Just how much smaller are MLP Ponies to real life Ponies?

[Azureth 687]

Of course, the show is called my little Pony, so I am curious just how much smaller are the Ponies from MLP compared to real life Ponies?

[Katze 198]

 

From the Equestria Girls: Friendship Games bloopers.

Edited October 28, 2017 by Katze

[CypherHoof 26,483]

It's really too abstract a question. We can know roughly based on relative sizes, compared to objects like trees etc - and by that scale, the Mane 6 are around the size of a large dog.  However, that is only relative to the size of things like trees; if trees were noticeably larger in the pony universe, then our "little" ponies could be larger than full sized horses here. If trees were much, much smaller, then ponies could be pocket sized.

If the question really was "if magic transported a pony here, what size would it be?" then the answer is simpler - whatever size the magic says it will be

[simba86 1,541]

this has been figured out since the 8 foot candy cane

 

[Concerned Bystander 2,902]

54 minutes ago, simba86 said:

this has been figured out since the 8 foot candy cane

I was looking for that picture, but you beat me to it.  Of course that comparison, as meticulous as it is, is predicated on an Equestrian foot being the same as an Earth foot.

[CypherHoof 26,483]

1 hour ago, Concerned Bystander said:

I was looking for that picture, but you beat me to it.  Of course that comparison, as meticulous as it is, is predicated on an Equestrian foot being the same as an Earth foot.

Well, that, and that a "foot" is an anatomically derived unit - you can't use a measure of how long someone's foot (hoof?) is, to work out how tall they are, because you are basically just measuring a ratio

[Steve Piranha 29,424]

It may depend on the breed of the pony in question. Some ponies are almost as big as the average horse, and others are smaller than many dog breeds  . I'm not very knowledgeable in real life ponies, but I think the average equestrian pony is not the smallest kind of pony if we compare the Friendship Games blooper picture  

[Mirage 24,766]

The MLP IRL stuff on YouTube have believable scales. But with MLP FiM being a stylized animation, the 'actual' size is just not a reliable idea.

[Foxy Socks 2,599]

I'd say about half the size. I'd think ponies would also be a little shorter than the height of an average person, but no less than that.

[EpicEnergy 23,218]

I like to think that ponies are around the size of cats, as it makes them cuter. 

[Tom Gallagher 33,588]

They're certainly not human size anyway. Maybe elbow or hip size?

[dead account 2,710]

I personally believe that they are around the size actual ponies, not much difference. It's just the big eyes that stand out so much.

[ExplosionMare 18,062]

I think they’re about half the size of full grown horses and only a little shorter than real ponies.

Edited May 6, 2022 by ExplosionMare

[Pony Flutters 535]

They're probably the same size as rl ponies, they're called little ponies because it's a franchise name and they're little in comparison to a human or a (large) horse.

[Fhaolan 4,483]

And of course the other end of the comparison is kinda wibbly as well, given that there are several somewhat vague overlapping criteria for the classification of 'pony' in equine breeds. A lot of people go off the height of the horse at the withers (between 38 and 59 inches), but there are many non-pony equine breeds that fall into that size range as well. Plus there's *miniature* horse breeds that break that.

Other criteria involve leg length to body diameter ratios, thickness of the mane, etc. It's all rather arbitrary, to be honest, and most of the time it's left up to the various breed registries to define whether their specific equine is a 'pony' or a 'horse'.

And, of course, the farther back in history you go, the more arbitrary it gets. 'Pony' used to be a term describing how you used the breed, rather than what it looked like, and before that it was a term meaning the regions the breed originated from (Cold, northern climate vs warm, southern climate). Which is due to the fact that 'Pony', 'Equine', and 'Horse' all come to English through different languages (Gaelic, French, Germanic, etc.), so it's all really boils down to what the people who bred the animal called them.

 

[Sonic Shimmer 4,132]

Real life ponies come in a huge variety of sizes. Some are as big as actual horses, some are literally only 2ft tall, which might actually be shorter than most MLP ponies.