"Abe Lincoln may have freed all men, but Sam Colt made them equal."

So, I was thinking, "Do male ponies in the Ponyverse have it worse off?" My top character lists: Twilight, Rainbow, Luna, Daring Do, Cadenza, Applejack, Trixie, Crusaders. All female.

Understandable, since half of those are 'mane' characters, which are all female except Spike, Luna is technically a 'mane' character (she's there every night, you just never see her except for a few episodes), and the rest are one-offs (except, presumably Cadence and Trixie for S3+). But, since so many one-offs made the list, why didn't any males? Let's take a look.

You usually don't see too many male ponies. Ponyville has a decent amount around, but more often than not, most of the background characters seem to be female models. Males seem much more common in the 'high society' locales such as Manehattan and Canterlot and at the social functions like the Grand Galloping Gala and Canterlot Garden Party.

Males are almost exclusively the ones seen pulling transportation. They pull Princess Celestia's chariot, Princess Luna's chariot, the taxis, the carriages for the Grand Galloping Gala, etc.

The Western areas have males not only pulling wagons, but the train itself.

 

Males are predominately, or exclusively, the members of the Canterlot royal guard.

They are also Princess Celestia's elite bodyguards.

Males are seen having non-cart pulling jobs, such as jeweler. They also have been seen as: construction workers, train conductors and engineers, produce sellers, shop owners, instructors at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, teachers, clowns, bellhops, farmers, gardeners, window washers, waiters, saloon owners, security guards, weather factory workers, photographers, announcers, athletes, artists, writers/historians, and auctioneers.

For Winter Wrap Up Day, they are primarily seen doing heavy labor on the Plants team, pulling the plows etc.

Males staff the postal service, I believe all couriers we have seen have been male.

Males are also commonly seen as musicians, including country stars and pianists.

 Males are also seen as doctors.

An 'evil' prince poisoned a royalty breed princess in the past in order to try and get her to love him.

 This did result in a holiday being made sometime years later called Hearts and Hooves Day, which is all about mares and stallions finding their 'special someponies.'

Also in the past, the leaders of the tribes are all females apparently, except the Unicorns, which have a king, although he is never even shown. His daughter, Princess Platinum, attended summits and went off to find new land in his stead.

Males also make up some of the ranks for the Wonderbolts. Soarin', a male, may be a Lieutenant, second in rank to Spitfire.

Let's see some notable colts/stallions:

Mr. Cake

 Co-owner of Sugar Cube Corner, Mr. Cake helps run the bakery and catering business. He's kind of a nervous fellow (understandable since his niece(?) Pinkie Pie lives with them) but generally an all-around good guy.

Soarin'

 A high ranking officer of the Wonderbolts. Soarin' is one of Rainbow Dash's heroes, and he has on occasion tried to save the day, but usually ends up failing. He is in the Wonderbolts, and a high ranking one at that, so he is very skilled at aerobatics and flying. He also was the only one to buy anything from Applejack at the Gala, and almost dropped his pie on the ground.

Shining Armor

  Twilight Sparkle's older brother and a Captain of the Royal Guard. He the only one Twilight cared about before the Nightmare Moon prophecy came to pass, and the only one Twilight considered a friend when she was still in Canterlot. He is shown to have impressive magical ability. He also marries Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.

Cranky Doodle Donkey

 A mishap led to him wandering the land searching for his lost love for the rest of his life. He finally gave up and was going to retire in Ponyville. There, he was annoyed by Pinkie Pie, but eventually was reunited with Matilda, the one he had been searching for for decades.

Filthy Rich

The heir to the Stinking Rich legacy, Filthy Rich is the father of Diamond Tiara and the owner of Rich's Barnyard Bargains. Has a standing order for 100 jars of zap apple jam from the Apple family, which he and his family has sold since before the foundation of Ponyville. Became the cornerstone of retail in town by capturing the wholesale market, purchasing in bulk and slashing all prices, which let them undermine all competitors' gift markets.

 Big Macintosh

 Brother to Applejack and Apple Bloom, Big Mac, as he is called, is a hard worker, doing tons of the chores on Sweet Apple Acres. He is extremely strong, being shown to be able to drag two ox plus a cart of anvils, and even an entire house. He normally only responds in 'Yup' or 'Nope' but at times will speak normally. Cheerilee seems to have a crush on him.

 Donut Joe

 Donut Joe owns and operates a Canterlot donut shop, which is Spike's favorite. He also entered 'Donutopia' in a Canterlot dessert competition, which was a city made of donuts. His entry was ruined because of Pinkie Pie, from a certain point of view, but Mulia, the Cakes, Gustave, and himself combined their destroyed entries into one entry, which won the competition.

Con Mane

 A James Bond parody and allegedly the alter ego of Donut Joe. In Pinkie Pie's mind, Con Mane is a secret agent that was sent to sabotage the Cake's dessert contest entry. Like the real James Bond, Con Mane was armed with all manner of gadgets and the ladies swoon for him.

Braeburn

 Applejack's motormouth cousin. He lives at Appleloosa where he helps run the apple orchards. He was the 'spokespony' for the Appleloosan side of the story.

Sheriff Silver Star

 The law in Appleloosa. He helped organize the defense of the town against the buffalo. In fact, he won the Battle of Appleloosa, from a certain point of view, as he was out of ammo (apple pies) and the Chief charged at him, which allowed some other Appleloosan to score a direct hit on the Chief. The pie dripped into the Chief's mouth, he enjoyed it, and ultimately peace was reached between the buffalo tribe and Appleloosans.

Fancypants

 One of the most well-to-do ponies in Canterlot, so famous that Rarity knew him by sight, and the most important pony in Canterlot according to her. He has a 'French' supermodel looking girlfriend, his own private VIP box at the Wonderbolts Derby, his own airship yacht, was a guest at the Royal Wedding, and is one of the premier guests at all the high-class functions, like the Canterlot Garden Party.

 Hoity Toity

 A 'big wig fashion hotshot' from Canterlot, Spike invited him to see Rarity's fashion show, which was a terrible failure due to Rarity letting her friends design their own clothing. They convinced him to come back and see another fashion show, this time showing the dresses Rarity designed herself, which he loved. He then asked to sell Rarity's couture in his 'best of the best boutique' in Canterlot. Rarity fainted as he requested a dozen of each by next Tuesday, but presumably she took him up on it.

 Flim and Flam

 Salesponies non pareil. These guys are con artists, using their magic Unicorn abilities to construct a cider making machine, which they then use to try and steal cider profits from random orchards. Cider is an extremely popular drink for ponies, but in the case of the Apple family, they put so much care into their product that they don't make enough for everyone. Flim and Flam's machine however makes quality cider in a fraction of the time, and they even offer to split the profits, 75:25. They make this proposal to the Apples, who decline and instead end up challenging them to a bet for exclusive cider selling rights for Ponyville. This bet escalates into Sweet Apple Acres being on the line. Flim and Flam win, since the contest was purely about quantity (they shut down their QA device to catch up after Twilight and the rest of her friends pitch in) but they stupidly try to sell the no QA cider, and then leave town as no one wants to buy it.

 Twilight's Father

 Not much is known about Twilight's dad. We can see they live in a pretty nice looking house, they have at least two children: Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle, and quite possibly are well off, as they had a princess (Cadence) foalsitting for Twilight, and were able to enroll Twilight into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Twilight became the personal protege to Celestia, and Shining Armor became Captain of the Royal Guard as well as marrying Princess Cadence, so he must be pretty proud of his children.

Pinkie's Father

 A somewhat grim stallion living a fairly bleak existence on a rock farm, which Pinkie said had no smiling or talking. He has a wife and three daughters. It is unknown what exactly they did with the rocks, perhaps smashed them to find ore or gems.

Uncle Orange

 Applejack's far less rustic uncle. He lives in Manehattan (the most cosmopolitan city in all of Equestria) with his wife, and is friends with several high-class ponies. He also hosts fancy dinner parties. This fancy, highfaluting lifestyle was very attractive to the young Applejack, who set off to find herself in the big city, and Uncle and Aunt Orange graciously allowed her to live with them, until Applejack got homesick and went back to Ponyville.

Prince Blueblood

Princess Celestia's nephew and the 'most handsome eligible unicorn stallion in Canterlot.' Rarity was smitten with him and dreamed of them falling in love. She finally got her chance to meet him at the Grand Galloping Gala, where she found the only thing 'royal' about him was he was a 'royal pain,' as he was all about himself that night, finally making Rarity snap after cowering behind her, letting her take the brunt of an airborne cake. He was later seen in the episode Sweet and Elite, where Rarity became 'the pony everypony should know' in Canterlot, where he eagerly waited to mingle with her and stood by her side while she christened an airship.

Mr. Greenhooves

Fluttershy's archnemesis and a gardener that works in Ponyville and Canterlot. Fluttershy employs him, or he just does it on his own volition, to water her plants, which he over waters sometimes. He also is groundskeeper for the Canterlot Castle gardens, where Fluttershy had additional run-ins with him at the Gala. He has also been seen pulling a cart, where he splashed mud onto Twilight Sparkle.

Star Swirl the Bearded

The father of the amniomorphic spell, mentor to Clover the Clever (who became one of the Founding Mares of Equestria), and the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era. Star Swirl created more than 200 spells, and has a shelf in the Canterlot Library of Magic named for him, as well as his own wing in the Canterlot Archives. He also may have created several time spells, as those are kept in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing,  the most heavily secured area of the Archives.

Alright, I could possibly see some of those making a top 5 if they had some more episodes dedicated to them. There's actually a decent amount of other males of note, like Thunderlane the pegasus, or Jet Set, the snobby unicorn from Sweet and Elite that shunned Rarity at first.

My Top 5 Colts/Stallion, in no particular order:

Fancypants

 Prestige. Wealth. Hot babe. Yacht. Very Important Pony.

Mane. Con Mane.

A sleek, stealthy secret agent. Laden with gadgets as well as having access to magic, Con Mane is one badass stallion. He also makes the ladies swoon.

Shining Armor

 

 Twilight's BBBFF, he enjoys a position of power and prestige as Captain of the Royal Guard. He also married his childhood sweetheart (presumably anyway), Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, who is one of the most beautiful, kind, and caring ponies around, in addition to being Celestia's niece. He is also personally responsible for the well-being of Canterlot, being able to use his magic to create, or enhance, the forcefield bubble that protects the city.

Soarin'

  Like Shining Armor, Soarin' too enjoys a life of prestige and power, being a high ranking officer in the Wonderbolts. This gets him into VIP areas at events such as the Grand Galloping Gala. When Rarity was plummeting to her demise, he was one of the first ones to rush down to try and save her. Being in the Wonderbolts, and being an officer, means he should be an extremely talented flyer and aerobatics expert.

Star Swirl the Bearded

One of the few male Unicorn wizards that have been named, Star Swirl the Bearded deserves the recognition, although he is apparently featured in a book about obscure unicorn history. He is Twilight Sparkle's personal idol, and she 'hoof-made' a costume based on him for Nightmare Night. He is considered the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era, created over 200 spells, including the amniomorphic spell, and likely created a bunch of time-related spells, as those are stored in a wing of the Canterlot Archives named after him. He was also the mentor to Clover the Clever, who went on to help found Equestria.

I could definitely see some of these (Soarin', Con Mane, Star Swirl, especially) making a top 5 list if they get a good episode in the future. We definitely need more males with as memorable an episode as Trixie's or Daring Do's.

Oh, yes, to answer my initial question: No, male ponies may be sort of neglected a bit in the show, with the only prominent, recurring male being Spike, a baby dragon fond of wearing frilly aprons,  but the majority of the males we see are successful characters. Businessmen, workers, super rich, secret agents, celebrities, etc.

With Season 3 and beyond, Shining Armor is presumably going to be a recurring character, which will fill in the gap for another recurring male character.