"Not all of them: there's horses, ponies, deer, griffons, dragons, zebras, and lots of other sapient creatures. It's just a lot of them are hooved and equine-shaped."

Seeing how unsettled he looked, she held up a hoof.

"I won't lie: It's unnerving, but I understand why you all would probably use non-sapient horses. The Abyssinians I know can't travel nearly as far on foot as a pony can for starters. They definitely can't pull as heavy wagons as we can."

Which led to some ponies that ventured outside of Equestria and into the rougher parts like Kludgetown getting captured and enslaved but that wasn't the same as this scenario.