Hi! My name is Karin, I live in the state of Montana in the U.S., and I have recently found this forum. I had some ponies when I was a kid, but I gave them to one of my nieces a few years ago. I grew up in the 1980s so most of my friends had at least a couple of ponies too. One of my friends had the Show Stable, and she never ever wanted to play with it when I came over. "I played with that yesterday, let's do something else!" I always envied her because of that stable. I wished I could go over and play with it when she wasn't home.
Just recently I found three bags of pony toys at a thrift store. I bought them thinking I might fix them up for my nieces, but as I started to search around for information on how to restore them, I quickly decided that I am going to keep them for myself. So thanks to my thrift store buy, my starter collection consists of about 20 G1 ponies both adults and babies, a few bits and bobs of clothing, and then some assorted G4 toys, including half a dozen regular ponies, some grab bag ponies, and some that I haven't identified yet. I'm sure I'll be reading and asking questions about cleaning and restoration, although it looks like many of my ponies just need a surface cleaning and their hair brushed.
I also collect Cabbage Patch Kids. They're my largest collection both in numbers and in the space they take up. I also have a small collection of Strawberry Shortcake dolls and some vintage Fisher Price toys. My non-collecting hobbies include photography, video games, and knitting. I'm looking forward to being part of this community.