HGG Community Forums

Welcome to the game. Here is a quick review of the information you are looking for.

How to breed.
1. Stallions can be bred once they reach the age of 3. Mares have to be 4 before they are eligible for breeding. Mares can have only 1 foal per breeding season/game year, unless you have an upgrade that allows you to collect and use eggs. Stallions can live cover up to 50 mares. Using straws is not counted toward that total. All horses can no longer be bred once they are over 19.
2. Either the stallion or the mare must be up for public breeding in order to be used. You can set the price where you would like. Once a horse has been placed for public breeding, the stud/brood price will appear at the bottom of the horse's info tab, along with a button that says "Breed to this horse." Click the button. Fairly quickly a breeding box will appear at the top of the page. It contains a drop-down box that lists all the horses you own that can be bred, a box to enter a name for the foal, and a button to activate the breeding. If the name has already been used nothing will happen and you will have to try again.
3. You can use the "Search Horses" page to look for horses owned by other players that are up for public breeding. Always be sure to check for any breeding rules the owner of a public stud or brood mare has listed on the horse's info tab and follow them. This is good game play and will help you make friends with your fellow players.
4. An important part of the game culture is to breed for even generations--foundation mare to foundation stallion, 2nd generation to 2nd generation and so forth. There is no game rule against breeding uneven generations, but if you want other players to be happy to have you using their horses for breeding and willing to buy any foals you would like to sell, it is important.

How to enter breeders clubs.
1. Click on the Breeders Clubs link on the left menu under Community. Select the club you are interested in. If you have any horses that are not already entered in that breeders clubs they are eligible for, their names will appear in a drop down box. Click the "Register this horse"
button, and it will be entered.
2. Horses can be entered in no more than 4 of the breeders clubs, so it it has a very long color name--White chestnut tobiano rabicano splash, for example you will have to select which ones you want to use.
3. Don't forget that there are clubs for the various eras as well as colors. Eras indicate the time period that a particular line was started--when the first foundation horses in the line were created and named. New foals get their era from the parent with the earliest era--breeding an era 2 horse with an era 4 horse will produce an era 2 foal, for instance. This is perfectly okay, though some players may be interested in breeding horses of the same era. Equal generations is more important, for the most part.

How to get the color you want.
1. If you are upgraded enough and can afford to use the gene test, you will be able to find out the complete color genetics of a horse. A horse has two copies of each one of the genes. Each copy is either dominant for that characteristic or recessive for it. Every foal gets one copy of each gene from its sire and a second copy of the gene from its dam. Which one it gets from each parent is completely random, and the best way to insure that you get a specific color is to breed horses that are homozygous for that color.
2. However, for many genes, a single dominant allele (the name for one copy of a gene) will prevail. The gene that determines whether a horse's base coat is red or black for instance, is one of these. The dominant allele is signified by "E" and the recessive one by "e". E results in black pigment, e in red.
3. Some genes are more complex than the single dominant/recessive pairing. The next gene on the list is the agouti gene. It determines where black hair, if an "E" is present appears. There are 4 alleles for agouti. Dominant agouti, "A", pushes the black pigment into the extremities of the horse--mane and tail and lower legs. "A+", wild bay does the same, but it dilutes the blackness to gray, especially in the legs. This is the most dominant of all the agouti alleles. Recessive agouti, "a" does not effect black pigment at all; two recessive alleles, "aa" will allow a horse with a dominant "E" to be black. The fourth agouti allele is "At," which produces brown horses only when paired with a recessive "a" allele. Horses that are AtA are bays. AtAt is a lighter brown horse. AtA+ is a wild bay.
4. Some genes only are expressed if they are homozygous for the recessive allele--flaxen, for instance, which will give a chestnut horse a flaxen mane and tail when both alleles are recessive. (ff) It does not affect horses that carry even one dominant E, however. Some genes, especially if they produce white markings are lethal when homozygous. Some genes only affect black pigment. Some genes in the game are fantasy genes and not present in real life, but most the the game genetics are real and very up-to-date. If you are interested at all in horse color genetics, this game is the very best place to learn about it.
5. There are many, many color genes included in the game. Check out this post to learn more:
http://www.huntandjump.com/forum/discussion/3238/horse-level-genetic-symbols#Item_5

You're very welcome. It's a complex game, so we are always glad to lend new players a helping hand. Don't hesitate to ask any other specific questions you may have going forward.

I did check out your stable and see that you have bought an older spayed mare who is placing about in the lower middle of her classes. I'd like to sell you another one, not showing at 7W and also placing in the middle of her classes. She has gathered a lot more points than your mare, currently 2491, and will add about 1245 hbs to your weekly showing bonus. She may gain enough fractions of a point with training to raise her average placing a little before she reaches the end of her career. She is up on buddy sale for you for 500 hbs. You will be the only one who can see her sale price, so if you have to wait until the next game payday to pick her up, there will be no problems. Just go to her page and buy her when you are able.

http://www.huntandjump.com/horse.php?horseid=2238839