Pony show: Finding beauty within beast no mean feat

It all comes down to a single person's opinion in judging. PHOTO/Warren Buckland

IF YOU think it's hard yakka agreeing on who should be Miss New Zealand or Miss Universe, try picking a horse or pony.

That's what a gaggle of judges has been doing at the five-day National Horse and Pony Show which started on Thursday at the Hawke's Bay Showgrounds in Hastings.

"The best way to sum it up is that it's a beauty contest for horses and ponies," the president of the nationals, Megan Hawkins, of Palmerston North, told Hawke's Bay Today , yesterday when asked how the eagle-eyed judges were able to differentiate a stunner from any other hack.

Just as the two-legged beauty pageants are subjected to a variety of other tests such as etiquette, deportment and intelligence, the equine hopefuls and their riders undergo similar scrutiny from the adjudicators.

Okay so what gave Mia Cadwallader, 5, of Auckland, and her mount, Eastdale Diva, the edge over our home-grown Maia van den Berk and her pony, Silvan Royal Portrait, in the lead rein class for 4 to 8-year-old children?

"The judges are looking for the most beautiful and correct type of horse or pony," Hawkins explained with the patience of a saint.

Mmm ... define beauty, please?

The way the hair above the neck is plaited. Maybe the sheen on the horse's coat.

Perhaps it's the colour attributed to the genes of a pedigree gelding or mare -- you know, the story-book variety.

As it turns out, it's a "true type" of animal that will not explode into bouts of hissy fits. Specifically it will carry a child without making the parents sweat profusely or tear their hair out in frustration.

"It's a very kind horse and it's willing to go anywhere without bucking its head and jumping about," Hawkins said.

Taking all that into account, she emphasised, it ultimately did come down to just one person's opinion - the judges.

In the case of Cadwallader and van den Berk, it was two - judges Sandra Pilcher, of Blenheim, and Anne Randell, of Sydney.

The opinions of two people from different countries were unanimous that Cadwallader was the real deal.

For the record, van den Berk had to settle for fifth position in the field of a dozen contenders.

Will the youngster from Hastings be distraught?

"Oh, no," Hawkins said. "To get to the top placing is very good."

The main classes, with up to 15 mounts, will compete tomorrow.

More than 250 riders aged from 4 to 50-plus have converged in Hastings with close to 300 horses and ponies.

They are from as far north as Kaitaia and as far south as Cheviot, north Canterbury.

"It's a pretty strong competition, you know. It's the next biggest thing to the Horse of the Year Show," Hawkins said of the "showing" cousins.