HGG Community Forums

Deciding which horses to keep is very dependent on which variables you are looking at. For example, at the moment I am looking at PT scores, # of points, and age to decide which horses I keep as show ponies; all of my breeding goals have kind of lost their attraction during my long absence so I am slowly figuring out what I want to aim for for my next breeding goal.

As for the IRL currency -vs- free-to-play variety, I am 100% free-to-play as I do not see a lot of sense for me to spend IRL currency on something I'll probably change my mind about within a few weeks time.

My experience has been that there is no "right way" to play, so it's really whatever you want it to be. :)

I agree there is no "right way play." The best advice I can offer is to save up show ponies because they will end up being your money makers. That's definitely something I wish I found out sooner because for a while I wasn't really earning enough to support my breeding habits. :-))

I've been playing for a few years and have only recently decided my breedings goals. It took time because there are so many gene combinations that I hard time just picking one, and it's fine to not have one specific goal. I know some players have a few different lines they breed for.

It's 100% possible to play without using IRL currency. I did for a long while and was able to save up enough game money to get the IVs for a basic upgrade and extra barns. It never bothered me that I didn't have any "fancy" genes because I really enjoy the genetics of the game. If you really would like a fantasy gene the ammit sometimes has special events where you can use game currency to purchase IVs which can the be used to get gmts to be used in the lab. Or if you really have enough saved every 100,000hbs equals to $1.00 of IRL money. So. For a $5.00 gene you could offer someone 500,000hbs to get it added for you.

Regardless of how you play, show ponies are your bread and butter. Breeding is obviously the more fun part of this game, but the show ponies support that fun. Definitely keep your breeding herd small until you get a solid income.

I see that you have posted on this thread, but I highly recommend you scroll up to the very first post and thoroughly read the original post. It's some super solid advice.

https://www.huntandjump.com/forum/discussion/comment/252934#Comment_252934

I play on two different servers and pick a few "hard and fast" color rules for my breeding stock on each server and make myself stick to them regardless of how pretty and shiny the horses may be. On both servers I breed for light boned and start with ExPro/ExPerf foundations. I do not keep anything C/Yellow papered or inconsistent. On Mesa I look for horses are ee sty sty with DP and here its Ee/EE sty sty with silver. I really like having the different goals on different servers, it helps keep my mind organized and keep both lines in check and prevents me from collecting alllll the RS.

I also really try to focus on increasing the quality of my horses with each generation so that plays a huge factor in which horses I alter. I started out by keeping everything that passed SBA and was "consistent" intact, once I got more funds I started comparison testing and only keeping superior intact. If I find I have to many horses I just make another rule (i.e. bump the paper level requirements or add another gene requirement)

As far a spending real money, I highly recommend to at least get the new player special for the basic upgrade. I think it's 1.99 for the first 3 months? It really helps get your feet off the ground. Once you have been playing for a few months you should have enough saved to buy one year of a basic upgrade using game cash (375000 hbs). There is no need to spend RL money after that unless you really want to! The basic upgrade gives you weekly income, allows you to paper your horses and allows you to enter an entire barn into shows at once (which again showing is the money maker here so this is a huge time save!). It also gives you a 60 acre primary pasture. Pastures are the cheapest way to breed and another way I keep my foundation mares in check. If they don't fit on the pasture they get spayed and put in the show barn or sold.

There are TONS of fancy genes that can be bought with game money or don't require a license. I would be happy to sell a few second generation horses with some fancy open genes to help you out. Just shoot me a PM if you're interested!

Like everyone else has said, the most important part is to have fun! This is a truly incredible community, everyone is very willing to help! :)