HGG Community Forums

I have added you to my buddy chat and post 4 show horses for you :)
2 higher pointed ones and 2 with high PT scores :D

WindwardFarm has given you some good information, and ParadisePark is offering some great help at starting a show string. I will try to answer your questions as you asked them.

1. Is there a certain point where you shouldn't even consider selling a horse ? If it has under 5 PTS, for example?

As WindwardFarm has said, low PT horses, especially foundations, the ones you create yourself on the Create a Horse page, can turn out to be very good foundation breeders, so keeping them for that is usually a good idea, if you have room for them. It's not likely many people will buy them if offered for sale in the forum, though. Putting them in the Public Auction is the best way to go, because you will at least get back close to their create price.

2. Are people more interested in consistent or inconsistent? Is there any difference between either?

Smaller and newer stables are more likely to prefer consistent horses because it is easier to predict what their score is likely to be each week after they have been trained. As stables get larger and the players move up to purchase the Premium Upgrade, which enters horses in shows automatically (provided you remember to tell the game which days to show a barn on :D. I have forgotten that a time or two.), consistency becomes less of an issue.

When I started playing this version of the game, I kept only Consistent horses, but now that I have about 2000 of them, I've stopped being picky about consistency.

The consistency test measures how much a horse's show score will vary from show to show in a given week. Horses that test Consistent may have exactly the same score both times, or their scores may vary up or down by up to 2 points each way. Those that test Inconsistent will have scores that may vary much more than that.

3. Do gelded/spayed horses and foals sell worse?

It depends on who's buying. Some players are more interested in the breeding aspects of the game and have little interest in neutered horses. Those of us who have had the chance to build up our stables, may be more interested in enlarging our show strings. I am as likely to buy a neutered horse as I am an intact one, and there are probably others like me.

4. Are many generations on a horse considered undesirable?

Since the goal of many of us is to breed horses so that the foals of each new generation are better than their parents, and when bred this way, the longer a horse's pedigree is the more likely it is to have a higher PT score so that it will be able to reach the very highest level of showing and add the most points to its total with every show, the more valuable it will be.

However, the important point is not the number of generations a horse has behind it, but how consistently its ancestors have been bred for improvement.

Many players like to start with horses they have created and then build lines from them without introducing any outside stock. They are less likely to be interested in high generation horses from outside lines. However, other players might be interested in them, especially if they are neuters.

5. Should I be gaining points on horses before selling?

It is always a good idea to show every horse twice a week, whether it is intact and you're keeping it for breeding or whether it is neutered. It is also a good idea to keep neutered horses for yourself as well as selling them.

6. Is there a way I can focus solely on (in future) breeding great show horses?

One strategy for breeding show horses, is to breed a high generation stallion to foundation or 2nd generation mares. This will raise the PT scores of the foals somewhat above what you can expect when breeding horses of the same generation or the same breeding ability together. You will not get many intact foals, however, and you will be unlikely to sell any intact foals with this sort of pedigree.

Important Point

It can't be said often enough: In this game, selling horses is not going to be your biggest money maker. It is probably impossible to have a profitable stable if you depend on selling horses to other players for your major income. We are ALL breeding horses, every game year, and it takes something really special, either in color, pattern, or PT score, to tempt us to buy them.

Building a strong show string for yourself will get you much farther.

This thread here really helps explain the difference between showing vs breeding, and the last post on the thread gives a good explanation about how PT score affects the way a horse trains, levels up, and levels off.

http://hj2.huntandjump.com/forum/discussion/10182/general-information-showing-vs-breeding#Item_2

Those horribly low PT scores that you sometimes see on foundation horses don't occur with decently bred lined horses. I don't think I've ever see a C x Yellow breeding produce a PT score that's lower than 8 and they generally produce foals with a PT score of 9+.