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Just about any herd helper can create decent show ponies. But i suggest grabbing Exeptional Show Horses and Great Show Horses when you can. These will have 100% or better training ability and will make better show horses in the long run. Perfect foundation and exceptionally perfect have 100%+ training ability, but also 100%+ breeding ability, so those could do double duty.

I suggest auctioning off your horses with less points so you can create more. You don't have to start over, you can "save" this account!

Ammit recently had a contest to see how fast people could collect points and build a show herd over 2 months starting with a brand new account.

Since then there’s been some changes (creates with points) but some of the things I did was look for older horses that were on the sales boards or auctions for cheap (my cap was 2600 at auction, and under 4,500 for mares) that have been in training (easiest to check if the owner is upgraded so you know the game trained them and didn’t skip weeks) but not shown. They may not have a ton of points but once they start showing they will be in higher show levels and pick up points quickly.

Since the changes still being under 20,000 points I have clicked on almost all the exceptional/ great show horse and perfect/exceptional foundation HH’s and created yearling mares. I run them through breeding advice but rarely do any paid testing then I stick them up for sale adding 500hbs/ 100 points

0-99 points - 3000hbs
100-199 points - 3500hbs
200-299 points - 4000hbs
300-399 points - 4500hbs
400-499 points - 5000hbs

Horses I’ve created with 500-999 points I kept or placed up for a forum auction for extra money.

Then in the sales forum I placed an ad for pointed show horses for sale and put a link to a search to my barns horses for sale sorted by total points so that it would always be a current list and then whenever I added more I’d post a reply listing the HH’s I’d used and an overview of points (ie. 97.5-286 points) so I’m not postin a million and one horse for sale ads.

Next all my barns are sorted by points with the highest pointed horses in the farthest barn lol and anything still in my primary when I’m able to send horses to the auction get submitted. Once all my horses are shown for the week I resort the horses by points.

At the end of a week or two (whenever I have time) I go through the and take down whatever horses are for sale not in my primary barn to keep and auction the primary barn off. That way my points count keeps going up and I still earn some money back from the lowest pointed horses. When I have extra money in the bank I buy the biggest barn I can afford and start filling it.

@BlackWyld I second Haltanny and Bandit1119, but also if you really want to start over completely on this account keep in mind you can auction ANY horse. This will either give you the chance of getting more than the create price for them or if they do sell at auction the game reabsorbs the horses you get 2500 per horse it absorbs vs if you sell the horse back to the game you 1000.

Never be afraid to ask questions around here, we've got some amazing people around to help.

Show horse wise if you aren't breeding it your self and buy from someone else. Look at it's show history (records tab). Consistency is a good thing in the show ring but it's only as good as their scores, they could be low scoring consistent, mid level to high scoring. Best way to check it is their show history (also good to look in their records if they have a history of damages). @ConfluenceFarms gave us a wonderful example in the beginners chat yesterday of why checking damages should be done. Some horses if they cause damage only cause 1-2hbs occasionally. Some are barn terrors.

Also, if you haven't looked or claimed your 2 show horses @AvailableToAdopt offers for newbies, do so, it will help you out with 2 higher point show horses to bring in a few more hbs your way.

@BlackWyld. Even as older show horses grab them. Generally they won't cycle out of showing/die till 20 possibly later. If you grab two from @AvailableToAdopt they cost 1hb I believe when they get posted for you.
For example lets say you adopt http://hj2.huntandjump.com/horse.php?horseid=767143

She's 15, so you have at least through this month and 4 more before she will age out. Now this mare in particular pays out currently 257hbs a day. Will continue to go up if she keeps showing but for now we'll pretend it's capped at 257hbs. That means if you picked her up today you'd be earning an additional 4883hbs this month alone and 7710hbs next month and so on. Up to you whether that's worth it but I'd say since it only costs you 2hbs to get the two it's well worth it.

Also eras only matter if you are chasing leaderboards. They just indicate how old the line is. Foals are assigned the lowest era of the parents so that people that want to be on leader boards don’t have to compete with players who’ve been working on the same line since the game opened.

For the contest I looked to buy 5-15 year olds but had good luck with 8-9year olds from the foundation rescue. (Owner ID # 13 for the search)

Good points @GeneverGinger

On my other account, creat as many as I have space and funds for, and then auctioned or sold the half with the lowest total points. I didnt look at if they had 100 or 200 or 300, just were they sat in my own barn. I auction or sell any RS I get as well, no matter the points, and post in the forum so people can find them easier.

Lower PT horses won’t train as long or get as high but they tend to slowly move up the ranks and willl often stick in winning placings for longer at a time before leveling up which means at first they will be your consistent point earners.

Higher PT scores train faster and longer and typically shoot through the lower levels of showing like they’re walking on sea legs. They may be at the top of their class the first show and level up and bottom out the second but once they reach higher levels they will start picking up lots of points per show making up for rocketing through the lower levels.

I rarely cull based on PT I keep all that I can. When I do I cull I usually go through the older levelled off horses first and compare how much money they are paying for their stall and get rid of low money makers.

I have some low PT horses in my barns that are way out preforming higher PT horses the same age. I also have high PT horses that are out performing horses 2 or 3 years older. In some cases it’s all luck of the draw.

@BlackWyld You get 2 so if you've changed your mind and want the two boys just send another message to her and she'll switch them out I'm sure. They've hit Grand Prix and that's as high as you can go but that doesn't mean they can't improve at that level and if they haven't leveled off they can still be trained so yes their point value should be able to increase as well. They are fairly evenly matched but if you only get one I'd go with him http://hj2.huntandjump.com/horse.php?horseid=865799 since he has a slightly higher PT he will I believe train a little bit longer before leveling off but they both look like really good choices!

With the herd I currently have I earn a daily showing bonus of 1,179hbs.
Is that decent for a newbie?

I am think I am going to take Bandit's advice and auction off my foals for now to make a quickish profit and use that cash to buy some older showponies and create Exeptional Show and Exeptionaly Perfect horses when I can get a hold of those HHs.
When I have the hang of that and learn a bit more I will start holding on to foals and see where that takes me.

You guys are all awesome!

Ok, so there seems to be a bit of confusion about when a horse ages out of the game.

At their 18th rollover, when they turn 18, every and I mean EVERY horse has a chance to die. Not 17, certainly not 16. From when they turn 18 onwards they have a chance to pass at the beginning of every new breeding season. Some are lucky and stay around, some pass as soon as they turn 18. You will be notified when you logged in who passed.

@RunFarAway
Your recommendation is serendipitous and eerie since I was just reading through Dark Star's Bootstrapping contest thread.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will definitely check it out. :)

I will definitely be joining, and probably lurk for awhile.
Should I have my mares papered before I bother starting or can I manage playing blind for a bit?
If playing blind, should I focus breeding a star stud just to my Exceptionally Perfect foundation mares or the majority of them?

I love reading through threads like this one. So much advice to work with. I'm having a hard time making choices too.

You guys think getting rid of the majority of clipped foals right away at the beginning is a smarter move? I have a whole barn of clipped 2 and under I'm just watching, and that's a lot of space.

I am also a new player, and a little confused about papering. Is that something that only is an option with paid accounts? I've done the performance testing, color testing, and breeding advice on my stallions, but did not get papers, so I think I must be missing something.

Thanks to everyone with the helpful advice!

Papering is an upgrade feature available for basic and up

Thanks, Bandit. I thought so, but wasn't sure.

I have 3 Star 3yr old stallions up for open sale on the Bootstrap chat.

You asked:
Any advice on how to go about finding a good stallion for my girls?
Be careful with the many of Kit genes, Frame (Olw), and Splash 2 and 3. If you have mares carrying any of these genes, there is a chance of foals that die before birth. Kit Tobiano and Kit Roan are probably safe with most anything, though.

I guess star papered would be best.
Since Perfect Foundation mares paper C, and Exceptional Producers paper B, you will probably get almost all neutered offspring using a *Star stallion. You might have better luck with an A papered boy. I have a pasture with two *Star stallions and a huge bunch of Red and Blue papered mares. I'm pretty sure I haven't gotten an intact foal there yet, which is fine with me, because I'm breeding for show horses there.

What else should I look for?
If you have any favorite colors or patterns, you might want to keep a look-out for those.

Does age matter?
Yes and no. Yes, because once horses age up to 20, they can no longer be used for breeding. Up to that point, no, it doesn't matter.

Is there certain generations I should look for?
If I were looking for good intact foals while bootstrapping, my preference would be for a lower generation A stallion, probably nothing higher than 3rd or 4th gen. A papered stallions in later generations would be a sign of a stalled line, which might not be good bargain. I've never used bootstrapping as a start for a breeding herd, though, so I may not be your best adviser here.

Does the stallion's Performance Test Grade matter?
Not for bootstrapping purposes. The Performance Test is an indicator of how quickly a horse will train and move up through the showing levels. A stallion's PT score can give you an idea of the breeding ability of his parents, but it still won't help you rate his own breeding ability.

Do any of the point totals matter?
I don't believe so. Once again, this is a matter of showing ability and how quickly he has been moving up through the showing Levels and Grades. His point totals will be helpful toward increasing your showing bonus, but won't affect breeding.

Do his showing records matter?
If he is Inconsistent (which again is a showing ability marker), he will have a greater chance of producing Inconsistent foals. His showing record will give you an idea of how inconsistent he is. If it appears to be 3 or 5 points, that might be less of a warning than if his show scores vary by more than that in a lot of weeks.

Are you sick of me yet?
Not at all, for my part. I love helping explain things to new players, and all these questions just show a desire to understand this very complex game. In my opinion, that's a good thing. :D