Strong and gentle Shetlands

When is a horse a pony?

Horses are measured in hands：one hand equals 4 inches.The height of a horse is measured from the ground to the highest point of the withers(the part of a horse's back between its shoulder blades). Any horse under 14 hands 2 inches(58inches)is a pony.

By this definition, a baby horse is not a pony；baby horses are called foals.Horses that do not develop to roughly the same size as the rest of their breed are not ponies either.Underdeveloped horses are called runts.

There are more than twenty breeds of ponies in the world.The bestknown are the Shetlands, the smallest of all breeds, which average a little less than 10 hands, about 39 inches.

Shetlands were first used in England as work animals in coal mines, because they were strong.They are also gentle, and may be trained to be good pets.

什么时候一匹马算是矮马呢？

马是用手来测量的：一手掌之宽相当于4英寸。马的高度可从地面到马肩隆（马背上两个肩胛骨之间的部分）最高处的距离计量。凡低于14手掌2英寸（58英寸）的马，都是矮马。

根据这一定义，一匹幼马并不是矮马，幼马被称作驹。发育不良、未长到与同种马一般大小的马也不称矮马。发育不全的马被称作小种马。

世界上有20多个品种的矮种马。最闻名的是设得兰种，是所有矮马中体形最小的一种，其平均高度略低于10手掌，约39英寸。

在英国，设得兰矮马最初在煤矿上充作力畜，因为它们长得壮实。它们也很温顺，可以练习为很好的玩赏动物。