Why is the Falabella considered a horse and not a pony despite it’s small size?
In: Biology
Mini Horse vs Pony vs Horse seems like it comes down to just height, especially with Ponies having some pretty specific height cutoffs, but horse people have a bit more going on than just height
There are specific characteristics associated with horses vs ponies. In general pony breeds aren’t just short horses, they’re stockier horses so they’re good for field work and can pull more than just a short horse could.
Mini horses are like dwarf horses. They still have the build of a horse but everything is proportionally smaller unlike a pony. Generally a miniature horse breed has a goal in mind, Falabellas are the result of someone going “Andalusians are pretty, I just wish they were smaller”
Modern horses are also stupid tall by comparison to older horses. Napoleon’s horse was around 14.1 hands while Washington’s Blueskin was about 15 hands. A modern thoroughbred averages 16 hands tall but there are horses in the 18 and 19 hand range that never existed a couple hundred years ago. Most “horses” in Washington’s time would have only counted as “ponies” if you went by height alone but there were still distinct pony breeds in that era with pony characteristics
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