Your Original Herd and the One that Re-started it All.

[Juliepants]

The original herd that my sister and I shared was:
Baby Backstroke
Baby Surf Rider
Hopping Pocket
Shining Secret
Cotton Candy
Baby Cotton Candy
Posey
Magic Hat
Moonstone
Rose Dust
Ringlets
Princess Brilliant Bloom
Little Giggles
Little Honey Pie
Little Lullabye
Wind Whistler
Cherries Jubilee
Parasol
Sunlight
Majesty
North Star
Skydancer
Starshine
Shady
Applejack
Bow Tie
Baby Bow Tie
My sister kindly allowed me to have them all now as an adult collector. (Good old Mum for keeping them all in the loft all those years!)

The one that restarted it was Masquerade.

Jules x

[HappyHounds]

Aww! What a great starter collection

I cannot remember my entire starter from Pre-K, but a rough estimate is;
G2; Light Heart

G3; Desert Rose
Forsythia
Sunset Sweetie
Sunny Daze
SparkleWorks
RainbowDash
Rainbow Flash
Pinkie Pie
Styling Size RainbowDash
So Soft Petal Dove

I had a couple of fakies, I know cause the smell of them was so bad, I can still smell it today.

And the two that got me into collecting again are;
Tap Dancer
Marshmellow Cocoa

Edit; Reworked collection, I forgot some!

[Artemesia's Garden]

I remember having Peachy, Cotton Candy and Cascade. Gusty was the one I wanted when I started collecting again but the first one i got was Wind Whistler who I think is gorgeous as well.

[scarletjul]

My original herd was tiny and included:

Glory (who was actually my sister's, but I'm counting her)
SS Windwhistler
Raincurl
Sundance

* my sister may have owned more but I don't remember them.

The ones that re-started my collection were g3s Merriweather and Silver Glow. 

[Pinkie-kitty]

I know lots of people here on the area started their original herd with G1. But my original herd when I was younger was all G3. I don't have any pictures obviously and I sadly lost all of them in storage, but from my memory I had the main girls, Minty, Sparkleworks, and all of the McPonies. I didn't have any ponies for a long long time. I lost all of my ponies when I was around 8. At that time I was out of toys and all into build-a-bear only. So up until I was around 14 all I had was build-a-bears for "toys". When I was 17 I found a Pinkie Pie g4 plush in Micheals marked down and I thought she matched my room decor (my room is all pink) so I bought her. After that I kind of fell in love with ponies again. I started with the Funko ponies and then branched out from there!

[Miniature Sheep]

My original herd had...
Two Poseys
Majesty
Windy
Sleepy Head
Pink Dreams
Baby Up Up and Away
Baby Sugarberry
Cherries Jubilee
Peachy
and the MacDonalds version of Princess Silver Swirl

The first pony I got when I started collecting again was Posey - she's always been my favourite!

[Shaiyeh]

My original herd consisted of a bunch of DG fakies and other fakies,
Tuneful
Bridal Beauty
G2 Berry Bright
G2 Morning Glory
mcD g2 Sweet Berry & Sundance

and the one who re-started it all was Tuneful, when I found him again ^^

[Flitter]

My original herd, as far as I remember, was:
Braided Beauty
Strawberry Surprise
Cherry Treats
Star Dancer
Tootie Tails
Magic Hat
Baby North Star (separate @Grandma's place)
Minty (I think, also @Grandma's)

Who got me back into ponies were these:
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Untitled by ☆ Flitter ☆, on Flickr
Most particularly I think Applejack was the one I saw first that got me interested, and probably Rainbow Dash may have been the one I wanted to get most once I learned about all 6.

As you can see my collecting started with a different gen. than I had as a child. Therefore, I don't really equate them with each other. I did dabble slightly with G1s at one point a few years ago but found that while I have pleasant nostalgic feelings for them, I only want to collect G4.

[CottonTALE]

My original pony has a bit of a sad story behind it:

My first was a fakie that was pink with red hair, blue eyes and had a strawberry as it's symbol. I don't really remember much about my childhood, but my mom told me that I got "Berry Berry" when I was just starting pre-school when I was 4 and used to carry her everywhere with me (being autistic, she was my safety toy. When getting overstimulated, I would be allowed to play with her to wind myself down) I would take her with me when I would go for visits to my Dad's (my parents divorced when I was 3, so i would visit him every other weekend) and apparently when I was 7 or 8, I accidentally left berry berry at my dad's and he was moving everything of mine into a new room to make room for my half-brother since he was due that August and he decided that I was getting too old for pony toys and he only wanted boy toys for his new family to have and tossed her out. I was apparently inconsolable for weeks and my mom was rightfully mad at her ex-husband for doing that to his only daughter.

---

I didn't start collecting again until I was an adult and was re-introduced to ponies through the MLP:FIM series. The ponies that re-sparked my collecting was from the Canterlot Wedding series of ponies, specifically Fluttershy and Rarity (images from MLPmerch.com)

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[GypsyTails]

I had no ponies as a kid, but my best friends did. Applejack and Bowtie were my favorites! I also remember using Moondancer as the boy when we played with them, and how scared I was of the eyelash princess pony lol

At some point in High school my friends unpacked their old herds and found the TP. They started collecting more ponies and I got my first look at Masquerade!  I was in love! Oddly enough I still don't have her in my collection. She's one of the ones I don't want to buy unless she's perfect 

[Violet]

I know my originals included Parasol, Windy, SS Sundance and Megan, and flutter pony forget me not. I know I had sea ponies too but I'm not sure which. I remember when I was about 5 my best friend had a bunch of the princess ponies and I thought they were so awesome!

I restarted collecting in 2005 after looking up my little pony online and finding eBay!  I think the first lot I bought included Baby Quackers, Lucky, Bubbles, and some of the Newborn Twins.

[Itcheeee]

G2 was not quite as easily avalible in the mid 90's, but after getting 2 of the 3 G2 McDonald's ponies (and finally got my 'green pony' Ivy a year ago ) I went to toys r us to see if they made a normal sized version of this pretty green pony - Ivy. Sure enough, I found her and a few other G2's I don't mind the colors of. I later found Skyflier at a yard sale I'll never forget with my mother, and somehwhat still on the package ponywear. Some quite 80's clothes, pink shoes, blue skirt and a yellow shirt with a pink belt. Not sure the name of the set but someone here probably does
After that I got fakies that I liked, mostly REALLY weird ones lol.

I treasure those ponies, especially Skyflier. My first G1 ever. <3 not many people can say they de-carded ponywear today...It was already coming off and I was just 6 or 7, but trust me I enjoyed it

I later tried hard to get into G3, I mostly wanted to complete the 1st McDonalds set as I liked the G2 ones so much. Minty was the main reason I stayed intrested in it, never got a regular size Minty untill recent years used, but I did get a bunch of G3's as gifts during it's run.

And my main collecting was simply from G4, and I remembered how much I wanted certain G1/2/3's again

[Kikwifluff]

I don't remember much of my childhood herd, except for my beloved Minty. She went everywhere with me.  I had forgotten about my Minty, until one day I found her at an antique store. And that was it- I was collecting again!

[katrine2309]

My original herd was;
Collector pose Bowtie
Posey
Baby Blossom
Baby Glory
Baby Firefly
Megan and Sundance
Flutterbye
Majesty (and Dream Castle and most importantly Spike )
Baby Cuddles and her buggy
Barnacle
First tooth Baby North Star
First tooth Baby Splashes w/reverse hair (pink mane/tail and blue forelock)
Newborn baby Tuggles and Toddles (UK names)
Newborn baby Tappy
Newborn baby Wiggles
Brush n' Grow RInglets
Summer Wing Skydancer
Windy Wing Starry Wings
Windy Wing Cool Breeze
Pearly baby Ripple (UK version)

I don't have a seperate collection picture of my childhoods, but my whole collection is in this picture and they are all there
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Collection 2016 by Katrine, on Flickr

When it comes to the pony that started it all - well, it was several of them actually, it more or less started when I found all my childhoods (with my sister and her childhoods) and we started looking online as we didn't remember all their names. We found the arena and then that was it. But the pony that made be start buying MLPs again, was this little girlie as I always wanted her as a kid but never got her;
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Baby Ribbon meets a flower by Katrine, on Flickr

The first pony I actually got though was this beautiful lady (not the baby though, she is childhood^.^):
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Firefly and Baby Firefly by Katrine, on Flickr

[tealight]

 I think my original herd started when i was a little girl, one of my friend had one.I ask her if i could have it and she gave it to me.I think it was Applejack.After that mom would ask what i wanted for my birthday or when i was good or something like that, i would always say a pony. My herd was large at one time.When was16 mom gave some away. I started collecting  again when my youngest started  liking my ponies so,i got her some g3 ponies. After she didn't want her ponies she gave them to me. Not sure of there name right now.