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High Five Acres · Jan 14, 2018 6:26 AM

First of all, WELCOME! We are all so happy that you have stumbled upon Hunt & Jump and are looking forward to playing along side you. This community is amazing and help is only a forum post away. We have so many different people from all walks of life - horse owners and those who dream of owning horses, genetics buffs to those who are completly new to genetics, young students to grandmas/grandpas - so come on in and pull up a chair because you will fit in just fine! This post is a long one (sorry about that - I LOVE to yap), but I hope you will walk away from it with some pretty clear ideas of how to help fund what I'm sure will become your newest addiction, your H&J barn. If you want to keep the money flowing into your fledgling stable, read on!

Always low on funds? Looking for a way to earn a few HBs to grow your stable? Look no further! The answers you seek are right here, under your very nose!

The way to keep your stable running in tip top shape is with show horses. You know the ones - those spayed and gelded foals you drop in the auction for quick cash or the ones you put up for sale cheap to clear out some stall space! I, too, was a quick cash junkie before I discovered the joys of a show herd that earns its keep and more. :)

I know what you are thinking - "But I don't have the space for all those horses and what is the point if you can't breed them?" Let me assure you, Grasshopper, those stalls they take up are your hidden gold mines! Each point your horse has = money in the bank. Your horse can only earn points by competing in shows. When the show is completed, your horse earns points based on its final placement in the show. A certain percentage of the points you earn is given to you EACH DAY by way of the "daily showing bonus". For instance, at this moment on my stable overview page, it says -

You currently hold 2,303,319 points.

You earn a 248,784 hb's daily bonus from showing. (caveat - I've been playing and showing for quite a while, so it takes time dedication to get to this point)

What this means is that EVERY DAY, when I log in, I've earned over 240k just by showing horses.

Let me break it down in terms of what your showing bonus can get you. If you click the link to the left that says "Upgrades & Extras," then click the "Upgrade with game money" you will see a screen called "Investment Voucher Page." Pay attention, folks, cause I'm about to blow your mind! Your hbs can be converted into IVs at the rate of $12,500 per IV. This may seem expensive to a new player with a small stable, but it is an excellent use of your money to purchase IVs. With IVs, you can buy all sorts of amazing things, such as (drum roll, please)...

1. Upgrades to your stable account - You heard me right - You can purchase a Basic upgrade with 30 IVs. This upgrade gives you more stalls, more pasture space AND more moolah for your weekly pay! If you have a hard time saving up for that many IVs, you can also purchase a basic upgrade with actual money (Well worth it, IMO, but certainly not necessary to fully enjoy this awesome game).

2. Barns! You can purchase barns with IVs. More barns = more horses = more earnings!

3. Gene Modification Tokens (GMTs). These are awesome for turning your foundation horses into the horse of your dreams or tweeking a lined horse (a horse which has parents visible in the pedigree) that maybe missed the gene you really wanted from one of its parents. More GMT information it located to your left in the "Advanced Facilities" link.

4. Boost tokens. These are a great way to give your so/so mare or stallion a little nudge into a higher level. While I 'm definitely a fan of the boost tokens, I would recommend newer players to hold off on them until they get the hang of the game and learn the ins and outs of breeding, because it can get super expensive very quickly!

And one of my personal favorite things to do with IVs
5. Tack Packs! I can't even begin to tell you how fun it is to dress your ponies up in all sorts of customized tack. Due to the efforts of Ammit and several amazingly talented members of the game, we have so many new and exciting options when it comes to tack. We've got English, Western, Draft pack, Sheets/Blankets, Holiday themed packs, incredible varieties of backgrounds, as well as spectacular mane/tail and coat options. You can do all sorts of crazy things to your pixel ponies!

Now, I know I've gotten long winded here, but bare with me, because this final detail is pretty important. Always scan the sales board and auction for high pointed horses. As a new feature, Ammit added the estimated lifetime payout to each horse's page. This tells you how much money your horse will earn from the day you are looking at it until the day it turns 18. This number shows the total payout if that horse never gained another point. If you continue showing your horse, it will continue to gain points and that will increase the estimated lifetime payout. Another new feature is the option to sell your show horses at auction for their current value once they reach the age of 10.

This girl is 11 years old (as of July 2020) and has 1031 total points. This means she makes me 110hbs every day. If I would sell her at auction today, I would get 23100 hbs. If I keep her, she will continue earning points over the next few months and those numbers will increase.

HF5 Contemporary Brow W10
Any horse over the age of 10 can be sold at auction for their "current lifetime payout." Anything under the age of 10 is sold for $2,500 regardless of their point totals, so hold on to those pointed show horses until they reach the magic age! If you have room, keep them longer and watch them rack up more points and more value.

Finding show horses -

The search page makes things super easy to find quality show horses. Once you select "horses for sale", you can search "by all time points" under the advanced search tab. This brings up a list of horses for sale from highest points to lowest. That is my favorite way to pick up a few money earners, because there are always people out there selling horses way below their show value. New players - don't forget that in the beginning every create you make has points! So many new players create high pointed horses and sell them for dirt cheap, not knowing that those horses will be worth a ton of money in the future. You can search the foundation rescue (add owner #13 to the search parameters) to find foundation mares and stallions for$2500 - $2750 that are worth far more than that. Pick up a few 8 or 9 year olds for $2500, keep them for a month or two and then toss them into auction and make a nice profit! For instance, when I did a quick search of the foundation rescue, the first horse that comes up is and 8 year old mare who has 273 points and a current lifetime payout of $8671. If I purchased her for $2500 and then auctioned her in two months when she reaches 10 years old, even if she didn't earn a single point I would make a profit of over $6000! That is a stall full of money, folks!

Good Luck and Happy Showing, everyone!

If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to help! You can message me here on the forums or you can find me on official Hunt & Jump Facebook page.

ConfluenceStable · Jan 14, 2018 11:13 AM

HighFive this is GREAT! May I copy (and tweak) it for HJ2?

BTW - I am Confluence over there!

SharayahStables · Jan 14, 2018 1:07 PM

This is wonderful and even helps older players like me who have taken a hiatus or two and have struggled to get back on their feet. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. :)

Forestshadow · Jan 14, 2018 2:14 PM

I've been around for years, but I never showed horses under the old showing system. So when the new show system came into play, I've been slow to build a show string, but it'll take time.

High Five Acres · Jan 14, 2018 7:03 PM

Summertree, absolutely!

I remember when I first started, I had no clue how to build a self sustaining stable and for a long time I just dumped foals in auction when they got the snip. I lived off infusions! It took a long time for it to sink in that I was only bailing water out of the ship with teaspoon. I love being able to have the opportunity, now that I'm actually making money, to help out other players by donating some of my profitable show horses.

So many people in this game have gone above and beyond to help me and guide me throughout the years! I hope to be able to offer the same to other players for as long as I am a member of this amazing community. :)

darkstar stables · Jan 15, 2018 2:53 PM

It takes a lot of time to build a show herd. But there are ways to make money that are far more labor intensive, and don't take nearly as much time. My young show herd only makes 210 HB's a day, but I have earned over 1 million HB's since I came back in December, and that's without really doing anything in January.

I keep a 30 horse pasture and a 210 stall barn just for the earning of HBs. Create 120 mares and 3 studs. Don't test them, just cycle them through the pasture and breed them. Don't test the foals, just throw everyone, mares, studs and foals in the auction.

Making the horses costs me 307,500 HBs. Breeding them costs 60,000. Making my total costs 367,500. Throwing 243 horses in the auction earns me roughly 600,000. I make 232,500 or so in profits the three times a week the auction runs. This can easily be done on a smaller scale. All it takes if a pasture dedicated to cycling through for profit foals and a barn dedicated to entering them in the auction. Once they have been entered you can even store them in any other barn while you cycle through more horses. Even just a 10 horse pasture and a 30 stall barn can earn you 30,000hb's 3 times a week.

I started small when I came back from an extended leave. With no infusions and a little bit of work in 3 weeks I bought 2, 210 stall barns and I have 1.3 million in the bank. Now, I did have a bit of a nest egg and a few barns from before but there is really no reason why anyone can't do the same thing, on a smaller scale at first.

I also invested some cash in 2 high quality studs to breed to foundation mares. The males are gelded and the mares are kept intact, untested. When the new mares come of age I will breed them back to their sires, and repeat the process with the next generation, getting lots of nice show horses for my herd. In the mean time I will use auction breeding for quick cash infusions to buy more barns to hold more show horses.

Show herds aren't the only way to make money, they are just the least labor intensive.

Helia · Jan 18, 2018 8:23 PM

I've used darkstar's method, especially when I was really trying to make money to buy barns to support my growing show string before it supported itself, but in my opinion the best way to get show horses is to breed them yourself.

Near the end of the breeding season, I put a bunch of foundation mares in my pasture with long-lined *Star studs. While uneven breeding is generally seen as not the best way to get good breeding stock, it's a quick and inexpensive way to get show stock with higher PT scores than you can usually get from foundation mares. Out of 400+ horses I bred this way, the average PT score was 11.2, with the average ranging from 10.9 to 11.4. Very few of those will pass strict breeding advice, but for the ones that do, I breed them to *Star studs again and get even better show horses from them. The pedigrees aren't pretty (the lines are uneven), but the money they make is worth it to me.

Keep everything you breed, if you can. Train and show all your horses (even your breeding stock) every week, because even if they don't win, they'll earn points. Buy IVs every time you have enough money in your account. Buy barns - even 15 or 30 stalls when you're starting out - every time you have enough IVs.

I've been playing for 3.5 years, and my show bonus is now 419k daily (just two weeks ago after rollover, it was +/- 400k). I make money faster than I usually spend it, which lets me do fun things like GMTing cool horses and functional things like buying new barns.

EDIT: If you need to buy some *Star studs for this scheme (or if you'd like to "lease" them for the breeding season), PM me. I have more than I need and would be happy to share.

darkstar stables · Jan 19, 2018 12:28 AM

Thing about uneven breeding to get show horses, is there isn't any rule that says you have to breeding test them. I know good and well that all those mares will fail testing, but I keep them intact and breed them back to their sires anyway, because I know that they will give me better show geldings, and a better next gen of mares than continuing to breed to just foundation mares will. The fact that they would fail testing doesn't mean that they aren't worth breeding in my scheme. They are much worse than their sires, but they are much better than their dams.

Generational, planned uneven breeding is kind of like coloring outside the lines. It isn't nice and tidy but it can still be pretty and effective.

veetiepony1 · Jan 19, 2018 4:34 AM

^ Like everyone always says, there is no right way to play the game. That's the beauty of it ;)

Helia · Jan 19, 2018 9:08 AM

One other way to make a quick buck now and then (but not dependable income) is to sell Rank Specials that you don't want when Ellie gives everyone a Herd Helper. There will often be people on the Facebook page who like specific HHs and will pay good money for them.

And darkstar is absolutely right, you don't have to test any horses, especially unevenly bred show horses. I just do it to limit my intact stock, since otherwise I'd be overwhelmed by the sheer number of horses that would never get bred. I usually end up with a good handful that pass (not strict) testing anyway :)

High Five Acres · Jan 29, 2018 4:28 AM

Just giving this a bump for new players!

TawnyEclipse · Feb 1, 2018 2:54 PM

@sabrinaFORD this is a wonderful post to learn about making money.

High Five Acres · Feb 13, 2018 6:13 PM

Bump!

Callista · Feb 23, 2018 3:51 PM

Just made this account to try out Darkstar's method. Here is some newbie math.

New Account 50k (55 barn stalls)
Mare create + Pasture Breed=3k
Stallion create= 2.5k
Auction proceeds=2.5k/horse
Net profit per Mare or Foal sold: 1k

Auction Phase 1:
1 Stallion(S) + 15 Mares(M) Yield 15 Foals(F)
Total cost: 47.5k (2.5k bank)
Auction 30(M+F) yields 75k to be reinvested.

Auction Phase 2
(Phase 1 Stallion) + 25M
Yield 25F
Total cost: 75k
Auction 51(M+F+S) yields 127.5k part reinvest/part bank

Phase 3 (full stables-repeat until more space purchased)
1S + 27M
Yield 27F
Total cost: 83.5k (46.5k left in bank)
Auction 55(M+F+S) yields 137.5k
Bank 54k per repetition.

Bank end phase 3: 100.5k
Bank end phase 4: 154.5k
Bank end phase 5: 208.5k
Bank end phase 6: 262.5k
Bank end phase 7: 316.5k
Bank end phase 8: 370.5k

30 IV for basic upgrade: 375k obtainable in less than 3 weeks (assuming 2x collection of weekly stipends)

Won the lotto for 10k on another account. I was able to buy and breed 19 mares instead for Phase 1 which means I'll have the capital to jump right into phase 3.

I also learned that I was allowed to pasture-breed into the negative, which could make you jump from step 1 to 3 as well by starting with 19 mares.

I am already BA'ing everything before auction, once I have some bank I'll genetic test everything in tact too in case they get bought by someone. Seems like the polite thing to do.

High Five Acres · Oct 25, 2018 6:21 AM

Bumping this for all of our new players!

RutledgeRanch · Oct 25, 2018 8:18 AM

This is awesome thanks HighFiveAcres

ASiri · Oct 26, 2018 2:31 AM

Thanks a bunch for this post!

SD Stables · Oct 26, 2018 7:33 AM

Absolutely awesome and sound advice! Keep those show ponies! They really do support your breeding habits! LOL

PersianPenName · Oct 28, 2018 6:18 AM

I have a question - at what point is a show herd considered 'self sustaining'?

High Five Acres · Oct 28, 2018 6:44 AM

It really depends on how much you are spending. I'm sure that magic number is different for everyone, but I would considered anything that is bringing at least 12.5k a day "self sustaining" in the sense that you can purchase one IV with that money and one IV times 30 days will get you a basic upgrade that last a whole year. Any money made after that can always go toward new show horses which will increase your daily payout or toward breeding your own foals. :)

Bandit1119 · Oct 28, 2018 9:35 AM

I consider a barn self sustainable when it earns enough to cover all your breeding and testing fees without needing to use real money to buy HB’s.

Personally I have about 900 mares to breed and if I test genes, pt, and breeding inspections for all the foals I need to be making 63,000hbs per day. Someone with less mares to breed per year need a whole lot less to be sustainable.

I normally use SBA to weed out quite a lot of foals so I don’t need to pay 1,000hbs per foal to paper but I do use comparison testing on all my stud colts at 4,000 per so it ends up evenish.

This spring I was making about 325k/ day so I’ve sold off a lot of show horses to make room. I’m down to 137k/day but that’s still double what I need to make so the excess goes for extra barns and GMT tokens.

ElementalStables · Oct 28, 2018 11:46 AM

I will consider my barn self-sustaining when I make enough in show bonus to pay for all my breeding, testing and buying new barns to hold each season's crop of foals.

PersianPenName · Oct 28, 2018 8:16 PM

Ooh, I'm at not quite 4k a day, I'm gonna have a LOT of catching up to do!

Bandit1119 · Oct 28, 2018 9:33 PM

The best part of this game is that it’s not a race or competition between players. Everyone can work at their own pace towards their own goals.

I’ve been playing since 2006 so I have had years and years and years to figure out what works for me and my barn and have collected thousands of horses that have in turn made me millions but it wasn’t over night or even over a few years.

But good news is that this game is also continuously evolving and getting better. It is Soo much easier now for new players to get ahead faster than when I first started playing.

StarBarKRanch · Oct 29, 2018 6:08 AM

It also seems like it's not terribly difficult to pitch everything in the bin and start all over with a new breeding program if one so desires, which I appreciate -- rather than some games that once you're in deep, there's really no good, cost-effective way to build back up from the bottom.

RutledgeRanch · Nov 1, 2018 2:05 PM

Bumping this up for new players like me :)

Th13teen · Nov 1, 2018 6:46 PM

^:)^
Ya'll are awesome sharing this! Thank you SO much!

OkieGirl · Nov 5, 2018 10:55 AM

Thank you so much for posting this!

High Five Acres · May 9, 2019 12:15 AM

Bump!

annismyrph · Mar 24, 2020 10:34 AM

Because this still AWESOME !!
Bumpity

High Five Acres · Jul 5, 2020 4:31 AM

Bump for all the newbies, plus I added a bit more info.

High Five Acres · Oct 8, 2020 6:44 AM

Just gonna bump this for all the new players!

Earthquake · Jan 20, 2021 9:45 PM

Well, I think testing is valuable it is how you learn good from garbage.

RalphsCritters · Jan 21, 2021 5:20 AM

Thanks for the info.

annismyrph · Mar 19, 2021 5:12 AM

bump for the new peoples

boredaf · May 10, 2021 11:24 AM

Whoa I didn't know that about the 'magic age' thing. So helpful!

annismyrph · Jul 11, 2021 7:27 AM

Bumping this up for our newer players :)

annismyrph · Jul 14, 2021 2:52 AM

=:)

High Five Acres · Sep 19, 2021 11:11 PM

Giving this a bump!

ClassicCreations · Sep 20, 2021 6:26 AM

I wish I'd read this sooner (although several players have given me great advice). So, bump again.

Leefe · Oct 28, 2021 2:14 PM

Bump again wonderful info for new players thank you so very much

annismyrph · Nov 5, 2021 5:45 AM

:D

High Five Acres · Jan 9, 2022 7:49 AM

Bump for new players

Belmont123 · Jan 9, 2022 5:18 PM

Thank you this was so helpful you don’t even know :)

Heiress · Jan 24, 2022 6:23 PM

This was a GREAT post for a new player like me! Especially added with some extra helpful comments. Thank you!

annismyrph · Jan 28, 2022 11:20 AM

:-h

GoldenHeartAcres · Feb 17, 2022 7:10 AM

This bump goes here :D

annismyrph · Feb 19, 2022 6:01 AM

B-)

annismyrph · Feb 24, 2022 2:45 PM

:D

Fiddler · Feb 28, 2022 2:30 PM

I still don't understand what an IV is and why I would buy this.

MackZ · Feb 28, 2022 3:02 PM

@mimitabby - IVs are Investment Vouchers. They can be purchased with hajibucks in the voucher exchange, and you can use them to buy barns, GMT tokens, tack packs, boosts, even a basic upgrade. It makes it so that you can get those things without paying a bunch of real money. It takes longer, but definitely worth it!

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