HGG Community Forums

CheshireFarms · Dec 31, 2024 8:29 PM

This post is for all discussion about the Team 50 Furturity Incentive Program and Futurity Questions. Starting 2/1/25 a new post will be made under Games for you to submit your Search Links.
Please do not respond to this thread with links after 2/1/25.

Team 50

A STALLION FUTURITY COMMUNITY PROGRAM

What is Team 50?

Team 50 is a community driven project which aims to promote the Stallion Futurities through breeding and education. As a member of Team 50, you are pledging to breed 50 new Futurity Qualifying foals each month you choose to participate. Active members of Team 50 may qualify for a free 250 Stall Barn every month.

Bluegrass is an old server that long predates the futurities and developed a culture of breeding just to their own stock. This has led to only a small number of players keeping the entire futurity functional. While we greatly appreciate the efforts of those players, we want to make sure all players on this server have the knowledge, resources, and confidence to also win in the futurity. The Team 50 initiative was created as a community driven resource to help mentor others and share competitive strategies for the Stallion Futurities.

Additional Articles

Team 50 Vocabulary
Stallion Futurity Strategies
Futurity FAQ

Team 50 Community Goals

Establish a Mentorship to promote Stallion Futurity Breeding Strategies.
Increase participation in the Stallion Futurity.
Qualify and maintain enough Stallions to ensure each Stallion Futurity Era runs.

What is the Stallion Futurity?

The Stallion Futurity is an Era driven community-minded breeding program which awards members for breeding to other players' stallions. Each Era will award 1st through 5th place Stallion owners, as well as significantly awarding the owners of their Top Foals. Each Stallion Futurity Era will award 56 GMTs to the community, with the majority of the awards going to foal breeders.

For Expanded Information on Stallion Futurities:

How to Qualify

In order to be considered an active member of Team 50 for the current month, you must have bred at least 50 new qualifying foals that month and reply to this forum post with the following information:

Player ID#
Link to the Search Page showing your qualifying Stallion Futurity Foals.

Qualifying Foals Must Be

Younger than 2yo
Futurity Locked
Bred and Owned by You

Take the Pledge!

To show that you are part of Team 50, Ammit has created a special badge for you to add to your forum signature!

USE THIS CODE FOR YOUR FORUM SIGNATURE

<a href="/forum/discussion/62356/team-50-a-futurity-incentive-program">
<img src='https://i.imgur.com/ien9JWz.png' /></a>

Awards

At the end of each month, active Team 50 members may qualify to win a free 250 Stall Barn, generously donated by Ammit. One random active member will be chosen, but the same member can only win once. So if you win in January, you can’t win again in February.

Why a 250 Stall Barn? We recognize that the Stallion Futurity is a long term commitment (5 game years), and you need to have the stall space to keep those foals. If players bred 50 foals a game year, over 5 game years, you would need 250 stalls available.

Winners
MasterStablesMS - January
Visions - February
Chiere - March
MackZ - April
PaintedPonies - May
Cinnabae - June
Leefe - July

Stallion Futurity Mentors

If you have questions about the Stallion Futurity that aren’t answered by the resources provided here, please reach out to one of our mentors. We’d love to help you learn how to use the Stallion Futurity to your benefit. If you would like to be added to the list of mentors, please reach out and let CheshireFarms or Ammit know.

CheshireFarms · Dec 31, 2024 8:31 PM

Team 50 Vocabulary

Active Member - any player that has bred 50 or more qualifying foals that month, and has submitted their information by taking the pledge.

Earning Potential - a horse's ability to earn you game rewards such as GMTs (from the boards) and HBs (as a show horse).

Futurity Era - click here for more information on Eras. Every horse is assigned an Era, and each Era has its own unique Futurity to compete in.

GMT - Gene Modification Token, a type of game reward you can use to modify and improve many features on your horse.

Futurity Locking - foals that are Futurity locked can not be sold off until they turn 6yo.

Futurity Qualifying - foals produced must be the same Era as their sires to qualify for the Stallion Futurity. See Qualifying Era.

Papers - click here for more information on Papering.

Qualifying Era - older Era Stallions can be bred to younger Era Mares and produce qualifying foals. For example an Era 2 Stud can breed to an Era 15 Mare and the foal will be Era 2.

CheshireFarms · Dec 31, 2024 8:32 PM

Stallion Futurity Strategies

A STALLION FUTURITY STRATEGY GUIDE

No One Wins Without Teamwork

On Bluegrass there seems to be a lack of cooperation in the community when compared to other servers. It is extremely important to understand that you have the possibility of more earning potential by breeding to other players qualifying stallions, than you do standing your own for stud. Each era awards many more foals with GMTs than it does stallions.

Breeding to the Best, Will Produce the Best

When it comes to the Stallion Futurity, breeding the best papered stallion of that Era to the best papered mare of a Qualifying Era will result in the best show foals. Ideally you want to be breeding 2* or 3* Stallions. This means that even-generational breeding or even-Era matching may work against you by not producing the best foals.

Breeding to Win vs. Breeding to Fill

It is important to understand that there are 2 kinds of Futurity breeding: Breeding to Win, and Breeding to Fill the Board. Because Stallions and foals will eventually age out, sometimes there is a need to just fill a Futurity to make sure it runs. In this case you just breed to qualify 10 foals in the least expensive and most efficient way possible. However, breeding to win requires a more mindful pairing. To produce the best possible foals, you want to breed to the best papers available, and utilize the 30+ Pasture Bonus as well as 15+ AI bonus.

Never Underestimate the Power of Eggs

When it comes to the Futurities, I think Eggs often get overlooked. If you have the opportunity to breed to a 3* stallion, but only have Blue papered mares, you may be able to find some 2* or 3* Eggs from qualifying mares. The mares' papers are just as important as the stallions, so reach out on the Forum or in Chat if you need to go shopping for some Eggs.

Look for Opportunities

Because of the lack of futurity participation on Bluegrass, it’s common to see people breed to fill a board so that it will give out awards. However looking at some of the stallions that won, their papers are not actually the highest papers seen in their Era. So if a 1* stallion is winning, it is because no one bred to a better stallion. With a little research into the boards, you may find an area you can sneak in.

Study the Foals

When we look at the 5 year olds in any given era, and sort by All Time Points, we notice a trend in the PT of foals. With the higher PT earning more Lifetime Points because they can enter into higher shows that pay out more. You can use this link as a quick search reference.

Look at the Top Producers for an Era

Each Era will show you who the Top Producing Stallions and Mares are, and you can use this as a great starting point, especially if you don’t have horses with papers that high. For example if we look at the image below of the Era 0 board from 12/24, I own the #2 Stallion and the #1 Mare. That tells me not only as a stallion owner, I could benefit from standing him for stud, but also as a mare owner, I could use her eggs to breed some competitive foals. Amber Valley owns the #1 Stallion, so she might be a good resource to reach out for some straws. Or maybe I could offer some eggs for public sale. The point being, that the Era boards can tell us a lot when it comes to Top Producing horses.

Stallions Not Attracting Enough Attention?

Are you finding it hard to attract people to breed your stallions? Try these tips to help get them and keep them qualified.

Make sure they are the best papers you have to offer.
Advertise young Stallions, younger stallions have the potential to earn more the longer they are on the boards.
Avoid stallions over 12 years old. They risk aging off the boards before their first foals really start earning.
Limit the number of gene licenses to make them more accessible.
Advertise them in the Forum, Era Chat, and Discord Futurity Room.
Offer to trade breedings with one of their stallions.
Offer incentives for Futurity Locking, like returned stud fees and free straws.
Be sure to offer public straws for the community.
Reduce the number of stallions on offer. You are more likely to get attention by focusing on 1 stallion than listing multiple.

Overwhelmed and Pressed for Time?

I 110% understand how hard it is sometimes to make time to play the game. When it comes to projects like this, I like to use a free resource such as Google Docs to help me stay organized. This way I can list all my mares and all the stallions I’m breeding to without having to go back and check.

FogveilFarm · Jan 1, 2025 2:27 AM

Great idea! Looking forward to being part of this.

MasterStablesMS · Jan 1, 2025 6:16 AM

Thank you so much for this explanation! I never did anything with futurity so I was confused on how to work on that /contribute to it. This is a perfect explanation, exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

WhiteValley · Jan 1, 2025 6:48 AM

I've been playing Futurity only on Era 14 but just looking for stallions that are up for live breeding without paying much attention to papers. I can see that I need to re-think my whole approach, and maybe branch out into other Eras. I look forward to the challenge and may need to seek advice. :)

WhiteValley · Jan 1, 2025 7:42 AM

One thing I would mention, is that I never breed to stallions over the age of 12. This is because they may age out before the foals reach the age where they could potentially win. If the stallion ages out, then none of his foals will receive any awards from Futurity.

Foxhntr26 · Jan 1, 2025 9:14 AM

I've been breeding to fill boards and because I like the stallion I'm breeding to. I wasn't considering PT or Paper Level much. It's nice to know what to look for as a breeder but disappointing that some of the stallions I'm most proud of and would like to promote do not sound as attractive when high pt and paper level is all that is being considered. I mean, only generations older than 4th Gen would even be considered unless you are doing a lot of boosting which simply isn't possible for smaller accounts. And most of the high pt mares (and stallions) I own are Era 0 which is no good for futurity. I'll definitely need to give this some thought. I'm excited to see what this means for my barn and for the opportunity to play this game in a slightly new way.

Fiddler · Jan 1, 2025 11:02 AM

how do i change the forum signature? it's been too long!
i also very rarely breed to studs over 12 years old.

this is a cool idea. I breed both to fill boards and to get nice foals. I don't like all the stallions, but i'd rather give them a chance anyway!

FogveilFarm · Jan 1, 2025 11:12 AM

Click on your own name then "Signature Settings"

GoldenHeartAcres · Jan 1, 2025 1:07 PM

@Foxhntr26, I wouldn’t count yourself out so quick. A quick peak at the top studs for the futurity boards shows there are stallions who do not have the highest PT beating those that do. The current #1 stallion for era 1 has a PT score of 11.5, and the #2 has a PT score of 12.3. The current #1 for era 13 is 2nd generation.

Aidendale · Jan 1, 2025 1:30 PM

@Foxhntr26 I'll send you some embryos after I finish work. They're still fairly low eras, but not 0, and should get you some good foals. :)

Humboldt · Jan 1, 2025 2:18 PM

Is there way to search futurity foals without locking them? I don't sell horses under 10, so I have never futurity locked my foals (honestly it's an extra step and with wifi speeds in my home, I need to keep everything quick.)

I have increased the amount of futurity foals I breed, curious if I bred more then 50.

annismyrph · Jan 1, 2025 2:33 PM

I am really hoping it levels the playing field a bit.. I only breed about 200 futurity foals each month, but i think with the new reward system and this new "community" based project it might help!

CheshireFarms · Jan 1, 2025 5:59 PM

Sorry guys when I posed this last night the game went down for roll over, so all the links weren't working. They should be fixed now.

@WhiteValley thank you, and added

@Foxhntr26 Papers matter more. As I understand it, you can look at the 5 year old foals and sort by lifetime points to see who is leading. And there is a correlation between foal PT and lifetime points earned. If I remember correctly, the better the papers, the better the PT of the foal.

Right now there are still places you can sneak in because Bluegrass suffered a lot from just breeding to fill, so we haven't seen much competitive strategy at the moment.

@Humboldt unfortunately no. For players to qualify we need to insure the foals are Futurity locked, and it also helps us verify you qualify more efficiently.

Foxhntr26 · Jan 1, 2025 6:12 PM

@Aidendale I adore you and your horses. Thank you. I love how this game continues to evolve, and I think this community program is a fun way to encourage futurity breeding.

@CheshireFarms and @GoldenHeartAcres Thank you for the encouragement. After the initial feelings of freak out, I looked through my barn and all is not lost. lol. I never paid a lot of attention to the leaderboards until the last 6 months or so and I am still trying to figure out how to be competitive.

Fiddler · Jan 1, 2025 6:29 PM

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is that horses need to be bred for more than one season, or after 5 years, you’ll have to start over again as the foals mature at age 6 and their show scores no longer count towards futurity

GoldenHeartAcres · Jan 1, 2025 8:17 PM

I’m so on board for this. I have only participated here and there for futurity but want to be more strategic about it. Fiddler also makes a really good point. We need to focus on long-term strategy, too.

FogveilFarm · Jan 1, 2025 10:31 PM

Fiddler - that is important if stud owners want to keep winning but does not mater for the boards. It's the exact same number of foals needed if you use new stallions or already qualified stallions. It's no more work to rebreed to a stallion already listed then it is to breed to someone new.

annismyrph · Jan 2, 2025 6:16 AM

Here ya go : Player ID Number 265491

Qualify ing foals :
https://www.huntandjump.com/adv_search.php?runsearch=go&jump=0&hpp=100&agel=2&locked=1&owner=265491&breeder=265491&56=0&57=0&58=0&59=0&60=0&61=0

WhiteValley · Jan 2, 2025 6:33 AM

I'm not sure that high PT foals necessarily have an advantage. Very high PT foals shoot up the classes really quickly and may not land in the top spots as often. I did a quick check with my 5 year old and 6 year old geldings/spays ordering them by all time earnings. The top scorers in both year groups had PT scores of 11 point something, and the ones with 12 or 13 point something came way down the list because they kept coming in the bottom half of their show class. The higher PT horses don't really come into their own until they are too old for Futurity.

WhiteValley · Jan 2, 2025 7:04 AM

I have some questions and I thought I would ask them here in case it helps other people.

I have only been taking part in Era 14 and I think for this season I would just like to concentrate on this Era until I get my head around a new way of playing. I have a dedicated herd of Futurity horses, but I've just found that I only have 43 eligible mares so I won't be able to fulfil the 50 foal quota. What's my best strategy? Pull some eggs, or buy some Era 14 mares (and would that work if I bought them rather than bred them?)

Secondly, I haven't really bothered much with my stallions, but I have done so in order to fill the boards. One of my stallions is on the board with ten foals, but he's only B papered - is it worth offering him again? I have one other Futurity stallion that has one star - is it worth putting him up?

Thanks for any advice. :)

Ammit · Jan 2, 2025 7:08 AM

WhiteValley - That is one of the myths we are trying to educate away with this program. Higher PT foals definitely have the advantage. The link she posted proves it.

https://www.huntandjump.com/adv_search.php?runsearch=go&jump=0&agee=5&f_adv=points_py&foundation=0

Of the top 100 five year olds in the game
4 -15 PT or better
33 -14 PT or better
63 - 13 pt or better

Not a single horse from a lower PT is on that top 100. The first time we see a 12 is 171st place. The average 11 or 12 might be higher than the average 13+ but it is not a competition of average. The best foals win and the higher PT foals can win more points than lower PT foals even at age 5. 11s and 12s are not what you want to be breeding if you want to win a bunch at the futurity.

CheshireFarms · Jan 2, 2025 8:33 AM

So I'm not sure how to interpret this data, and I apologize for my rushed comments since I'm at work on the phone.

When I looked at whitevalleys top 5yo and sorted by all time points not earnings. I get the following:

Era 14, 178.5 points 11.6pt no papers
Era 6 174 points 13.10pt 2*
Era 0 173.5 points 13.4pt 2*

When I look at top 5yo foals for each of those eras (to compare to the competition) I get the following.

Era 14 217.5 points 11.10pt no papers
Era 6 242 points 13.7pt 2*
Era 0 288 points 14pt 1*

So since these are the top foals for their era, I'm a little confused because they don't support what we said about papers or pt.

Any insights to this?

WhiteValley · Jan 2, 2025 8:35 AM

Thanks Ammit. It looks as though my approach is all wrong. None of my current Futurity herd are worth breeding. They are nowhere near the PT score or paper level (apart from one stallion with one star). I may have to withdraw from Team 50 for now - I'll think about it for a couple of days and see if anyone has any thoughts on this.

Ammit · Jan 2, 2025 8:50 AM

WhiteValley - There is no reason to withdraw. You don't need to produce champion foals to participate in this. Bluegrass is in the state it is in because simply not enough people are willing to try with the futurity. The whole point is to help you get there from wherever you are starting from.

Use the mares you have and breed them to the best studs you can for this. Then keep the fillies to be your future futurity mares. Bluegrass needs more futurity breeders and that includes people keeping the eras full and running. Just because you may not win with the horses you have now does not mean you can't develop a winning quality herd. Not only participating in this help you with the futurity but it will also help you with the general leaderboards as well.

Ammit · Jan 2, 2025 9:00 AM

Answer to CheshireFarms' question: There are exceedingly few high PT era 14 horses. They won't dominate if they aren't there to begin with. It's not a very competitive era so it is a great one for smaller barns to be active in.

WhiteValley · Jan 2, 2025 9:14 AM

Thanks, again, for your advice Ammit. This is why I have been so confused, because I have been winning with my foals. Not every month, but fairly often. I've just been cycling through stallions that are up for breeding, or from owners who will sell straws, without bothering much with who the stallions are (as long as they weren't too old). Now that I know I can keep going with my mares I will look more closely at the stallions I choose, and then going forward I can take part in a more meaningful way. :)

Fiddler · Jan 2, 2025 6:14 PM

https://www.horsegeneticsgame.com/adv_search.php?runsearch=go&jump=0&hpp=100&agee=1&locked=1&owner=276934&56=0&57=0&58=0&59=0&60=0&61=0 it

I’m user #276934, for my 50 futurity foals. FYI I try to do 100 a month.

MackZ · Jan 2, 2025 7:49 PM

I'm over the fifty foal mark for this season's futurity. Here are my futurity locked foals.
My ID# is 276208

WitchwaterAcres · Jan 2, 2025 8:08 PM

I think I'd like to participate because I've been getting bored of just only breeding for pretty colors. I do have a question though - can maxed or boosted horses participate in futurity? My breeding stock for my show herd is definitely my highest papered bunch of horses, but I've done a bit of maxing and boosting to get them there.

Ammit · Jan 2, 2025 9:13 PM

Foals can be maxed but not boosted. Boosting changes the era.

Stallions and the mares you use can be maxed and boosted.

Humboldt · Jan 3, 2025 4:55 AM

@Humboldt unfortunately no. For players to qualify we need to insure the foals are Futurity locked, and it also helps us verify you qualify more efficiently.

well I guess I'm out. I'll still breed futurity foals to participate where I can.

Ammit · Jan 3, 2025 5:08 AM

Humboldt you can lock foals using the bulk options on the barn page. It takes seconds to do.

Humboldt · Jan 3, 2025 5:16 AM

I am breeding all these from embryos so I open each foal as I implant for SBA/Color/PT and then sort into their barns (show vs mare or stud). So they arent in the barn where I can easily mark them for futurity.

Maybe I need to figure out a different method for breeding and sorting. I have been implanting foals for so long using this method.

MasterStablesMS · Jan 3, 2025 5:33 AM

@humboldt I didnt futurity lock last season and I probably already have forgotten to lock a few this season. But you can go to your barn, hit the 'select all' button and then scroll down and click the 'futurity lock' button.
Maybe at the end of creating your horses (or end of the day/week, whichever works for you) you can go to each barn and to that. That's my plan anyway! :)

Humboldt · Jan 3, 2025 5:36 AM

Oh lol. I guess I missed that I don't have to search and click the check box for only the Futurity foals. I can just hit select all and it will lock the ones that are eligible. I don't have a ton of barns, I could do that!

annismyrph · Jan 3, 2025 5:37 AM

@MasterStablesMS @Humboldt ; that way works as long as you dont cull until age 10; it will "lock" any foal you dont own ( or never had owned) the sire of wether or not you want to put them in.. any gifted or purchased straws will also get Futurity locked, just as an FYI

Humboldt · Jan 3, 2025 5:41 AM

Yeah I don't cull anything until 10. Mostly 12 now actually.

Fiddler · Jan 3, 2025 5:48 AM

Wait, you can futurity lock straws?? How?
@annismyrph how can you lock a foal you don’t own?

Kintara · Jan 3, 2025 5:54 AM

I've done 50 futurity locked foals, I'll be doing more though. ID 145082

https://www.huntandjump.com/adv_search.php?runsearch=go&jump=0&agee=1&locked=1&owner=145082&56=0&57=0&58=0&59=0&60=0&61=0

MasterStablesMS · Jan 3, 2025 5:55 AM

@annismyrph thanks for adding that information! You're right it also locks all the foals from straws from your own deceased studs I just found out haha. I suddenly have a LOT of futurity foals now haha.
(For example the top 8 in this search is all bred by me from deceased stud straws and are now futurity locked https://www.horsegeneticsgame.com/adv_search.php?owner=160524&owner_lm=like&barn=16346&barn_lm=like&runsearch=go&offset=25) :')

I know I'll be taking the extra step and just use the search for the 1yr old I just bred as I only bred futurity so far and select those via the search and then 'mass' futurity lock them.

Edited to add this question:
Question: do foals need to be futurity locked to be able to count towards futurity/the points of a futurity stud? Or does futurity locking only serves as a safeguard that foals cannot be sold back (and as a necessity to become part of 'team 50' as it makes searching for it easier)?

Kintara · Jan 3, 2025 6:03 AM

@Humbolt would I be able to have just one straw to this stallion? There was only 9 there, so I've done 9 foals
https://www.huntandjump.com/horse.php?horseid=19630575

Kintara · Jan 3, 2025 6:05 AM

@MasterStableMS no the foals don't need to be locked to count for the futurity, just makes it easier as you said

Humboldt · Jan 3, 2025 6:24 AM

Edited to add this question:
Question: do foals need to be futurity locked to be able to count towards futurity/the points of a futurity stud? Or does futurity locking only serves as a safeguard that foals cannot be sold back (and as a necessity to become part of 'team 50' as it makes searching for it easier)?

No, I have futurity qualified many studs and have never locked my foals.

@Humbolt would I be able to have just one straw to this stallion? There was only 9 there, so I've done 9 foals
https://www.huntandjump.com/horse.php?horseid=19630575

Sending it now @kintara

annismyrph · Jan 3, 2025 7:59 AM

@Fiddler.. own the sire of :) I probably worded that wierd, but ANY foal in that barn that you dont or have never owned the sire of will get Futurity locked if you use the "Bulk" Lock key.

Victory5627 · Jan 3, 2025 11:06 AM

ID 276880

https://www.huntandjump.com/adv_search.php?runsearch=go&agel=2&locked=1&owner=276880&breeder=276880&56=0&57=0&58=0&59=0&60=0&61=0&offset=75

Aidendale · Jan 3, 2025 11:43 AM

My batch of foals:
https://www.huntandjump.com/adv_search.php?runsearch=go&agee=1&locked=1&owner=268586&56=0&57=0&58=0&59=0&60=0&61=0&offset=0

ID: 268586

ElvenEquestrian · Jan 3, 2025 2:01 PM

Id: 273673

Here are my current foals:
https://www.huntandjump.com/adv_search.php?runsearch=go&agel=2&locked=1&owner=273673&breeder=273673&56=0&57=0&58=0&59=0&60=0&61=0&offset=0

CheshireFarms · Jan 3, 2025 3:03 PM

Thank you everyone for pitching in and helping each other answer questions! Happy to see a bunch of submissions already! Keep up the great work Team 50!

DragnFly · Jan 4, 2025 9:20 AM

Player ID Number: 237425
Qualifying foals : https://www.huntandjump.com/adv_search.php?runsearch=go&jump=0&agel=2&locked=1&owner=237425&breeder=237425&56=0&57=0&58=0&59=0&60=0&61=0

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