Hawkesbury Show & general attitudes towards geldings

Well i just read this programe..And it doesnt make one bit of sense! lol.
First off the mini horses are reffered to in hands.
next they have colt,stallion,filly,mare classes then Supreme horse of show THEN the gelding class after supreme.
then it goes so random gelding any height any age class then colt/ stallion and filly mare/again then it says champion harness horse...

It really is a hard to understand!

I just had another look at it and see what you mean! I've done Hawkesbury show every year for around the last 8 yrs, and a few before that even, done all sorts, open pony classes, hacking classes, andalusian classes, thoroughbred classes, mini classes, colour classes, even sporting! And one thing I have noticed is that their program is always very outdated and classes nearly always clash!! I worked (work experience) with the show committee back in 02-04 and we did this massive survey of every person who entered in one of the previous years to try and find out how the horse events and facilities could be improved, we got heaps of valuable feedback, but do you think the committee followed thru on any of it? NUP! Two years worth of work by 4 people was simply shrugged at!!!

Annnnyway.....

The way the classes are done are a little strange, especially being by hand height and not ages, and I guess they don't get enough geldings to warrant having separate age and height classes, so they lump them all in together with no champion and no eligibility for supreme. That really sucks and it's shows like that who are basically discouraging showing geldings when so many of the registries are ENCOURAGING showing geldings by having special classes and bonus prizes! Maybe someone should alert IMHR or MH&PE to what they are doing so they can sponsor a class!

It really is sad that the attitude of people is to keep them all entire.
I will keep Cappa a colt now just for hawksbury cause I mean...Why take a gelding if you cant even go in for a champion.....?

My friend used to breed Miniatures....but she never has shown them and she came out to see mine last saturday,When I said I wanted top Geld Cappa she said to me "whats the point of gelding a mini?"

Is that the attitude of most people these days?
Maybe if someone sponsored a gelding section with a trophy and money it might be an incentive for people to geld?

Unfortunately, yes, that is a lot of the attitude these days, and that's why registries are sponsoring gelding classes and offering free rego for geldings. To try and cut out some of the backyard breeding from all the less-than-average quality stallions that are kept entire because they are easy enough to manage as they are, so people don't want to spend $600 to have them gelded. Sad but true.

that is so stupid geldings make the best pets i had my colt gelded recently and it made the world of difference!

Yes there are so many horses/ponies going around these days that NEED and SHOULD be gelded! It gives them a better quality of life for starters!
Ive seen a few avatars here/there of stallions that look like they SHOULD be gelded, sorry but true. Its such a shame otherwise when they could be leading successful lives as geldings!

I love my geldings and would never turn back time to have left them as colts!!

Sadly yes this is pretty standard for ag shows - there a lot of them where the geldings dont compete for champion, however at the nationals etc (mini shows) you see just how much people love their geldings and there is gelding incentives eg. IMHR Nationals some classes are free this year for geldings and there is a pot of gold incentive too.