What is the difference between riding a horse or pony?

: What is the difference between riding a horse or pony?
Like is a pony faster and more bumpy, or is a horse faster or more bumpy? Do you have to post faster on a pony?

Answers and Views:

Answer by ♦A Few Flakes Short of a Bale♦
It all depends.

From the horses and ponies I’ve ridden, I find it much harder to balance on a pony… probably because I am so tall.

I also find that pony’s trots are a bit more bumpy.

Answer by Ally Mohan
I personally find that ponies aren’t necessarily faster but they are bumpier

Answer by Nibbler
I’ve been on ponies whose gaits were like silk and ponies were were like riding a jack hammer. I’ve been on horses that I can say the same. The only guaranteed difference I can give you in riding a pony over a horse is that if you fall you have less distance before you hit the ground. Otherwise it depends on the individual pony/horse.

Answer by Horselover3170
Well really a horse would go faster because of its longer legs but really there is no difference horses and ponies are the same thing except for height. A pony is considered a pony if it is less 14.2 hands or less and a horse is considered a horse when it is 14.3 hands or more. So really there is not that much of a difference at all. Except im sure you are right about ponies being more bumpy because they have shorter legs but some have very smooth gaits so it kinda depends

🙂

Answer by Mori Senpai
I may be biased, since I’ve only ridden older ponies and younger horses, but what I’ve found is that the ponies seem to be bumpier, especially when trotting.
And, like other people have said, it does depend on the type of horse. Some of them are specialized for certain gaits, so it isn’t fair to compare them without specifying.
However, the horses I’ve ridden were fairly smooth (as smooth as you might expect)–especially when they were going exactly where they wanted to go: back to the barn! :/

Answer by Caz
For starters your legs are closer to the ground and you feel as if your sitting on a narrow branch rather than a nice big thick one so to speak 🙂 If you are used to riding ponies than it would feel like sitting on a huge barrel with your legs spread a bit further than is normally comfortable! A pony has shorter strides and you do have to post more often then you would on a horse with longer strides. Its up to the horse/pony whether the ride at the trot is fast or laid back though, some just have an eager trot that begs to break into a canter. I find that a horse/pony with a high wither will be a bumpier ride in general due to their shape. A pony does feel faster as your posting faster and the strides are shorter but a horse is covering more ground with longer ones. Hope this helps.

Answer by Niamh Cox
Hi Hayely Hammie 🙂

Well I have been on lots of horses and ponies all different shapes and sizes!

Normally a pony is faster because the pony has smaller legs which causes smaller strides! 😀

Horses are just as fun though sometimes I like to have a nice fast pony or sometimes a like a nice easy horse (not sayin horses are easier than ponies!) 🙂 x

Answer by willow ♥
@A few flakes short of a bale- I totally feel you! I’m 5’8 and my boss has me ride her 12hh pony (only for like, 10 minutes once per week), and I was riding it bareback the other day and just slipped off when he started to trot without me expecting it. I tell my mom that I’d rather ride a stout 16 hand horse bucking than a little one, because there’s more room to balance on, but she totally didn’t get it.

To answer your question, most little ponies I’ve ridden (shetland types) have been bumpier than horses, and horses are obviously usually faster just because of longer legs, but I also used to ride a 13.3 hand POA who was wonderfully smooth and also very fast, so it all depends.

Answer by alittlebitcinchy
Hands!!

Answer by redheaded
Since ponies have a shorter stride they are bumpier, and I’ve always felt top heavy on them when I have ridden them. I personally don’t care much for them anyway and would put my children on a horse before I’d put them on a pony, with the exception of a POA

Answer by ♥☺♥ILoveMyPonySunny♥☺♥
a pony is 14:2hh and below, a horse is 14:3hh and up. But ponies can be bumpier because their smaller so they have shorter strides. But they are not faster.