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PT score should not be used to call when you first start out from what I understand. PT score is show potential score and has nothing to do with quality breeding. Perhaps try purchasing from owner 13. Foundation rescue has already created horses you can pick from for sale at 2750 all around. If they are with owner 13 they are of the same breeding quality as perfect foundations if I understand correctly.

Hey Pinnacle!

So, foundation horses--created horses instead of bred horses--have a PT range from 0.2 (the lowest I've ever seen) to 9.9 (ignoring Exceptionally Perfect Rank Specials for now, which PT at 10.4). As you've noticed, when you create from most herd helpers, you get horses that PT across that full range unless you are creating from a Perfect Foundation HH (all will be 9.9 PT and 100% breeding ability and perfectly consistent) or the Great Show Horse HH (all horses have a PT in the high 9s, unknown breeding or consistency). If you restrict yourself to only 9.9 PT horses, you are basically eliminating a huge population of horses that might be amazing breeders or have really cool rare colors on a fairly arbitrary basis. I wouldn't do this as a new player. In fact, I continue to use all sorts of foundation mares in my pastures now,16 months into the game.

However, please let me hasten to clarify--I use these mares as breeders in pasture. I stopped keeping foundation horses as potential Show horses a long time ago. It is much to easy to slip over to the public auction and pick up a handful of high gen foals, often even already PTd, for 2600 each and put them in my show herd. I have a pretty sure bet they will be much better show ponies over the long term than any foundation could be. Similarly, here and there you can snipe a high point older show pony for 2600 hbs. Just remember--horses start dying at 18 years old, so don't buy a horse in their mid to late teens. Also, when you are buying show ponies, cheap is the way to go. Don't get into a bidding war--you're only hurting yourself because the horse will have to make many more points before you see a profit from your purchase.

So, to get back to your question about testing: I run my new creates through the free tests first--GA/MA/SMA/SAT. If they fail and are spayed or gelded, they go straight into the auction after I turn off their testing. If they pass these tests, I personally Consistency test but I wouldn't necessarily recommend that for a cash strapped new player. I color test and I PT. Based on the color, I name the horse and put her in the relevant pasture where she's given 3 foals to paper where I want her and meet my Average Foal PT requirements. If she does, she stays. If she doesn't, she gets snipped and goes straight to auction.

I only use regular creates to make mares. I require my stallions to be Perfect Foundations or Rank Specials. They will have a much greater affect on my herd quality (because they produce 50 or so foals for me every season while any given mare only produces one) so I hold them to higher standards. Plus, it's much easier to determine with testing what the breeding ability of a stallion is before you ever have to breed him...with mares the only way to tell is those magic 3 foals!

I prefer to send horses to the public auction rather than sell them back to the game. The extra 1500 hbs is worth the potential 2-3-4 day wait to get my money. If, however, selling back to the game is going to be the difference between getting a Rank Special create or not, sell back to the game. The rank special create is worth taking the hit, as it will be a guaranteed excellent breeding horse and can be sold for much more than a regular create if you don't like the colors.

How do you create new horses and get good ones without sinking into a financial hole? Well, here is where I ask about what your goals are. You are a new player. Do you feel like you have a solid idea of what you want to do in the game long term, or are you still figuring out how things work and having a bit of a play around to figure out what you want?

If it's the first, then my recommendation would be first and foremost to procure yourself one or two foundation stallions that meet your goals, or at least advance you towards them. I highly recommend that these stallions be perfect foundations or of Perfect Foundation quality from Owner 13. I would also strongly suggest that you look to Owner 13 to build up a mare herd, or that you keep an eye out for both HHS that meet your color goals, where you are gambling on quality, and for Perfecf Foundation/Top Notch Producer herd helpers to build your broodmare herd.

If it's the second, don't worry about it and continue just playing around. One tip is that using the pasture to breed gives you half price foals!

For show ponies you have some options. You can take those mares of questionable quality that you currently have not bred and shop around for an owner with a high generation *Star Papered stallion with a high PT (11+ for sure, I would be hoping for high 11s and up) that is up for public breeding. PM said Owner and ask if they would be willing to let you use the stallion to create uneven show ponies. Many will significantly drop their stud price to let you get some high PT show ponies on the condition that you must spay or geld every single offspring. Keep the foals, auction the mares and you're good to have some extra room to build a herd of mares that works for your goals. Or, stalk the auctions and sales boards. And of course, remember there are a handful of people here that do Adoptions to new players, not just me!

The Foundation Rescue takes in foundation horses that have the same "scores" in showing and breeding ability as a Perfect Foundation, and which don't get sold on auction day. So, yes, they are Perfect Foundations, but the don't have the Perfect Foundation tattoo that the HH PFs have. (Which is why I have a tattoo for PF horses so when I do a search for all PFs I own, those Foundation Rescues come up as well.)

I think Cheers meant that, if you are short on funds and there is a Rank Special available, take the $1500 loss, sell a horse back to the game, and use that extra $1000 to help create the RS.

Pasture mares get a partial bonus after 15 days in pasture (I think) and the full bonus after 30 consecutive days in pasture. You can move mares from one pasture directly to another without losing the bonus, but the minute they set foot in a barn you lose the bonus. I'm pretty sure that the bonus doesn't apply to stallions.

Owner 13 = Foundation Rescue. 13 is the stable ID for the Rescue.

ETA: don't feel bad about accepting Adoption horses just because you have an upgrade. I've been playing in this incarnation since March, and am still very clingy when it comes to my high pointed show ponies! (I've played different games Ammit created since 2009, but only steadily on HJ2 since this March)

Ahhh, you guys are awesome! This has been so helpful, thank you!

Confluence Farms, I hope you don't mind but I copied your idea and made a Perfect Foundations tattoo for all the horses I got from the Foundation Rescue so I can find them in my herd as well. And now that I know that they're the same (thank you both) that means that I do have some Perfect Foundations in colors other than bay and chestnut afterall, so a big hooray for that! Haha.

Cheers. thanks for the heads up about the Rank Special possibly happening on Friday. Now that I have a much better grasp of all of this, I'll be sure to have some money set aside to be ready for it! :)