HGG Community Forums

I am by no means a well established stable, but I do think I have developed over the course of my time here and I have a few things that might encourage you.

I remember when I first joined I did all the newbie things: created until the bank account was empty, didn't test a single one of my stock, bred them to this-that-and-any-other-shiny-thing. Thankfully, I found the forum about two weeks in and I figured out that this wasn't a high speed, competitive, quick for cash game.

Then there was the first time I saw kit promoter (KP). I was instantly in love. It was NeoGenesis: http://hj2.huntandjump.com/horse.php?horseid=243047 then, after further investigation, Star Lite: http://hj2.huntandjump.com/horse.php?horseid=168343

I had to get my hands in on this beautiful gene, but I didn't have any inkling how. So I did the best that I could, I messaged the owners and they were patient, kind, knowledgeable, and generous. They told me that breeding was for quality not quantity. That testing was my friend, not foe. And there is always next season. These are mottos that I still go by.

Fast forward to now, I have a mix and match of lines that I think of as pretty colors and shiny patterns. I'm still dedicated to my KP line, but I have a few Nexus, Snowflake, and Sooty+ because this is a fun game and I like mixing it up. I still don't know exactly what I want in color, but I know that I want quality stock that I can be proud of. This stock and have strictly my stock or have an infusion of outside stock - since I'm a little weird and I'm not too fond of inbreeding.

Whenever I get stumped, I change it up. If I get tired of culling because I see all these pretty foals turning into show ponies. I breed for the heck of it. No plans. I just want to be surprised! Or I purchase a new tack pack because the items look cool and tack up some of those show horses. Or I decorate my breeding stock. When I'm ready, I go back to my culling and breeding.

Yes, it gets easier...but also no. Yes, you learn to test, test, test, and cull to keep your bloodlines high quality. If you have the space, you keep everything because everything eventually pays for itself in building up a show bonus. Which you then use to purchase more space. No because you still have those favorite color/patterned foals that always seem doomed to be snipped. Or a new beautiful gene comes out and you suddenly have a completely new line you want to build. But those are okay. There is always next season to get that perfect foal. And you can always purchase another barn to build a new line. This is what makes the game so amazingly fun!

EDIT: Wow! I wrote you a novel! Kudos to you if you read all the way through. I hope it helps. If you have any other questions please feel free to ask. :)

The answer is both yes and no. If you're not sure where you want to go right now you can just breed for show ponies until you figure it out. Your daily bonus will start to grow and more money will start to flow in. When I first started I didn't pay much attention to show horses so my daily bonus is farther behind than it should be. Now I put pretty much every single altered foal into a show barn and my show bonus has doubled in the last month. It takes a while for that show bonus to get built up, so be patient.

Play around with some genetics and combinations to see what you like the most. It took me a while to figure out that I like darker based horses the most. From there I branched out to more difficult genes like KP and Snowflake. For me, quality has always come first so I would recommend while you're starting to work on figuring out who are you're best breeders so when you're ready to pick a direction you have a good base.

If you're anything like me your direction might change a few times. The first horse I GMT'd in this game was a hom GP stallion. I was so excited to have a bunch of GP babies. Two weeks later I got bit by the KP bug and that GP stallion sat unbred for several seasons. I've just now gotten around to breeding him a bit. It's okay to change your goals and your ambitions, that's one of the great things about this game. There is no right or wrong way to play.

For example my main goal was to breed quality horses, which then evolved to breeding quality KP horses. My goal has stayed the same for the most part but now I'm attempting to breed KP Snowflake Satin horses and let me tell you that it is not easy, but it keeps me going. Who knows maybe my Macchiato and GP lines will work their way in there eventually and I'll have some crazy colored horses.

Only you can decide what your goals will be and how you achieve them. For me it means shedding a few tears and cringing while passing foal through SBA or arguing with myself over snipping a foal that is so nice but just not nice enough. And no, that part never gets any easier. I spent the better part of the day going through my 2 year old and yearling colts trying to cull some out, and it was rough....really rough. I still have a ways to go on that.

When you get stumped or frustrated with a line you have two options. You can go back to the beginning and try to figure out what's going wrong OR you can leave it a lone for a while and come back to it. Either way works. I'm currently stuck on a line out of one of my KP stallions who refuses to give me nice foals. He gives other people nice foals, but noooo not me. Little booger. So after I got frustrated last season I didn't use him at all this season. Next season I'll come back to it with a fresh perspective and hope for the best.

To sum up my raving, this game is amazing. There are endless possibilities so just have fun with it.

funny @confluence. I am in the same boat. I have a line thought I would really like it but I am frustrated with it so have quit for a bit. There is no right or wrong way to play this game. You will find what you like but for now and see what you like together.

Hi Bluebird!

I had a huge herd. Like over 3000 broodmares big, with 8000 show ponies and something like 8 or 10 serious lines from foundation out to gen 4. I was spending hours playing this game every day and still didn't really have enough time to adequately cull my lines and real life caught up with me as well with a few extra little challenges for my family to battle through....so I destocked my barns completely. I sold every single horse I owned.

I'm now sort of starting to build back. I have some ideas for new lines and I know that I want to try to keep it to three or four lines in the future. Before I had to buy into every shiny gene that came along...now I'm more willing to miss out so I can focus on more manageable goals!

I always recommend that new players just play around for the first few months and just sock those foals into show barns. Play with colors and patterns, lurk on the forums, learn how to use the horse search and use it daily to look up new colors and patterns, look at horses on the leaderboards in the different breeders clubs. Figure out whatever are your favorite colors and patterns. Figure out if you can afford to buy into them if they are GMT only genes. If they are Closed Book genes, bookmark that thought and put it aside until that gene comes up for sale again.

Once you are starting to get an idea, figure out whether you want to buy into a line from other people or whether you can start a line from scratch at the Foundation level. If you can do the latter, I highly highly highly recommend that you start amassing mares from the Foundation Rescue (owner #13) that have the base colors you like the most. I like starting a line from the ground up but also getting in straws from other players with the same sort of lines and then trading fillies or extra colts in later generations so I can get in fresh blood, but there is nothing wrong with keeping a line strictly in House with only horses you've bred. (Especially since in breeding doesn't matter in this game). If you need to GMT a/several stallions for your line, save up and do it.

And remember--there is nothing wrong with starting off going one direction, seeing an amazing horse on the forum dropping everything and going a new direction!