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Kaysa · Mar 25, 2020 4:44 PM

New player here. I’ve been trying to go through the FAQs and the forum to learn as much as I can, and I’m also trying to be patient and take my time (even though creating new horses is so much fun! Ha!) So far I keep reading advice about avoiding unequal breedings. And that makes sense to me as far as pedigrees and paper levels - but what about on a smaller level, like a beginner’s foundation level? How much do you rely on PT scores? Do you try to breed between horses with similar scores? How big of a gap is too much? Do you find yourself waiting until a horse levels off to retrospectively say, “that was a fine horse/breeding?” Or is it more of a trial and error, this stallion/mare/pairing results in spayed/gelded offspring too often?

Basically, I want to hear your thought processes in breeding. And personally, what are you looking for? What are your goals?

Nightphoenix · Mar 25, 2020 4:50 PM

My first two creates both had PT 7.00, so I made that my minimum. I don’t breed any horses with scores lower than this. PT score doesn’t affect breeding ability, but as I do not have a show barn yet, my breeding stock double as my show horses.

I’d type more, but I’m an Equine Science and Management major aiming to become a horse breeder, so I’m absolutely obsessed with horse breeding and genetics, so this would be very, very , VERY long!

ConfluenceStable · Mar 25, 2020 5:50 PM

Hi Kaysa, welcome to the game!

but what about on a smaller level, like a beginner’s foundation level? There are a couple of ways for a new player to get started. First would be to concentrate on getting a good show string to fund your future breeing operation, but that can be pretty daunting. When new players create horses they have a bonus number of show points, to get your nightly bonus growing quickly. You can either keep those horses, or sell them for some pretty good cash.

You can also use the method called Bootstrapping. It is a quick(er) way to get good scoring horses. It involves breeding high PT stallions to Foundation mares to get better scoring foals.

How much do you rely on PT scores? It took me 8 real life years to understand PT! It basically tells you how long your horse will get the full training points with each training session. A horse with a low PT score won't take long to learn everything it's going to learn. A low PT means the horse will get stuck in (for example) 2nd grade, while the horse with the higher PT will make it as far as a bachelor's degree. Once they level off they will still earn some points from training, but not the full amount they did before.

Do you try to breed between horses with similar scores? How big of a gap is too much? When you are first starting out and can't afford all the testing, using the PT score to match up horses is fine. Eventually you will want to breed mares and stallions with matching paper scores (unless you are bootstrapping)

Do you find yourself waiting until a horse levels off to retrospectively say, “that was a fine horse/breeding?” Or is it more of a trial and error, this stallion/mare/pairing results in spayed/gelded offspring too often? Once you start using all the available testing it becomes a LOT easier to figure out if they are going to be good show horses as foals. Otherwise you use what you can, and see how they show day to day. It wont work with foals/yearlings, since they don't train, so wait until they have started showing as 2 year olds to decide.

Does any of that make any sense?

Kaysa · Mar 26, 2020 10:19 AM

Yes it does, thanks! Although you skipped the fun part of sharing your current personal goals ;)

I've been trying to study this month's batch of foals before the next breeding season begins to try and decide which parings to attempt. I have three foundation stallions who all rate as 9.8 Consistent so other than color genes and my totally unfounded hunches they appear "equal." My mares have more of a range.

Here is one that I found interesting. I have my 9.80 Consistent stallion x a 4.10 Consistent mare who is also an Exceptional Producer. She is not at all a successful show horse like her PT score suggests, but she did indeed produce a foal who seems nice. He is 10.50 and consistent so from PT scores alone he would appear superior to both his sire and dam. He did not, however pass BA. So I can see how PT tells us about showing ability, but that it is not directly related to how well they themselves will produce foals.

Salaam

That foal plus another from a mare labeled Exceptionally Perfect, whose foal also didn't pass BA (but will be a nice addition for earning the showing bonus) made me wonder if it's harder for foals to pass BA when they have one parent who is exceptional in some way - since the foal needs to be close or better than both parents? Or if one exceptional parent made my pairings more uneven.

I've put my mares in pasture to hope for better outcomes next season. I can see how the more generations go into it the more streamlined a line becomes and probably more predictable outcomes. For now I think I have more trial and error to go through - what would a game be without any challenge!

Blacklightning0581 · Mar 26, 2020 1:03 PM

Welcome! I, myself, am still in the learning phase. I did decide i wanted to play with genes from the RGS and mix and match. I made some stallions that have different licenses, and not lookin to mix those up till 3rd gen. I am tryin to breed non inbreds, so the stallions i have can mix and match after 2nd gens grow. Im sellin most of my 2g stock from this month in auctions and gonna try again w full pasture time and see what i get.

SandyCreekAcres · Mar 26, 2020 2:01 PM

@Kaysa: Yes, breeding horses when one is an ordinary create and the other is an exceptional producer can make it harder to get intact foals.

ConfluenceStable · Mar 26, 2020 6:05 PM

@Kaysa - I have my main account over on the HJ2 server, where I breed Black Liver Chestnuts with a variety of patterns; W3, W10, KitM, Sb1, Sb2, Sooty+, etc. I have a Fantasy herd over here, but I seldom get the chance to play with them!

EdgewoodFarm · Mar 26, 2020 6:36 PM

@Kaysa I am also new and trying to figure out breeding matches. On the topic of matching PTs, I find this foal interesting. Has a PT of 10.70 and also the only one of 4 foals by that stallion that didn't pass BA.

Back In A Flash EF
The stallion has a PT of 0.20 and the mare is an EP with a PT of 9.60.

Kaysa · Mar 27, 2020 8:13 AM

@EdgewoodFarm she is really cute! Probably a lot like my colt, the sire and dam are quite different in quality and - although I am clearly not the expert on this - the way I’m thinking of it is that although by a happy chance the foal turned out really nice, it’s not likely that they can go on to produce foals of a similar quality because the genes (not just color genes, all the building blocks for traits) they have to pull from are from both parents - the inferior one also. They’re like a beautiful sandcastle that can win a contest for you, but don’t have a firm foundation to pull from.

In real life you get lots of horses that are excellent companions or show horses but aren’t superior enough to make them a worthy producer of the next generation. And I think that’s what is playing out here for us.

annismyrph · Mar 27, 2020 9:03 AM

If you have the barn space ; keep those gelded babies ; over time they will earn you HB's and points ; I am gelding 99% of the boys and about 50% of the 2nd generation girls just to build my show herd; once I am earning well I ll start keeping the babies intact for breeding if they pass

EdgewoodFarm · Mar 27, 2020 4:54 PM

@annismyrph do you have any criteria for which foals you decide to keep for a show herd?

Being new to the game, I am short on space and still working out the best way to build up a show herd. I am thinking for now to only keep foals with PT of 10 or higher and auction the others. I need both the space and the $ from selling them.

annismyrph · Mar 27, 2020 5:17 PM

@EdgewoodFarm that is exactly what I do ; I too am new and I am keeping only those PT 9.0 or higher unless they are REALLY cute >< you only need 1 stud for 50 mares imo more than 1 or 2 is silly the first few months ; if the foals aren't what you like ( color wise ) you can sell them directly back to the game for 1k HB , or stick them in the auction for 2.5. I only test the ones I am thinking about keeping ; otherwise don't spend the money on the tests and IMO don't waste money on papers til the 3rd or 4th generation either ; read through some of the older posts ( CompassPoint, SandyCreekAcres, Ammit, ConfluenceStable ) have all written tomes on this game and there is 1 that is stickied at the top of the Forum Page ; also there is a 150k "giveaway" from one of the members here who will help you HUGE in the beginning.

EdgewoodFarm · Mar 29, 2020 5:05 PM

Yes the 150k giveaway was a huge help for me! So thankful for that!

Today I found myself wondering though if actually I shouldn't be keeping foals and instead keep any decent pointed creates I end up with.

Mistylynn91 · Mar 29, 2020 8:34 PM

@EdgewoodFarm definitely keep quite a few of your higher pointed creates! Ones that make around 40hbs a day and up. You can sell any you don't want, and most of us will grab them quickly.
I started playing in November, and for some reason I had the brilliant idea to just breed and sell all my foundations and keep/buy only lined horses... then i realized why pointed foundations are valuable after buying too many older horses and basically had to play catch up buying whatever high pointed auction horses I could afford! Almost none of my higher pointed horses are ones I made myself.
Once you get over 20,000 points accumulated you cant make pointed foundies anymore. I've gotten too attached to my other horses I've bought and bred to sell them all off and start over again haha. It's much easier in the long run to just create your own money making ponies than to try to buy everyone else's cast offs later. Those points add up fast!

EdgewoodFarm · Mar 29, 2020 9:06 PM

@Mistylynn91 thanks for the tip! Unfortunately I haven’t gotten anything yet that makes over 40hbs a day but I will definitely keep that in mind!

annismyrph · Mar 30, 2020 6:28 AM

@EdgewoodFarm ; you can also use the Search tab and put in owner 13 ; that's where all the Foundations go when they are auctioned ; they are all 2500 unless Rank Special ; you can pick up some higher pointed creates that way as well

ConfluenceStable · Mar 30, 2020 8:38 AM

Only PERFECT foundations go to the Foundation Rescue.

annismyrph · Mar 30, 2020 10:28 AM

oh well even better than :)

EdgewoodFarm · Mar 30, 2020 10:40 AM

@annismyrph oh I didn't know about that! Thanks!

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