HGG Community Forums

Hello from Kentucky.

Thank you, everyone! Triple Spiral, your advice worked and I now have the little guy I had my eye on : )

Welcome to Hunt and Jump. It sounds like you're finding your feet, but don't hesitate to ask any questions that might come up. We're a friendly group and like to help new players.

Hello again! RipshinCreekFarm, those horses were solid! I am glad you got to share your life with one, too. It is hard to find quality like that these days. I never worked cattle with my girl (my lack of knowledge, not hers), but she would get really happy when we rode near a bovine herd. She tolerated other horses, but she LOVED cows. I had her until she was 27 years young.


Y'all, I have a few more questions about the game.

Does "yum a foal" mean to delete it/let the servers eat it? Can this be done to an animal at any age? Does that remove it from their parents' lists of offspring, or do they remain listed like a naturally deceased horse does?

At what point do my show horses become profitable? Do I just need to add more bodies to my stalls to see profit? Should I NOT show my inconsistent animals? That seems so contradictory, but I know that showing and breeding quality do not seem to correlate to each other here. (Which is confusing because why would you breed an animal who cannot perform or be ridden worth a flying fig? My "I do not understand modern halter class trends" is showing.) In the same token, if an altered animal is inconsistent, is there any reason to keep them around? Are they worth the cost of showing? I hate to create poor quality stock just for the sake of filled stalls. Can horses be good at showing AND breeding? Right now, I'm eating a loss every day with show costs vs profits. Lol this aspect of the game certainly is realistic! I would really like to build up my consistent foundation horses to be the best they can be BEFORE breeding them... am I just wasting potentially good breedings, or is it worth the wait?

My barn goals:

--Dun factor is a visual plus, and would like Appy spots as icing on the cake BUT want to avoid roaning/varnish. No grey, either. A quality solid is worth more to me for my foundation lines than a spotted slacker.
--Steering away from frame at the moment.
--Avoiding fantasy "add-ons." They're cute, but not for me right now.
--I currently do not plan to buy gene alteration. Because of this, I am keeping my eye on good foundation stock from account 13. I have been using HH with an interesting mix of results, but it is not financially wise for me at the moment to continue taking this risk.

Thank you for reading!

@Riata I'll tell you about breed ability through my own experiences.

My mum breeds pomeranians, and knows that just because a girl doesn't do well in the ring doesn't mean she wont be a good broody. Poms are meant to be short in the back and overall small and compact however, if you want more than one puppy, you need a longer and bigger dog. Enter Hannah. Hannah has a longer nose and a face my mum doesn't like. She's longish in the back and on the large size for a pom (about 3kg). Hannah is a champion, but that is because she's good enough to be called so when she isn't put next to a stunning dog.

Hannah had a litter of puppies last year, her first. Hannah had three, which is considered large for a pom who usually have one, although two is good for a broody. All three of the puppies were show potential from birth, which, and trust me on this, NEVER happens. You may get one. You may get two. But not three. Two of the babies got her face, but they were better put together than Hannah. Those two also got her size, but could still go into the show ring, win something in their breed, and breed good babies. And then there is the pick of the litter, Bailey. Oh my Bailey was a best in group winner, she was. So perfect.

Too bad the sire, who is an excellent show dog, throws bad mouths sometimes and so perfect little Bailey ended up undershot, which ruined her show and breeding career. But her owner, who only cares that she has teeth to eat with when it comes to her mouth, is very happy with her gorgeous pet.

Bailey's under bite isn't that bad really, but if a Pom doesn't have a scissor bite then they can be disqualified. So she was desexed and rehomed to a loving family, getting all the attentions he deserves.

There are actually judges who know poms and are lenient when it comes to a long and big girl. They wont deny a challenge to this dog, or may put her over a fancy looking show pom, but they wont always win when it comes to the best of breed simply because the stud may be that much better, and has no use for a long back himself.

My mum and I also believe health over looks, as well as temperament (our dogs function is technically companionship, but with health comes good body structure, which will cause good movement). But sadly judges who have no idea what they're doing, or taking the standard too literal, following the trends, or just putting up their friends (face judging) is rife in the dog show world. Especially in NZ. A lot of people here wont enter shows if the judge is a NZ one, however there are quite a few starting to go through their testing, like my mum, who will always put up good dogs.

We import all the time! There's sadly only a hand full of Pom breeders so my mum has to, but she's very good friends with a breeder from Australia, which is only a 2 hour and roughly $5000 (for a dog) flight away. They buy and sell stock between them all the time, and that is actually where Rival and Hannah came from. Most of the dogs she started off with had Canadian and American lines, which all have very thick bone, but a couple of years ago she bought a dog all the way from Iceland! Sadly, she had an open fontanelle so once she reached Australia, (had to go to england first, and have a wait for rabies before going to aus) and the breeder there noticed, mum decided that since a knock on the head could kill her she'd have to stay in Australia. Learned quick soon too that sadly she did not have the temperament for show, but hopefully they'll get a few good dogs from them. Black and Tan, oddly enough, is not allowed in Poms in NZ, but the Australian breeder is getting a dog with that colour behind him from Australia, and both dogs will be put together. Mum'll get a puppy from that I believe.

We don't have there here. Shows are put on by the regional committees (eg Manawatu Kennel Association) and specific breed shows (eg gundog show, toy show) are put on by the people who run those committees on the same day as another show.

It's not really. So long as you have an eye for dogs, it can be quite easy. To start with, judges follow a single group, and there are seven in NZ (toy, terrier, hound, working, gundog, utility, non-sporting). There are three stages, ribbon parade, when the judges first start out, open shows, which is basically a proper show but quite often have the judges being judged themselves, and them champion shows, where the judges are able to say whether they think your dog could be a champion, and sign a slip of paper. After that, they can do more groups and to be a specialist in a breed they must have bred it for at least 10 years.

I believe that China doesn't have a proper kennel club, which shows since we barely get asian judges. Mainly Australian, British, and sometimes American and Canadian.

Because NZ just released a standard for our own breed of dog, the NZ Huntaway (they have a town named after them too), a few people are probably utilising this thing that's been around since our kennel club. There's different registries, and if a working dog was bought over from overseas and was on the working registry as such and such a breed, it could them be transferred to the purebred registry and entered in confirmation shows. The Huntaways are allowed to do this now and, like the Sugarbush Draft horses, emphasis are put on working ability and their bark. You haven't heard a dog bark before until you've heard a Huntaway....