Do the Ponies Ever Meet or Know About Horses?

[Foliha 395]

This may have been asked before, so please refer me to another thread if it has. 

 

I wondered if the ponies know about horses?  Big Macintosh and Celestia are bigger than the other ponies, and I wondered if they could be horses.  But Big Macintosh is Applejack's brother, so probably not.  But there are differences.  For instance, you can see a division between his hoofs and the hair of his pasterns.  Was he adopted?     

[Kapitan zur See Hans (Daz) 884]

Well maybe, this doesn't confirm anything, but yea.

 

[ManaMinori 4,149]

once they're adult, they're horses. Both Cherilee and Twilight addressed the smaller ponies as "my little ponies", while the adults are called horses, by the younger generation, as seen in the post / song above

[Yozer247 1,006]

In one episode there are some 'saddle arabia' delegates with celestia.

They have a much more 'horsey' stature, so im gunna go ahead and say that some kinds of horses are canon.

[Red Cedar 1,408]

Well, Shetland Ponies would, semantically, always be ponies despite being a breed of horse that's only about a metre tall when full grown. However, there were also the Saddle Arabian delegates who look much more like standard horses.

[Foliha 395]

Hmmm.  Haven't seen the Arabian Saddle Delegates yet, I'm just partway through the second season.  But What about Applejack's Granny?  (And what happened to her parents?)  Granny is pony-size and build - except for her "arthritis"/age-related stuff.  And then there's Snowflake.  He's as big as Big Macintosh. 

 

I know that Rainbow Dash goes to the Wonderbolt Acadamy later.  Is she a horse then?  Will her proportions change?  And what about the officers at Wonderbolt Acadamy?  Surely they must be adults, but they are referred to as ponies...  And then there's the pony couple that run the bakery.  They are married and have twins, but are still called ponies.

 

I'm in the process of making a Rainbow Dash stuffie based on a pattern cut from a Douglas cuddle-toy horse.  She will look more "horsey" than the ponies on the show do, especially in the head proportions, and I think I will give her somewhat larger wings than Rainbow Dash has in the show.  So this whole pony/horse thing has been on my mind.

[~Silver Essence~ 2,625]

Well, technically they are baby horses

 

They make horse commentary, make horse jokes, and even make horse noises from time to time

 

But actual look alike horses... besides the saddle arabia types, that I'm still not sure

[sweetolebob18 728]

Guys, except for the purely arbitrary, man imposed size limit, horses & ponies are identical. Age has nothing to do with it.

DETAILS

Size is measured across the withers, (the front shoulders at the point of the last hair of the mane)  This could be because it is easier to get a horse to hold his shoulders still than it is to get a horse to hold his head still.  If that's not the reason, then IDK.  A pony is under 14 hands high, a horse is over that.  A hand is an archaic unit of measure 1 hand = 1 decimeter = 4 inches.

END

So, basically, a pony is a small horse or a horse is a giant pony, depending on how you look at it.  Except in mixed breeds, it is based on the average size of the breed, not on the individual's size.  Smallest regular breed is Shetland Pony, 7-11 hands high.

 

There is some debate on "How big are My Little Ponies?"  My best guess is most of them are around the size of a Shetland Pony.

[VitalSpark 1,830]

 

 

So, basically, a pony is a small horse or a horse is a giant pony, depending on how you look at it.

 
 

Indeed. "Horse" and "pony" are different words for the same thing. They have different connotations, but the same denotation.

 

The ponies know about horses because they are horses.

 

 

There is some debate on "How big are My Little Ponies?"

My daughter claims that Princess Celestia is about her height (about 1.25m?). I trust her judgement on this matter. You can work out the heights of the others by comparing them to Celestia.

[Zoraxe 546]

In universe, ponies have cutiemarks but horses don't. Since Zecora is the same size of ponies, its like horses are abnormally large and ponies are the standard. I think horses can be seen as a race of giants sort of way, they are almost as big as Celestia.

 

Geez, makes me think that if the ponies were humans but kept the size differences, how tall would Celestia be? Taller than a Basketball player no doubt.

Edited December 10, 2014 by Zoraxe

[Dark Horse 12,976]

Horses are mentioned a few times on the show aren't they? I'm not too up on my Taxology but I guess some ponies can also be considered horses depending on their size or other features?

[Castle Bleck 19,634]

The Best Night Ever had Twilight turning mice into actual horses:

Edited April 26, 2020 by Antagonist

[Radiance64 7,059]

They are horses, and are probably the only horses in their world... if they did ever in fact meet real non-talking horses, they'd probably just think that's weird lol.

[RainbowTashie 379]

This may have been asked before, so please refer me to another thread if it has. 

 

I wondered if the ponies know about horses?  Big Macintosh and Celestia are bigger than the other ponies, and I wondered if they could be horses.  But Big Macintosh is Applejack's brother, so probably not.  But there are differences.  For instance, you can see a division between his hoofs and the hair of his pasterns.  Was he adopted?     

The royalty from saddle arabia are defiantely horses in my opinion but Zecora and Cranky Doodle being around doesn't seem to bother anyone so I think they would be pretty open/hooved about it

[Dulset Tarn 441]

I was asking this about Canterlot High actually. Wouldn't Twilight and Sunset be really unnerved by the numerous depictions of horses around the school?

[sweetolebob18 728]

As to Canterlot High.

 

At least if they go through the mirror portal, ponies are changed into humans.  Ponies from EQ might well be surprised that there also ponies on Earth.  They might be even more surprised that Earth Horses are unintelligent & that humans ride them.

[xlwpos 12]

A definite yes for G1. When Firefly goes to get Megan in the TV movie Megan is at a stable w/ a real horse. Kind of the essence of MLP really. Not every girl can have a horse but every girl can have her very own (little) pony.

[Fhaolan 4,507]

In real life, the size categories of miniature, pony, and horse are completely arbitrary and have nothing to do with species. They're all horses.

 

And just to round it out, the label 'draft' as applied to Clydesdales and the like does not indicate height so much as bulk. There are draft ponies. In fact, most pony breeds are drafts due to their heavy-set natures, although there are non-draft ponies. Big Mac is definitely a draft-type. If the models for the mane 6 weren't structurally identical to save money when they made the first episode, I have no doubt AJ would also be a draft-type and be slightly bigger and heavier than her friends.

 

In-show, 'pony' does seem to indicate enough of a difference from 'horse' that Twilight at one point objects to being called a horse. And there's the song 'Hearts as Strong as Horses' which may mean whatever is called Horses are considered to be quite a bit stronger than regular Ponies. It might be a more 'Not a Frenchie, a Belgie!' the way Hercule Proirot does in some Agatha Christie books though.

 

In any case, they are fully aware of creatures called Horses. Saddle Arabians look more like RL horses, so they might actually be Horses. As for cutie-marks, it's interesting that Donkeys and Saddle Arabians don't have them, but Zebras seem to have something that resembles them. I wonder what the story is behind that.

[#1FluttershyFan 206]

I think the horses and ponies are different species (similar to in real life because in real life, there are sizes for horses but ponies and horses are different species ) and different places have different species. If you see the horses from saddle arabia, they have the look of horses but I think that even the large ponies like Celestia or Big Mac are just ponies, they just have a bigger build.

Edited January 28, 2015 by #1FluttershyFan

[Jangocoolguy 433]

They know about them. They just very seldom cross paths and no horse has ever played a major role. Though that would be interesting to see...

[Pecan Pencil 12]

well yes they certainly do. The people of Saddlearabia are horses, no doubt. But they are in another country, its seldom why they get to see one in the flesh. But oh they are everyday horses they see on an occasian, but they use them for carriges, they are hybirds, less intellgent, hybirds.

well yes they certainly do. The people of Saddlearabia are horses, no doubt. But they are in another country, its seldom why they get to see one in the flesh. But oh they are everyday horses they see on an occasian, but they use them for carriges, they are hybirds, less intellgent, hybirds.

[Splashee 28,606]

"Hearts as strong as horses" is clearly a song the CMCs sing to compare themselves to real horses and not to grown up ponies