The horse's day

The horse has its own day, which is not our real day. The history of the day is on the left of the horse's page. A horse's day starts at 8 a.m. when the horse wakes up. Then each action that you have the horse carry out takes a set amount of time. For example, meals take 30 minutes.

Your horse must be put to bed before midnight (horse time), after which time horses can no longer carry out actions. The only exception is foaling, which can happen at any time. To keep a horse in top shape, you should put it to bed no later than 10 pm.

At the end of the day, you have to put your horse to bed. It has to be boarded in an equestrian center for this.

Foals that are less than 6 months old can be bedded down even if they are not boarded in an equestrian center.

Aging

Once your horse is bedded down, it will automatically age at the time of the site's update (07:00). Once it wakes up, a new day begins. In the game, horses age 2 months each time they wake up.

If you have not bedded your horse down, it does not age automatically. This means that your horses will not age if you don't get on-line.

If you have not put your horse to bed, it will not age automatically during the night. This means that if you are not playing, your horse will not age. In order to age it without waiting for the next day, you need aging points. You will sometimes find some when your horse wakes up (it will be mentioned in the history). If not, you can purchase aging points with passes.

There are two items from the Black Market that allow a horse to get around the aging rules:

• Water of Youth allows you to age your horse one month at a time after its second birthday
• Morpheus's Arms lets you age your horse at will up to 30 years old.

Unlike aging points, these items must be assigned to a specific horse.

After its 25^th birthday, your horse gets old: its health and skills decline. If you take good care of it, your horse can live up to a maximum of 35 years. If you give your horse the Philosopher's Stone, it becomes immortal and its skills never decline.

On Howrse, weather conditions and temperature vary every day. Weather information is available on the top-right of every page. You must take it into account when you decide where you will put your horse to bed and as well as for the crops of your equestrian center.

On Howrse, the seasons last one week. Fall starts on the first day of each real month. As it lasts 1 week, on the 8th of the month Winter begins, on the 15th Spring arrives, and on the 22nd Summer starts. Summer lasts until the end of the real month in progress, and then the cycle of seasons starts all over again the next month.

The temperature is associated with the season in the game, and so is the amount of grass in the meadow. Grass is abundant in the fertile meadows in the Spring and Summer, but becomes scarce in Winter.

On Howrse, the weather changes every day according to the in-game seasons. It is displayed in the upper right-hand corner of each page. The weather impacts your equestrian center's meadows.

In each ranking page, you can view your ranking by using the link "Display my position in the rankings" located at the top of the page.

Use the numbers in red or green with a - or + character in front of them to assess your day-to-day progress.

General ranking

On this page, you will find:

• Player general ranking. Please note that only the 10000 horses with the most skills will be considered for this ranking.
• Ranking for players that have earned the highest amount of trophies. Trophies are available once all the goals have been validated.
• Ranking by seniority
• Ranking by popularity: it is based on the number of visits of different players during the previous day. Therefore, there's no sense in trying to get a player to move up by visiting their page several times, only one visit will be accounted for.

The ranking of the breeders

On this page, you can view:

• ranking of the richest breeders
• ranking of breeders with the most horses
• ranking of breeders who won the most competitions the previous day
• ranking of breeders who took care of the most horses the previous day
• ranking of breeders who won the most rosettes during the month in question

The ranking of the horses

Because all horses are not necessarily lucky in competitions, they may also be ranked according to either overall skill or a specific skill. Therefore, you will find a ranking for each skill.

You can also filter the ranking of the horses by breed and thus see the best individual of each breed.

In each of these rankings, you may display the position of your own horses and monitor their progress.

The horse victory ranking

Horses are ranked according to their results in competitions. There is a general ranking as well as one for each type of competition (trot and gallop races, cross-country, show-jumping...). Horses that have the highest record of achievements are obviously great champions with exceptional skills, but they are also horses whose trainers have managed their career in the most intelligent way possible.

Creation Ranking

On this page, you'll find:

• Ranking of breeders who own the most horses with a Golden Apple
• Ranking of breeders who own the most horses with a retired Golden Apple
• Ranking of players who have proposed the most creations
• Ranking of players whose creations are the most frequently used in the game

Items from the Black Market

From the shop, you can gift items from the Black Market or trade items with other players.

Every week, you can offer or accept:

From 10 to 30 days' seniority	2 trades per week
More than 30 days' seniority	3 trades per week
With the Pegasus Account	6 trades per week

In order to trade, you also must follow these rules:

• Your karma has to be greater than 6
• Your email address must be verified
• Your account must be validated by your parents if you are under 13 years old
• You cannot trade with a player who has the same email address as you
• You may only make one trade with the same player per week

Items from the shop

You can give your friends 3 items from the shop (apples, saddles...) a week. To use this feature, you and your friends must have more than 10 days' seniority.

You may only give away one item to the same friend per week.

Visit your friends' pages to gift items from the shop!

You must follow some basic rules to play in the best of conditions:

• Never give out your password,
• do not register on sites that pretext to offer you passes so as to steal your account,
• choose a password that is difficult to guess

You can allow your family or friends to log onto your account and take care of your horses. Very handy for renewing your boarders or contracts and changing the bedding at your equestrian center when you go on vacation. Simply contact a trustworthy friend or family member you have authorized to co-manage your account, so that they can log on with your identifier and their own password! This way, they have limited access to your game. They can take care of your horses, but they can never delete your game, equestrian centers, or breeding farms, nor can they sell your horses.

Warning, co-management of your account should not be entrusted to someone you do not know. Any undesired activity on your account by a co-manager remains your responsibility.

You may only share your account when you are away. Another player cannot connect to your account while you are still logged in.

Passes and diamonds are currency in the game. They give you access to better services and products than you can get with Equus.

Passes

Passes are used to:

• purchase bonus items for your horse on the Black Market or for your equestrian center on the Secret Market,
• purchase aging points,
• subscribe to a Pegasus account in order to receive exclusives perks,
• credit your breeder reserve or equestrian center with additional Equus,
• trade horses.

To get passes:

• there are several different payment methods. Learn more about them on the passes page.
• Starting on your 50^th day on Howrse, you can buy a pass for 20% of your reserve every 30 days of seniority.
• you can win passes if you put your horses up for sale in exchange for passes and players buy them
• you can win passes by sending horses that are older than 30 to Heaven, according to the following rules:
  • you win 1 pass for each horse you send to Heaven that is older than 30 if you have won fewer than 10 passes in the last 30 days using this method
  • you have a 1 in 3 chance of winning a pass and a bonus product the rest of the time if you have won between 10 and 29 passes in the last 30 days using this method
  • you can't win anything else if you have already won 30 passes in the last 30 days using this method

Diamonds

Diamonds are worth one tenth of a pass. One pass can be converted into 10 diamonds, and they can be won in lots of different places in the game.

You can use your diamonds:

• instead of passes for all your purchases (except for the Black Pearl, Pegasus Account subscriptions and horse purchases),
• to buy bonus items at the store,
• to enhance the skills of Gemstone Horses.

You can change your personal info at any time from the My account page.

Please note that for data protection purposes, accounts that are inactive for more than 90 days will be deleted automatically.

After your horse is weaned, quickly board it at an equestrian center to be able to put it in a box, put it out into the meadow or put it to bed.

To do this, use the link at the top-right of the page to choose an equestrian center. You can choose an equestrian center according to its price or its prestige. You may also search for the equestrian center of a specific player by providing the player's identifier.

Once you have selected an equestrian center, you must choose the duration of the stay, and then simply confirm. Of course, your horses do not all have to be boarded at the same equestrian center. Furthermore, you can change centers as often as you like.

You may extend the stay using the button at the top-right of your horse's profile. The director of the center may choose to accept or decline your request. It is also possible to ask the director of the center to reserve a box in his or her establishment.

Choosing a center

The equestrian center that you choose will have an influence namely on:

• cleanliness and box size: negative morale impact will be lower if the horse has a large clean box
• the money that you earn for the lessons that your horse gives: the lesson cost is automatically calculated based on the relationship between the number of instructors working in the equestrian center and the number of boarded horses, their wages and, of course, the health and the dressage level of the boarded horses (The price indicated on the center's page is the amount that the owner of the horse that gives the lesson will earn)
• the carrots that you can give to your horse are grown in the equestrian center. The more productive the crops, the more your horse receives. Carrots are interesting treats as they are a source of energy for horses
• The presence of a Farrier means that boarders have access to MF horseshoes.
• A Saddler must be present, so that boarders have access to a SB bridle and saddle if they specialize in English Riding, and to a WB bridle and saddle if they specialize in Western Riding.

Cancellation and refund

Remember to view the details of the center where you want to board your horse to avoid nasty surprises, because the stay cannot be canceled. The horse will remain there for the number of days paid. There is only one exception: when a player buys a horse for which a stay has already been reserved, the player may cancel this stay within 15 days after the purchase.

The amount paid in advance for the stay of a horse is not refundable, except if the horse's box is destroyed by the director of the center. In such a case, the owner of the horse will be refunded for the number of days that the horse was not able to occupy the box. If you sell your horse, the buyer will benefit from the board already paid for the horse. In the event that your horse were to die, you would not recover the board already paid, as the director is not liable for the death of the horse.

Colts and fillies

Newborn foals stay with their Dams until they are 6 months old. During this period, they feed exclusively on their Dam's milk. If the center where the mare is boarded has carrots, the foal may eat some for as long as it is with its Dam.

Weaned foals only eat fodder. When they start to train, you will start to give them grain. You must see to it that they have balanced nutrition: they should not eat too much or too little.

The adult horse

A working adult horse needs fodder and grain. The ration depends on the work that the horse does. If the ration is not appropriate, the horse will gain or lose weight. Weight problems increase the risk of illnesses. For fodder, also consider putting the horse out in the meadow. The grass that the horse eats allows you to save on the purchase of feed. The amount of grass consumed depends on the quality of the meadows of the equestrian center where your horse is boarded, but also on the season. There is less grass in the meadows in winter than in spring.

Weight problems

Several messages will warn you if your horse is too fat or too thin. If this is the case, you will have to take action. If it's too thin, you will have to give it as much feed as possible. If it's too fat, don't feed it.

Treats

You can give your horse treats to make it happy. There are two types of treats:

• Turnips, to boost your horse's energy. You'll find them at the store.
• Carrots, to give your horse energy. They are only available at equestrian centers that grow them and offer them for free to their boarders. Up to you to choose the right center!

Other players can give apples to your horse to boost his morale.

Mashes

To help you keep your horse fit, there is a wide range of mashes available to you:

• The energy mash gives your horse 5% energy
• The caloric mash boosts your horse's morale by up to 10%
• The health mash increases its health by 10%

They should be used wisely: you can only give your horse a mash every 6 months. Furthermore, mashes may only be given to horses after they have reached their second birthday, and health mashes can only be given to horses that are under 25 years old.

There are three gauges that give you an indication of the physical condition of your horse: energy, health and morale.

Every time your horse carries out an action, one or more of these properties varies. You must especially watch your horse's energy level. If you exhaust your horse, it could die. The ideal situation is to put your horse to bed at 10 p.m. at the latest and with at least 20% energy. Below 20%, your horse will not recuperate enough during the night, and under 5%, it could die.

How do you restore a horse's energy?

• by feeding it
• by stroking it
• by giving it a turnip
• by letting it rest in a box or in a meadow
• by bedding it down. The horse recovers about 5 times the energy it had before bedding. Be careful however: if you bed your horse down with 0 energy, it will die.
• by watering it
• by giving it sugars lumps that you find during your various actions
• by giving it a carrot if the equestrian center where it is boarded has any

How do you restore your horse's morale?

• By grooming it
• By putting it in the meadow
• By giving it something to drink
• If another player gives it an apple

Finally, health increases naturally as time goes by.

Morale problems

When a horse is aged with less than 20% morale, his health drops. The lower his morale is, the faster the health drops. To prevent that, don't forget to groom your horses every day and to put them in an Equestrian Center.

Health problems

The health of a horse under 25 declines when:

• This horse is too fat or too thin
• You have not taken good enough care of your horse
• The horse's energy has dropped below 20%
• You have not groomed your horse the previous day

After 25, the health of horses and ponies that do not have the Philosopher's Stone will decline gradually according to the age of the horse.

You will find, there, everything that you need to take care of your horse. In the various departments, you may purchase:

• Equipment such as horseshoes and harnesses (which you must have if you want to participate in competitions)
• Treats that you can give to your horse or pony

At the bottom-right of this page, you can view the items in your inventory and replenish your stock. If you need to, you can resell these items to the store. However, it will give you less than the retail price for them. You can also sell the manure from your horses. To sell something at the store, click « Sell Items » on the breeders' store page.

Note that you can only sell what you have in your inventory.

The Black Market is a very strange and peculiar place. Stay on your guard when venturing out there, the powers of items found there may be so strong they can be frightening.

The items on the black market may be purchased with passes.

These items may not be handed down from parent to offspring. They cannot be transferred from one horse to another, and they cannot be recovered when the horse dies.

Specialty

In order for your horse to be able to compete at the age of 3 years, you have to choose which riding style will be its specialty. The types of competitions your horse will be eligible for will depend on its specialty.

Horses that specialize in Classical Riding can enter speed races and cross-country, show jumping and dressage competitions.

Horses that specialize in Western Riding can enter barrel racing, cutting, reining, western pleasure and trail class competitions.

To choose your horse's specialty, select their riding type in the Competitions box.

You can change your horse's specialty until it reaches the age of 5 years.

Tack

Once you've chosen your horse's specialty, you need to buy it horseshoes and a bridle and saddle made for its specialty. You can find these items in different models and bonus levels at the breeders' store.

If your horse is boarding at an equestrian center with the same specialty and a saddler is employed there, you can give it the SB saddle and SB bridle if its specialty is Classical Riding, and the WS saddle and WB bridle if its specialty is Western Riding. The bonus from these items will vary depending on how much prestige the center has.

If your horse is boarding in an equestrian center in which a farrier is employed, you can also give it MF horseshoes, for which the bonus varies depending on the center's prestige.

You can give your horse a saddle, bridle and horseshoes directly on its profile page.

All this equipment is hard-wearing. You cannot remove a horse's saddle, bridle or horseshoes. All you can do is replace them.

The skills

On Howrse, there are six skill categories:

• Stamina
• Speed
• Dressage
• Gallop
• Trot
• Jumping

The maximum skills that a horse may reach during its lifetime through the activities that you will have it carry out is determined at birth according to its breed and ancestors. They vary, therefore, from one individual to the next, even within the same breed. However, as logic dictates, a trotter will never become a champion flat racer! As the potential of a horse cannot be extended infinitely, there will come a time when your horse will no longer progress. It is up to you to develop your horse's skills to their fullest!

There are 3 main ways to improve a horse's skills:

• rides
• training
• competitions

Pay attention to your horse's health. If you train him, have him go on rides, or enter competitions and he is not at 100% health, he won't win the maximum number of skills points. If your horse doesn't gain the maximum skills, he won't be able to retrieve them later.

There are also two other ways of improving skills:

• Games with foals between 8 and 16 months of age. It's possible to earn up to 60 skill points by playing with foals.
• Lessons starting 2 years of age. They'll make you lose 30% energy. Skill gains will depend on the quality of lessons at the center where your horse is boarded. Lessons award skill gains in a horse or pony's 2 best potentials. Please note that skill gains with lessons stop at age 25!

When you have completed the development of a horse's skill, said skill is displayed in bold type in the horse's genetic potential. Completing the development means finishing training and rides, and having the horse earn all the skills possible in competitions.

Training

Training starts at 18 months with rides. There are 3 types of rides: trot, gallop and steep slope. Each of these develops specific skills (trot, gallop and jumping). You can choose to either go on a short ride to develop speed or a lengthy ride to develop your horse's stamina. You will see the "Skills" box (at the center of your horse's page) fill in progressively with stars. Please note that skill gains are limited, and at one point, your horse will no longer earn skills when going on rides.

When your horse is 2 years old, it can start training. Each skill requires a specific training. Each training requires 3 hours. You can combine several training types during your horse's day, but always check its energy level and what time it is on its history so that it can get enough rest. Remember, you have to bed it down at 10:00 pm at the latest!

When your horse reaches the age of 5, you can do rides on the beach. They are special rides, in which your horse loses in his lowest skill to win in his best skill. The longer the ride, the bigger the skill exchange. Beware, the exchange is limited and depends on the genetic potential of the horse.

Remember, if your horse's morale isn't at 100% when it goes for rides on the beach, the transferring of skills will be less than optimal and lost for good.

Bonuses

They appear in a frame in the horse's page. These are points added to the skills, but they are not to be confused with the skills. They may make a difference in the results of the competitions, but do not count for the minimum required for the competitions.

They may be associated with:

• The center where the horse is boarded according to its prestige
• Various items purchased from the store or on the black market, or found in the box

They are also displayed with a + sign in front of them when you hover your mouse over the "Skills" frame.

Your horse is now 3 years old, its sports career may begin! If you want your horse to compete, it must first be trained to specialize in a specific riding style, you must shoe it and give it a saddle and bridle adapted to its specialty.

The competitions will enable you to earn money according to your success but also to improve the skills of your horses. As their potential is not unlimited, there will come a time when your horse's skills will no longer be improved by competitions.

Regardless of the discipline, each competition has a difficulty level set within a percentage range for a skill, each center setting its competitions at the level of its choice.

For certain types of competition, you can use filters to choose the distance.

You cannot enter more than 2 horses from your stables in a competition.

On every horse's profile page, among other information, you'll find a summary of the horse's victories and results in competitions.

Classical Riding Competitions

Classical Riding competitions are for horses specializing in Classical Riding that have a Classical bridle and saddle. There are 5 kinds of competitions:

• Access to gallop and trot speed races depends on the galloping skill level required for gallop races and the trotting skill level required for trot races. In order to become a champion, the horse must also perform well in speed and dressage.
• Cross-country is a physically demanding discipline that requires great stamina, but also good jumping skills and docility. Access to registration depends on the level of stamina.
• Show-jumping requires exceptional jumping skills, but also lots of flexibility. Because these events are timed, a show-jumping horse will obviously need to be able to jump obstacles quickly. Access to registration depends on the level of jumping.
• The dressage contest features the horse's gaits: gallop and trot, but most of all its dressage skills. Access to registration depends on the level of dressage.

Western Riding Competitions

Western Riding competitions are for horses specializing in Western Riding that have a Western bridle and saddle. There are 5 kinds of competitions:

• Barrel racing, a timed race that requires speed, stamina and galloping skills. The goal is to slalom around 3 barrels as fast as possible without knocking any over. Access to these events is determined by your horse's speed.
• Cutting, which requires great stamina and speed in order to control calves. It also requires a good level in dressage. Access to these events is determined by your horse's stamina.
• Reining, a dressage event that's performed at a gallop. Good stamina is also essential. Access to these events is determined by your horse's level in galloping.
• Western pleasure, a discipline that requires excellent trotting skills, as well as docility and stamina. Access to these events is determined by your horse's level in trotting.
• Trail class, the western equivalent of dressage in Classical Riding. Trail class horses must excel in dressage, as well as trotting and jumping. Access to these events is determined by your horse's dressage level.

Morale

Please note that past 30 days' seniority on the game, if your horse has not placed first in a competition, it may lose a few morale points. Don't worry though, you can easily make up for that drop in morale by letting your horse rest and giving it a few treats!

Bonuses

You may give bonuses to your horses to increase their performance in competitions. Some bonuses might be found when you put your horses in the box (examples: whip, saddle cloth), others may be bought at the store or in the Black Market. To calculate the final results of competitions, bonuses are directly added to skills, so they automatically affect the final result.

New players who start their game will receive a special bonus. Don't be surprised then if some horses seem to perform exceptionally, they've only received a little help to get a good start in the game!

Competitions for rookie horses

Certain competitions are only open to rookie horses. Rookie horses are horses that have won less than 20 victories and who have no skills above 310. This number is recalculated every night.

Rosettes are rewards you earn by winning certain competitions with 75% or higher prestige. When one of your horses wins a rosette, you earn twice as many Equus for that competition. However, you cannot win the same rosette more than once with the same horse.

Trophies

The more rosettes you win, the more trophies you earn for your collections.

The Grand Prix is a week-long championship. It consists of 5 heats total, one heat per day. There are 2 different Grand Prix: Classical Riding and Western Riding.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Classical Riding Grand Prix	Cross-country	Trot	Show jumping	Dressage	Gallop
Western Riding Grand Prix	Cutting	Western pleasure	Reining	Trail class	Barrel racing

Each event lasts 10 hours and requires 99% energy. Players may enter two of their horses in each event.

A ranking is done each day and extraordinary gifts are handed out:

• Winner: 40 diamonds
• Second position: 20 diamonds
• Third position: 10 diamonds
• Fourth position: 5 diamonds
• Fifth position: 2 diamonds
• First 100 horses: 2000 Equus
• All participants: 1000 Equus

At the end of the 5 events, on Saturday, a Grand Prix weekly ranking is displayed: Only the best performance in each event is counted. To be ranked, you must have participated in the 5 events of the week.

Sunday there are no events, it's rest day for your horses.

Following the weekly Grand Prix ranking:

• The top 10 receive an award on their profile page.
• The top 100 place finishers gain a 7-day access to the fountain. The fountain replaces the trough and triples energy and morale gains.

To enter the Grand Prix, you need to find an entry ticket by opening Horns of Plenty. You only need to find one ticket to be able to participate every week.

There are special bonuses for the Grand Prix, which for example allow you to reduce the energy your horses spend when registering, to give skill bonuses to your competing horses, and to register four horses in each event instead of two. You'll find these bonuses in the Horns of Plenty.

Coverings

Horses reach their sexual maturity at 2 and a half, and are fertile until the end of their lifetime.

It's up to the owners of stallions to offer coverings or to suggest one to a specific mare. They also have to specify a covering cost (between 500 and 7500 Equus). The owners of mares can look for the best stallions by browsing through offers or replying to specific offers.

When you have your mare covered, you must pay for vet fees that correspond to 1% of your Equus reserve, rounded up to the next hundred with a minimum of 100 Equus and a maximum of 2500 Equus.

It is possible to cross-breed. Each foal is thus unique: it will inherit characteristics from its parents and their ancestors. It is up to you to make the right crosses to produce champions or to create a breeding farm that focuses on a certain discipline.

As certain stallions are very in demand, you can make a deal with their owner so that they reserve a covering for you. Often, breeders will indicate their price and conditions on their page.

To have one of your mares covered by one of your stallions, make yourself a reserved offer.

Gestation

Gestation lasts 12 months. From the 8th month onwards and for 50 Equus, you can request an ultrasound to find out the foal's gender, breed and coat. At this point in her pregnancy, the mare will only be allowed to do lessons. During the 12th month, you'll have to call the vet and make sure your mare is boarded at an equestrian center. If you can't call a vet, you'll lose the foal.

Once the foal is born you can name it and start taking care of it. Once it is separated from its mother at the age of 6 months you will have to board it at an equestrian center.

Foaling is the only action that can occur after midnight in the horse's history.

Keep in mind that it is not necessarily advantageous, for example, to breed a mare that excels in dressage with a horse whose strong point is speed. In fact, the offspring will not necessarily be better in each of these characteristics. It is therefore better to favor breeding between close breeds.

Foaling is a tiring experience for a mare. There must be an interval of at least 10 months between the birth of the last foal and the next covering.

Geldings

You can castrate your males who are between the ages of 2 and a half years old and 6 years old. Your horse will become a gelding. It will no longer be able to reproduce, but it will gain a bonus (stamina: +8, speed: +8, dressage: +4). Gelding a horse takes at least two hours.

Note that it is not possible to give Zeus's Lightning Bolt to a gelding, and that castration is irreversible.

The foal

The foaling went smoothly, a foal is born. Its breed is determined by the majority breed in its ascendants if they are not "pure bred". Its coat is selected at random among the coats authorized by the foal's breed.

Your foal's capacities depend on genetic characteristics of his parents but also on their training level and competition achievements.

The foals that you produce remain with their dam, in the same box, until they are 6 months old. They do not need to be boarded during this period, and they feed exclusively on their dam's milk.

Unicorns

Unicorns are very rare and reproduce almost like ordinary horses.

Baby unicorns are born only if a unicorn mare is covered by a male unicorn at a precise time decided on by each breeder. But careful, the only time that counts is the one shown in the upper right of your screen, not the time shown in your horse's history. Both parents must be of the same breed. All the same, don't forget that when you meet these criteria, you still have only one out of 5 chances of giving birth to a baby unicorn.

You can change your unicorns' breeding time once every 30 days. To change a unicorn's breeding time, go to its page and click on 'Information' in its breeding box, then click on 'Select.' Planned maintenance work is sometimes done on the game. If this occurs at the time you've chosen, you will not be compensated.

Remember, you may only cover a unicorn at least 10 real hours after its conception or after its previous covering.

Donkeys

Donkeys can only reproduce three times in their lifetime, and only with another donkey. This is the only species whose genetic potential decreases with every generation.
When a male donkey is put up for sale, any coverings he has offered that haven't yet been accepted by a female are canceled.

Genetic potential

The genetic potential of a horse is calculated according to the genetic potential and the BLUP of its parents.

Once a foal is born, its genetic potential can no longer increase

Innate skills and skills gained during games and lessons are not included in the genetic potential. This means that a horse's skills may be higher than the values shown in its genetic potential.

Stars awarded for excellence

The award for excellence is a green star that you will find under a horse's genetic potential. It indicates that the horse excels in that particular skill. It is rare, as it is the culmination of a breeder's extensive work in terms of training and careful selection of breeding stock. It is awarded to exceptional horses!

To earn a star of excellence, the horse must have reached 100% of the genetic potential in the skill in question. It is possible to obtain additional stars in a skill for every 10% of additional genetic potential reached in the skill.

Excellence stars are awarded at a foal's birth only, because a horse's genetic potential cannot change once it is born.

Inborn skills

These are skills that the horse has right from birth. All foals do not necessarily have inborn skills. They are dependent on the foal's parents, their genetic potential and their BLUP. Thus a foal may be born with 10% stamina, for example.

A foal cannot be born with negative skills. If the average BLUP of the parents is below 0, then the foal will have no inborn skills.

These inborn skills are set at birth. They are added to the genetic potential.

Note that inborn skills are integrated to the skills, therefore it is possible to exceed the value indicated in the genetic potential. This effective value is what will count for the minimum skill requirement for competitions.

The BLUP

The BLUP is a genetic indicator. It plays a role in breeding because the BLUP of the parents has an impact on the potential of the foal at birth.

It is calculated according to:

• of the training level reached by the horse in its 3 best skills
• of the number of competitions the horse has won ideally 20
• of its age, the BLUP can reach 100 only when the horse is at least 10 years old

It is therefore advantageous to choose your breeding stock among trained horses that have proven their worth in competitions. According to these parameters, the BLUP will always range between -100 and 100, -100 being the minimum BLUP and 100 the maximum BLUP that a horse can achieve.

If the average BLUP of the parents is 0 (then termed neutral), it will not have an impact on the calculation of the foal's genetic potential. If it is below 0, the foal will have a greater chance of having a potential that is lower than that of its parents, and the other way around if the average BLUP is above 0.

To have the best breeding stock and put all the chances on your side to produce the best foals possible, it is suggested that you choose horses with a high or at least positive BLUP, that is to say, individuals that are well trained.

What are the various ways of earning money?

• Lessons: Your horse earns a certain amount depending on your equestrian center
• Having a job: You get paid a salary every day as soon as you log in and as long as you took care of at least one horse the day before

• The competitions in which your horses run
• Covering offers from stallions you own
• Selling a horse from your stables
• Selling the manure produced by your horses
• Selling back items from your inventory to the store
• Trading items from the Black Market
• Using a pass to credit your reserve

On Howrse, every player can have a paid job. You can combine this job with the job of managing your equestrian center. Equestrian centers hire employees.

Access to jobs is now unlocked by seniority.

To change your job, you have to wait for your current contract to end. Once your contract is over, you'll be able to change jobs as long as you have the required number of seniority days.

The director of an equestrian center may make you a reserved job offer. The director may also offer to extend your contract. It is then up to you to decide to accept or refuse this extension.

Directory and breeding farms

You can have one breeding farm for every 60 days of seniority, with a maximum of 5 breeding farms.

A breeding farm that is officially registered in the directory groups horses belonging to the same player regardless of who produced them.

The directory makes it possible to track and showcase the work of the breeders. It also enables players to find the horse they want to purchase or hire as a stud, even if the horse in question is not currently for sale or offering coverings.

Affixes

Any breeding farm can make a name for itself and build its reputation based on the horses it produces. You can register an affix and add it to the name of the horses that you have produced. This affix may not be removed by future owners of horses produced in your breeding farm. You cannot add it to the name of horses that were not born in your breeding farm.

To reserve an affix, you need at least 30 days of seniority. After that, you can create another one every 30 days of seniority. You an also unlock affixes by signing up for the Pegasus Account. Clicking an affix will show you a list of all the horses and ponies who use it.

A breeder may have several affixes and give them to the breeds he or she raises or to distinguish various lineages of a given breed within a breeding farm.

Breeders and their production

In the details of the horse or pony, you will find the name of its original breeder. To see all of a player's products in the player's details, click the link "View production".

The breeds and the blue star

On Howrse, there are several horse and pony breeds. You may differentiate pure bred horses or ponies from horses produced by cross-breeding thanks to the blue origin stars, which indicate the proportion of each breed present in the ancestors of the horse or pony. Pure bred horses are assigned 1 star.

Regardless of the method used, the minimum sale price for a horse or pony is 500 equus. You cannot buy back a horse that you sold for 10 days after the sale. There is another type of sale, but this is not done between players: the Safe Haven.

The moment you put your horse up for sale, you can no longer take care of it. It is automatically paused and stops aging. It will start aging as usual again once it has been bought. Note that the horse will stop aging once it's been put up for sale, even if the seller just took care of it that same day.

The auctions

You can sell one of your horses in an auction if you have at least 10 days' seniority and more than 4 karma points.

When you want to auction a horse, you can choose the start price. Buyers will bid on your price, and the horse will be transferred to the player who has made the highest bid at the end of the scheduled sale (3 days).

During an auction, the money is directly debited from the highest bidder. All players who made earlier bids are then repaid their money. If after 3 days no one has bid on a sale, then the seller keeps their horse.

Auctions can be canceled if no one has bid on them yet.

Players with the Pegasus Account can start auctions for passes.

Direct sales

Only players with at least 30 days' seniority, 2 living horses and karma higher than 4 can use the direct sales.

Direct sales are a way to sell your horses faster than auctioning. You choose your horse's sale price. If a breeder is interested, they can buy it and the money from the sale is instantly transferred to you.

You may cancel a direct sale before it has ended if no one has bought your horse. The horse in question will automatically return to your breeding farm 30 days after the start of the sale.

The Reserved Sales

It is also possible to reserve a sale to a certain breeder. If you select this option, only the player that you will have chosen will be able to buy your horse.

Safe Haven

The Safe Haven is a refuge for horses. Horses and ponies staying there get to live it up far from the hubbub of the competitive world.
There you can sell:

• your horses for 400 Equus
• your unicorns and non-unicorn horses born to unicorn parents for 2 000 Equus

Selling a horse to this sanctuary is not like selling a horse to a player. Once the sale is completed, you cannot buy your horse back, and the sale price is fixed.

The Creation Space is a place where you can propose illustrations to be used on Howrse and win passes if they beat the vote.

These illustrations may be horse coats for the Golden Apple or landscapes for the Helios' Ray.

The Creation Space is for all languages (English, German, French...). That means if you propose an illustration and it wins the vote, it will be available in all languages.

How it works

The selection process takes place every month, and follows a specific procedure. This month:

• Proposing illustrations
  1st May 00:00 » 5th May 23:59
  Everyone can propose illustrations using the Black Pearl
  
  
• Validation
  Our team removes any illustrations that don't comply with the rules
  
  
• Voting
  10th May 00:00 » 16th May 23:59
  Players of all languages vote on the illustrations once they have been validated
  
  
• Selection
  The most popular illustrations are selected and sorted by category
  
  
• Publishing
  26th May 10:00
  The selected illustrations are published online in each of the site's languages

Rewards

Proposing illustrations can be quite lucrative! The day an illustration is published, each illustration earns its author:

• 10 000
• Different numbers of passes for different types of illustration:
  • 40 passes for a coat for the Golden Apple with no limitation on the number of uses 20 passes for a coat with a limited number of uses
  • 30 pass(es) for a Helios' Ray landscape

Before an illustration is published, it has to pass both steps of the selection process:

• Validation by our team to makes sure it follows the rules
• Player voting

Validation by our team

Before an illustration is submitted for player voting, our team first checks it to make sure it complies with the rules. The rejection criteria are explained on the Black Pearl page.

At this point, the team will not take any editorial stances and will just make sure the rules have been followed. If your illustration has been rejected because it does not conform to the rules, you may not be reimbursed the passes you spent with the Black Pearl.

Player voting

After preliminary validation by our team, all players get to vote on the illustration in the Creation Space. The vote is anonymous, which gives all creators equal chances.

After voting, if your illustration is not selected, you will be refunded the passes you spent proposing it.

Final selection

Once the voting has ended, the most popular illustrations will be selected, as well as a few of our team's personal favorites. That means that at the end of every month, there will be at least...

• 120 new coats for the Golden Apple
• 50 new landscapes for Helios's Ray

Winning illustrations will be published online at the Black Market every month at the same time (this month: 26th May 10:00). Also, every month, a few Golden Apple coats will be published online for a limited time only. Once they run out, they will be removed from sale.

Remember, the Creation Space is for all languages, so illustrations that win can be from any country!

The team reserves the right to delete a creation from the game, whether it has been deactivated or not. The players who have used this creation will be reimbursed with the initial value of the item.

All players are expected to:

• behave courteously and respectfully when dealing with all members of the Howrse community - this includes players, moderators (whose names are in green) and administrators (whose names are in blue bold)
• follow the rules of conduct everywhere on the site. You can find these rules on your My Karma page
• follow the specific rules for the various community areas (forum, private messaging, etc.)

Karma is what shows your reputation in the game. Upon registering, you receive 10 karma points. You lose karma points if you break the rules. Losing karma points can mean you lose access to certain game features, such as the forum or sales.

We invite you to read what actions can make you lose karma on your My Karma page

If you break a minor rule, you receive a warning. If the situation repeats itself, you lose karma.

Only administrators (whose names are in blue bold) and moderators (whose names are in green) can create rules and apply sanctions in the game. We request that you listen to their advice and follow their instructions.

Administrators are Owlient employees who take care of the overall running of the site. Moderators are chosen from among the players. They're here to help you when you need it and make sure the rules are being followed.