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Pony heads are held to the body in the way they are designed and through glue. When you are removing the pony head if the head is loose or with only a few areas remaining where the glue is still firm, then the removal will be easy. All that is necessary under these circumstances is your hand and a little effort. Firmly grip the head and body and gently, but with power, pull the head off. If some glue still remains, pull around the head working the glue loose, in the manner a joystick rotates. Because of the mould design, the base of the head is thicker than the neck and slightly thicker than the hole, as shown by Masquerade to the left. However the head will come off if you squeeze it a bit and pull along the long axis of the squeeze (I hope y'all are getting me here!) These are just ways I have found work the best with no chance of injuring the pony, its actually a very simple concept, but hard to relate in words.
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If the head of your pony is still firmly attached by the glue, on the other hand, as show by Sweet Stuff to the right, then the task is a bit more difficult. Using the same techniques as above, work the head like it is a joy stick, some of the glue may separate and then it is fairly easy to go from there. If, however, the head cannot be loosened by hand only, it is time to use some tools and other techniques. First, immerse the pony in hot water, not boiling, but hot. Boiling water is dangerous. You can melt or disfigure ponies if you use boiling water. Soak her for a minute or two and then take her out and try to take the head off. The hot water sometimes helps to soften the glue and makes the head easier to pull off. If this does not work, one must resort to tools, which are more difficult to use safely (for the pony).
To the left is a pocket knife (duh) and a cuticle pusher from my manicure set ^_^ I use the cuticle pusher for getting into the crack if possible without using a sharp edge. A reasonable substitute would be a butter knife. The edge of the pusher is rounded and soft, even at then end with the point, and this prevents the possibility of puncturing the pony. Even if it isn't in a visible place (like inside the seam) we don't want to do that, it isn't nice ;) Finally however, if the head refuses to yield even to massive hand power combined with the pusher, we must result to slicing through the glue. The glue I emphasize, not the plastic of the pony. The glue that was used was rather plastic-like in nature and very good at bonding the plastic, but it is easy to tell where the seam between head and body is, even as you are cutting. What you want to do is slice along the seam a few mm (millimeters) deep at a time. In no way do you want to use the point, that's what the pusher is for and you will most likely end up stabbing your pony :( Once you feel you have enough separated space to work with, use your hands and the pusher to continue the separation. If it is still not enough, continue slicing on then next section and pry some more. I have never had to use the knife around the whole neck, it usually only requires a section to be loosened before I can work it off using the pusher and quite a bit of elbow grease. Removing heads that are firmly glued on isn't easy, but this is the only way I know to do it without messing up the poor pony herself.