What is the difference between a horse and a pony? It's not size. Horses can be tiny and ponys can be big.

Question

It's not size. Horses can be tiny and ponys can be big. Does it have to do with the size of their heads? Do horses have smaller heads and poneys larger heads? That's the only difference I can see.

Answer 1

Price Tag and Prestige.

Answer 2

Usually, size alone marks the difference between horses and ponies. The threshold is 14.2 hh (1.47 m) for an adult. Below the threshold it is a pony, above the threshold it is a horse. Thus normal variations can mean that a horse stallion and horse mare can become the parents of an adult pony. However, a distinct set of characteristic pony traits, developed in northwest Europe and further evolved in the British Isles, muddies the issue of whether we use the word "pony" to describe a size or a type. Many people consider the Shetland pony as the archetypical pony, with its proportions very different from horses. Several small breeds appear as "horses" or "ponies" interchangeably, including the Icelandic, Fjord, and Caspian. Breeders of miniature horses favor that name because they strive to reproduce horse-like conformation in a very small size, even though their animals undeniably descend from ponies.

Answer 3

Ponies are kind of dwarfish looking horses, they have larger heads, and stocky legs. There are miniature horse breeds, and they are bred small, but to have the same build as a large horse, not the pony look. Some people determine whether or not it's a pony or a horse by the height, but I usually take the height requirements as part of the breed standards for various horses and ponies. For example, look at the horses at the miniature horse association of America http://www.amha.org/ and compare them to the shetland pony http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/.../

There are some horses, such as the "quater pony" which are minature versions of quater horses that are just small and don't have the pony look to them. The goal of breeding fallabella horses is to create a tiny, but perfectly proportioned horse that looks nothing like a pony. In fact, if you call them fallabella ponies, some breeders take offense. http://www.imh.org/imh/bw/fal.html

Ponies are smaller than horses and stay that way through their lives. In general, to be a pony the equine in question must stand 14.2hh or lower at the withers. Many breeds do not grow bigger than this measurement of size, and part of the breed characteristics is pony. Therefore, any equine in that breed must be pony sized to be registered. Ponies also tend to have certain conformational characteristics: they tend to be stockier than horses, have shorter legs, wide barrels, and thick necks and heads.

There are exceptions to this general rule. Some breeds are pony sized, but called horses. Examples include the caspian horse which often stands only eleven or twelve hands, but it has the conformation of a horse – refined head, clean legs and fine bones – rather than that of a pony. Other breeds, such as the Pony of the Americas or the Welsh cob, share some features of horses but are still considered ponies

Hope that was of some help to you and by the way you got good observation!

Answer 4

Sorry, but technically it is the size. Horses can be pony size and vice versa though. A small horse or large pony is usually called a galloway. If the horse is under 14.2hh technically it is a pony. Any size bigger than that is a horse. The breed defines whether it is called a pony or not, but every breed of horse and pony varies in size.

Temperement wise, ponies tend to be more cheeky in my opinion, and they usually have short frames and tend to get fat really easily. No matter whether they are ponies or not, they should always have a head that is in proportion to the body.

Answer 5

Ponies are under 14.2 hands (58 inches) at the withers, the upper portion of their shoulder right below where the neck starts.

Horses are 14.2 hands or over. It's that simple, theoretically. But you can have Miniature horses which stand only about 36 inches tall. They're kind of in a class all by themself, though. Hope this helps!

P.S. Young horses are not called ponies. They're called colts or fillies, depending on if they are male or female.

Answer 6

It really is size: 14.2 is the dividing line, over for horses and under for ponies. The tricky part is when you start talking about miniature "horses". There are 2 main registries for miniature horses, AMHA & AMHR. They differ on what they will register as a miniature horse. For AMHA it's 34" and under and for AMHR it's 36". They measure from the last mane hair to the ground. Miniature horses were originally bred from small ponies and over the years have been sellectivly bred to have more "horsey" characteristics and proportions. My best original foundation miniature mare had mostly Shetland bloodlines. Some miniature breeders will claim that miniature horses were bred down from horses, but when these registries formed, any pony that measured under their guidelines could be registered as a miniature "horse". So calling them a "horse" is just a technicality.

Answer 7

typically ponies are under 14.2 hands..

however pony breeds have different proportions than do horses, which is why you can have miniature horses...

still suppose you have a breed like ARAB - in showing they may be divided into pony size or larger - its just a way to distinguish

so really it depends on your point of view as to pony vs horse
you can be talking about a breed or mearly the size
ponies have legs that are shorter in proportion to their body mostly -

Answer 8

A pony can be any breed of small horse which grows to 14.2 hands tall or less. A pony is NOT a baby horse. A baby horse is called a foal.

Answer 9

It is actually the size from the ground to their wither. If you go over a special height it is called a horse and under that size is called a pony

Answer 10

It is diffent kinds and yes sit does affect size. I believe the larger ponies are 14.2 hands

Answer 11

horses are older than ponys