's a little piece of their own plastic that's inside. Where the tail is, a little circle of plastic was cut out of the pony to make a hole. That little circle of plastic ended up inside some of the ponies. Besides this it could also be the washer like other people mentioned.