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Usually the size of the animal defines the whether it is a horse or a pony.

The threshold is 14.2 hh (4 feet 10 inches or 1.47 m) for an adult. Anthing below this height is considered a pony and anything above it is considered a horse. However when a  horse is 14.2 hh exactly, it is called borderline and is either a horse or a pony depending on the breed.

As a consequence it does mean that a horse stallion and horse mare can become the parents of an adult pony.

However, a distinct set of characteristic pony traits, developed in northwest Europe and further evolved in the UK, make it less clear whether it is more appropriate to use the word “pony” to describe a size or a type. Many people consider the Shetland pony as the archetypal pony, as its proportions are so different from those of horses. Several small breeds are mostly referred to as “horses” but occasionally as “ponies”, though that is generally considered improper by those familiar with the breeds. These include the Icelandic horse, Fjord horse and Caspian horse breeds.

Breeders of miniature horses favor that name because they strive to reproduce horse-like attributes in a much smaller animal, even though their horses undeniably descend from horses of small stature, which are thereby classifiable as ponies by size.

Just to confuse matters there are many exceptions to the general rule. In Australia, ponies measure under 14 hands (56 inches, 142 cm). The International Federation for Equestrian Sports, which uses metric measurements, defines the cutoff between ponies and horses at 148 centimetres (just over 14.2 h) without shoes and 149 centimetres (just over 14.2-1/2 h) with shoes.

Some breeds which typically produce individual animals both under and over 14.2 h considered all animals of that breed to be horses regardless of their height. And if that didn’t muddy the issue enough, some pony breeds may have features in common with horses, and individual animals may occasionally mature at over 14.2 h, but are still considered to be ponies.

The distinction between a horse and pony is not simply a difference in height, but other aspects of phenotype or appearance, such as conformation and temperament. Ponies often exhibit thicker manes, tails, and overall coat. They also have proportionally shorter legs, wider barrels, heavier bone, shorter and thicker necks, and short heads with broad foreheads. They may have calmer temperaments than horses and also a high level of equine intelligence that may or may not be used to cooperate with human handlers. In fact, small size, by itself, is sometimes not a factor at all. While the Shetland pony stands on average 10 hands (40 inches, 102 cm), the Falabella and other miniature horses, which can be no taller than 30 inches (76 cm) are classified by their respective registries as very small horses rather than as ponies. Confusing!

The answer to the original question ‘what is the difference between a horse and a pony?’ is not simple to answer correctly but to make life easier let’s stick with the 14.2hh as the cutoff point shall we.