I never answered your first question, sorry. I think the general feeling,even within the horse community, is that traditional pony rides where you have ponies hooked up in a circle and they walk for twelve hours a day, is cruel. The pony ride operator will argue (and even post "educational" signs) that the ponies are tough and were bred to work in the mines, and they are used to it, plus they get put out to pasture for several months each year to be free. I think it's a pile of BS and the ponies are bored and miserable. It may not be justification, but at least a riding horse does not endure that type of boredom in such a confined unnatural surrounding.