HGG Community Forums

Hi Meadow View!

The game is definitely complex. The learning curve is juuust steep enough to keep it interesting!

First off, I wouldn't say that foundation horses produce crap. Basic foundations just have a pretty set range of what they can produce, but it certainly is not anything you need to be concerned about as being bad. Pasture breeding actually improves upon that because mares get a daily boost to their breeding potential while at pasture, up to a maximum of 30 days (which resets if you take them out of the pasture.) So non-pastured foundations give you okay babies, while pastured foundations can give you pretty good ones.

You're reasonably safe if you take full advantage of all of the testing that is available to you. Mare and Gelding Advice are free and they'll automatically spay and geld anything that isn't at least a moderately good breeder. Showing Aptitude Testing is also free and will (if you let it) automagically spays/gelds anything that is significantly better at showing than breeding. Other than that, you don't really need to worry about it.

The whole showing model has changed a bit since most of the old guides were written, and your income is now based on the overall total number of points you have accumulated rather than individual show profit. Basically that eliminates the need to have really stellar consistent show horses, especially at higher levels, and rewards the average player a lot more simply for showing everything as often as they can.

I hope that helps!

That did help!!! Thanks :)

Breeding two inconsistent horses does get your more inconsistent foals, thus I try to avoid it. Using an occasional inconsistent horse won't matter too much though, as said they can still produce a consistent foal. They show fine, but have a wider range or scores making it harder to work out where they might come in their level of showing. They can win one day and come almost last another. On the whole I don't worry too much about consistency, they are generally lower PT's though so can be culled from my herds on that alone.

Foundations are fine, they are your starting point! Most people only breed foundation mares to foundation stallion and improve of quality with each generation. It makes it very easy to see where your breeding quality is headed. Generally breeding a foundation mares to a good lined stallion would not be thought of as improving quality or breeding quality. If that makes sense.