PONY'S leading HORSES to the OFF

A pony is a small horse[1][2][3] (Equus ferus caballus). Depending on context, a pony may be a horse that is under an approximate or exact height at the withers, or a small horse with a specific conformation and temperament. There are many different breeds. Compared to other horses, ponies often exhibit thicker manes, tails and overall coat, as well as proportionally shorter legs, wider barrels, heavier bone, thicker necks, and shorter heads with broader foreheads. The word "pony" derives from the old French poulenet, meaning foal, a young, immature horse, but this is not the modern meaning; unlike a horse foal, a pony remains small when fully grown. However, on occasion, people who are unfamiliar with horses may confuse an adult pony with a foal.

It's big in the USA. I saw a pony( did not look like pony as explained above) going down with Imperial Fox @ Kenilworth today. We all know IF is a 'stout' perd, but it did not help, it was scratched 'omdat hy weer stout was' I love the sport and adore horses. Can some of our experts, owners, trainers or pilots explain what a 'pony' does taking a horse to the start?

Baie dankie by voorbaat

am i right in thinking it keeps them calmer? (i.e. crowd noise)

We had a horse that needed to be kept calm and put a sheep in the stable and it was working until the sheep was kicked and died, we had a braai

RIP

im no experd …but due to the fact that a horse’s emotional state has a sure effect on its performance, i guess the presence of a caballus as a traditional pack horse carries some of that weight ()

Howcome the 'Ponys' in America that lead the racehorses in are like bigger than the racehorses?

The American 'ponies' are definitely horses, as the differentiation between horse and pony is really on in their size. Even a TB can technically be a 'pony', as long as it measures below 15hh.
the American 'ponies' and paints and appaloosa's; they are larger than 15hh, as they are carrying adults. They also need to be able to stand their ground when the racehorse plays up a bit.
The pony helps to keep the racehorse somewhat calmer.

What I enjoyed was the interviews with the jockeys after the races at the breeders cup, so I like the ponies.

An older, steadier animal will give a young one confidence. And because horses are herd animals and look to a lead horse to give them direction, they will often do something in company that they would not do alone. So if you have a horse that is nervous about getting onto a horsebox, crossing a stream, or cantering down to the start, sending a companion along as a pathfinder will often calm the fractious horse and give it confidence.

Oh - and as Sugahorse said, the term 'pony' is a height classification. In South Africa the cut-off used to be 14'2 for competitive ponies, but has recently been adjusted to 14'3. This is mostly dictated by the competition ring where children are only allowed to compete on ponies, but juniors and adults can ride whatever size animal they like.

Horses are measured from the ground to the highest point of their withers. They are measured in hands and each hand is 4 inches. So 14'3 (meaning 14 hands and 3 inches) is roughly 150 cm (or 149.9 if you want to split hairs).

However, the term pony is quite loosely applied and as horse people like to be awkward, certain conventions apply. For example all horses that play polo are called polo ponies, even though they are seldom small enough to warrant the title. Conversely, even though a lot of Arabian horses will measure pony size, they are always referred to as horses.

I assume the American race track ponies have inherited the name from the job title, as leading one horse from another horse is called ponying.

Also I suppose having the horse on a lead rein prevents it bolting down to the start, as I've often cringed to see some of SA's horses sans pony doing. Ripping along like they do for a couple of furlongs must waste a lot of energy.

I'm not sure some of the ponies used at eg the Breeder's Cup are suited to the job of calming nervous or excitable youngsters ... watch them next time and you'll see some of them are more excited than their charges ... chin on chest and flinging their legs out as they cavort rather than canter down to the start. Setting a bad example, I'd say ...