Well, after watching all the videos on You tube, my opinion is the Breyer versions of the horses are so much nicer to me. They don't have that pronounced mold line like they other toy companies horses do. That being said, I absolutely love the horse/rider sets from the other company. Even though they have cut corners on their horses as far as quality...the dolls on top of the horses is just so adorable. I like the faces too, like the natural hair...not sure if I like the mix of plastic forelock with hair but that again is cutting a corner to lower the costs. My opinion on the horse without hooves is that they wanted to really show pronounced feathering and I think with that feature the horse was not standing well. My guess is that since it would not stand properly that hollowing out of the underside was to improve balance. The shape of a hoof is visible in the sculpting sort of. (I am no expert this was a guess.) I guess it goes to show us all that nothing beats the Breyer product. Hands down it is one of the best. Schleich was come in second for me. For a toy though, the other company has done well for the kiddos who want to play and maybe don't have Breyers. Once you have a Breyer it is hard sometimes to not be picky about the other company horses...or Barbie horses. There really are some cute features in all of them. I would totally buy the horse and rider sets of the other company, but boy I would want the largest scale Breyers for these horses also. I got tired of watching and missed the Breyer doll rider sets so, I can't comment on them. I am sure the dolls are much better quality and probably dressed better, but from what I did see the eyes were a little inferior to that of the show. That being said, the riders from the other company are adorable with those big eyes. I am a big eye fan too. I certainly would make pants for my riders though. Painting legs is just so cheap, but the doll itself is super cute. I would have to compare these in the store to comment on head sizes and such.