SMU phasing out “Pony Up!” as a slogan, but keeping the Shetland Pony live mascot. This article says that phrase came to be used in 2007. I was enrolled at SMU in 2007 and had no idea, lol. I never attended a game, they were dogshit, and my undergrad OKST was my sports focus. Why would a new phrase come into existence at a time when attendance was in the dozens? Seems odd that alumni would be so attached to such a recent thing but there’s some pushback to keep the slogan. If anyone has a subscription to DMN I wonder if that article has more details (link below). The following is from Chron.com which I suspect might be more sarcastic than DMN would be.
https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/smu-mustangs/2025/09/16/smu-is-phasing-out-its-pony-up-catchphrase-and-leadership-is-surprised-by-the-reaction/
https://www.chron.com/sports/college/article/smu-kick-em-stangs-21051677.php
SMU doesn't want to 'Pony Up,' anymore, it wants to 'Kick 'em'
Southern Methodist University wants you to know it's all grown up now.
By Leah Vann, Sports Culture ReporterSep 17, 2025
SMU wants to get off the 'Pony Up,' rally cry.
Instead, Board of Trustees Chair David Miller wants to ride with something like "Kick 'Em Stangs," because it's got to be compatible with other Texas Power 4 clique members: Hook 'Em, Gig 'Em, Wreck 'Em and Sic 'Em.
"We're SMU Mustangs," Miller told the Dallas Morning News. "We're not SMU Ponies."
The 'Pony Up,' rally cry, according to the school's website, is often accompanied by the "pony ears" gesture, a modified peace sign where you relax your finger to look like pony ears. The phrase has been part of the SMU culture since 2007.
But where Miller's statement gets hazy is the fact that SMU is... of both Pony and Mustang lineage.
Peruna, the SMU mascot since 1932, is a black Shetland pony known for its feisty stallion personality. According to SMU's The Daily Campus newspaper, Peruna I was donated by a local racetrack owner who felt the powerhouse pony embodied SMU. From there, the school's students decided that the school would take on the "Mustangs," as its official mascot, since the wild horse had the physical embodiment of a "petite pony."
Shetland ponies are a special Scottish breed of pony that has short legs and is very strong. They were especially helpful for riding, driving and packing purposes back in the old days But now, they're more frequently cute miniature horses ridden by small children or appearing as a 'Lil Sebastian' at the petting zoo. (If you haven't seen Parks and Rec, look it up.)
Peruna is small, strong, wild and, honestly, adorable. But that's not exactly what football players (or athletes) want to be known for.
According to Miller, both head football coach Rhett Lashlee and head basketball coach Andy Enfield agreed that the image they want to portray to recruits is "not that of a pony, but of wild charging mustangs."
It's really just a technicality, but SMU, since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference, is the only Power 4 conference team with the Mustang mascot. The change also comes as an hour-long documentary about SMU football's program rebuild from the NCAA's "death penalty" called, "Thunder On: Resurgence of the SMU Mustangs," premieres at 2 p.m. Sunday on ESPN.
SMU Athletic Director Damon Evans even used #ThunderOn, as a way to market yet another new phrase. Meanwhile, the football team wore 'Kick 'Em, Stangs,' shirts to Saturday's game at Missouri State.
Nevertheless, it seems SMU is having an identity crisis.
But Lashlee maybe underestimated the amount of backlash the program would get for trying to phase out, 'Pony Up.'
"We love our fans, and we love passionate fans, and if you say, 'Pony Up' to me, I’m going to freaking say, 'Pony Up' back. And if you say, 'Go Mustangs,' I’m gonna say, 'Go Mustangs.' And if you say, 'Kick 'Em, Stangs,' I’m going to kick something.'"