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.

When your horse's day is over, you need to put it to sleep. You have 2 choices: put it in the meadow or leave it in its box. You'll have to decide depending on what the weather's like on Howrse (for example, don't leave it in the meadow if it's less than 10°C (50°F) out.)

You do not need to put foals that are with their Dam to bed. They go to sleep when you put their Dam to bed. Make sure to take good care of both of them.

Ageing

After your horse has bedded down, you can age it. If you want it to age without having to wait for the next day, you need aging points. Sometimes you'll find some when your horse wakes up (in which case it'll say so in your History). Otherwise, you can buy 10 aging points with one pass.

When the horse wakes up, a new day starts. On Howrse, horses age two months at a time.

There are two items available on the black market that allow you to override these 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.

If you have no more aging points, your horse will age automatically every day. You must remember to put it to bed before leaving the game.

If you have not had your horse carry out actions, it will not age automatically during the night. This means that your horse does not age when you do not play with it.

After its 25^th birthday, your horse gets old: its health and skills decline. If you take good care of it, it can live up to a maximum of 35 years. If you get the Philosopher's Stone, your horse 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 also 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 day of the month Winter begins, on the 15th day 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.

In these pages, under the icon representing a trophy, you will find various rankings in which you and your equestrian center (if you have one) as well as your horses and ponies will appear.

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:

• general ranking of players. Be aware that only your 10000 most skilled horses count towards the ranking.
• ranking by seniority
• popularity ranking is based on the number of visits from other players on the previous day. There's no point trying to make a player rise in the rankings by visiting his or her profile several times. Only one visit counts.

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 the horses are not necessarily lucky in competitions, they may also be ranked according to their skills, overall or by a specific skill. You will therefore 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

The horses are ranked according to their results in competitions. There is a general ranking and a ranking for each type of competition (trot, gallop, cross-country, show jumping...). The horses with the most impressive amount of victories are obviously great champions with outstanding abilities but also horses whose trainers have managed their careers wisely.

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 lost Golden Apple
• Ranking of players proposing 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:

• You must have positive or zero karma
• 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
• Only 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 per friend and per week.

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

For the safest game experience, there are a few basic rules to always remember:

• never give anyone your password,
• do not sign up on sites that say they will give you free passes; these are fraudulent sites that will steal your account,
• choose a password that's 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.

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

Passes

With passes, you can:

• buy bonus items for your horse on the Black Market, or for your equestrian center in the Secret Market
• buy aging points
• subscribe to the Pegasus Account for special advantages
• credit your breeder reserve or your equestrian center with extra equus
• participate in horse trading

There are several different payment methods for passes. To find out more, see the passes page.

Diamonds

Diamonds are worth one-tenth of a pass. They are not for sale, but you can win them in lots of 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 and companion purchases in the shop)
• to enhance the skills of Precious Stone horses

You can also trade your diamonds with other players for items or Equus.

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:

• The cleanliness and size of the boxes. Your horse's morale will increase more when your horse is put in a box if the box is large and clean.
• The money you earn for lessons given with your horse. The price of the lesson being automatically calculated according to the ratio between the number of instructors working at the center and the number of horses boarded, the salary of the instructors and, of course, the health and level of dressage of the horses boarded. (The price indicated in the center's details is the amount paid to the owner of the horse that carries out the lesson.)
• The carrots that you can give to your horse are grown by the equestrian center. The better the crops, the more carrots you can give to your horse. Carrots are important treats because they give your horse energy.
• The presence of a farrier allows boarders to benefit from MF horseshoes.
• The presence of a saddler allows boarders to benefit from a SB bridle and saddle.

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 a 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

Various messages alert you when your horse is too fat or too thin. In such cases, you may take the necessary steps. If your horse is too thin, double the amount of fodder it has to eat. If it is too fat, cut the regular ration of fodder given to the horse by half. For example, if your horse is too thin and the daily ration is usually 4 pounds, give the horse 8 pounds and it will gain weight.

Treats

To please your horse, you can give it treats. There are three types of treats: apples, turnips and carrots.

• Apples and turnips increase your horse's morale and energy. You will find some at the breeder's store.
• Carrots increase your horse's morale and energy. They are only available in the equestrian centers that grow them and that offer them to their boarders free of charge. Just choose the right center!

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. (time displayed above the horse's history bottom left side of it's page) 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 to restore your horse's energy?

• By feeding it
• By stroking it
• By giving it a turnip
• By letting it rest in the box or meadow
• By putting it to bed. Horses recuperate about five times the energy they had when they were put to bed. If the temperature in the meadow is satisfactory, they will recuperate more energy than in the box. If you put your horse to bec in the box, morale goes down.
• By giving it to drink
• By giving it the sugar cubes that you will find as you carry out actions

How to restore your horse's morale?

• By grooming it
• By putting it in the meadow
• By stroking it
• By giving it treats (apples, turnips or carrots)

Finally, health increases naturally as time goes by.

Morale problems

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

Health problems

The health of a horse under 25 declines when:

• The horse its too fat or too thin
• You do not take good enough care of the horse
• The horse's energy drops below 20%
• You have not groomed the 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.

Starting at 8 months old, you can give your horse a companion. A companion is a small animal you can buy at the shop. Horses keep their companions for the rest of their lives and can't change them once bought, so choose well!

When a horse plays with its companion, it gets extra advantages.

From 8 to 18 months

Every hour of play between the horse and its companion improves the horse's genetic potential.

From 20 months to 25 years

Every hour of play gives an advantage of varying size, depending on the type of companion. This can mean:

• A skills bonus (up to 60 points per horse)
• Equus bonus

For example, cats give a skill bonus of +0.06 per hour of play. With the goat, every hour of play brings you 4 Equus.

Divine and special horses can't earn in skills or in equus with the Companions.

When you have your horse play for at least one hour, its companion wakes up and gives it a dressage bonus. Some companions give bigger bonuses than others.

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 unique place. It is run by Mr. Hubert, and you should always exercise caution when you venture there. The properties associated with the items that are found there are awesome, some are very powerful.

It is represented by the icon of a black canvas tent. 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.

For your horse to be able to compete as from the age of 3, you must purchase a saddle, bridle and horseshoes at the breeders' store. These are available in various models and qualities.

If your horse is boarded at an equestrian center that has a saddler, you can also offer it the benefit of a saddle SB and bridle SB, which comes with a bonus that varies according to the prestige of the center. If your horse is boarded at an equestrian center that has a farrier, you can also offer it the benefit of horseshoes MF, which come with a bonus that varies according to the prestige of the center.

You can assign a saddle, bridle and horseshoes directly from your horse's details.

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

Before your future champion starts training outright, you can play with him. Playing is important for your horse's wellness; this time devoted to the filly or colt will be beneficial to the horse's future career. In fact, the more your colt or filly is accustomed to people, the more it will be able to reach beyond the limits of its genetics once it becomes an adult.

Every time you play with your horse between 8 and 18 months, you slightly increase its genetic potential.. By playing with your filly or colt, you contribute to its stability and morale.

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!

The three primary ways to develop your horse's skills are: rides, training and competitions. Lessons can slightly improve your horse's skills, but they also eat up about 30% of its energy. By how much skills will improve depends on the quality of the lessons at the center where your horse is boarded. Lessons improve skills in the two top skills of your horse or pony. Note that lessons no longer improve skills after the horse turns 25!

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

Training

Training starts at 20 months with rides. There are three types of rides: trot, gallop and steep slopes. Each develops specific skills (trot, gallop and jumping). You can choose to take a short ride that will develop speed, or a long one that will develop your horse's stamina. You will see the stars in the "Skills" frame (on the right in your horse's page) appear gradually. Note that there is a limit to how much a horse can improve, , and there will come a time when your horse will no longer benefit from rides.

At 2, your horse can start actual training. Each skill has an associated training activity; you choose the duration of the training session using the drop-down menu that appears when you click the discipline. You can combine several types of training in your horse's day, but keep a eye on your horse's energy level and on the time in the history, to ensure that your horse gets enough rest. Remember that you should put your horse to bed at 10 p.m. 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.

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 green star for excellence, the horse must have reached 100% of the genetic potential in the skill in question. It is possible to obtain a second star in a skill if the horse reaches 110% of the genetic potential in this skill.

Stars of excellence are obtained at the birth of the foal or during play with the filly or colt. Play is the only way to modify the genetic potential after a horse is born.

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 in blue, with a plus sign (+) in front of them, in the "Skills" frame.

Your horse or pony is now 3 years old, and can start a sports career! To have your horse or pony compete, regardless of the discipline that you choose, you are required to have the horse fitted with horseshoes and to provide a saddle and bridle.

You must buy all these items at the breeders' store. You can even take advantage of the horseshoes, bridles and saddles designed respectively by the farrier and saddler of the equestrian center where your horse is boarded.

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 each type of competition, you will be able to use filters, such as the nature of the race for speed races and show jumping events, and distance for cross-country. You may only register two horses or ponies from your stable in a same competition.

In the details for each horse, you will find, amongnst other things, a frame with a summary of the horse's victories, its results in competitions.

Gallop and trot speed races

For gallop races, an excellent gallop and a regular stride are indispensable qualities for your horse to become a champion gallop racer.

Trot races are the favored discipline for trotters, but said trotters must nevertheless acquire the trotting technique by developing their skills in order to shine on the track.

Qualification for registration is determined by the trot rating for trot races and the gallop rating gallop races.

Cross-country

Cross-country is a very physical discipline. It requires extensive staminae, but also good jumping ability and a lot of docility which must be developed through flat work.

Qualification for registration is determined by the stamina rating.

Show jumping

The essential quality that a show jumping horse or pony must have is, of course, an exceptional jumping ability, but also extensive suppleness acquired through flat work. As these competitions are also against the clock, show jumping horses or ponies also need to be able to transition quickly between the obstacles despite their technical difficulty and height.

Qualification for registration is determined by the jumping rating.

Barrel racing

Barrel racing is a race against the clock that requires speed, dressage and gallop. The objective is to slalom around three barrels as fast as possible without knocking them down.

Qualification for registration is determined by the speed rating.

Morale

NOTE: After 30 days of seniority on the game, if your horse has not finished first in a competition, he will lose some morale points. Don't worry though, as this drop in morale can easily be remedied with a bit of rest and a few treats!

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 200. 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.

The Grand Prix is a championship that lasts a week. It is composed of 5 different event, each event laid out on one specific day.

• Monday: Cross Country
• Tuesday: Trot Race
• Wednesday: Show Jumping
• Thursday: Dressage
• Friday: Gallop Race

One competition lasts 10 hours in your horse's day and consumes 99% of his energy. Each participant may enter 2 horses in each event.

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

• For the winner: 3 passes + 0.5 point of GP on the the horse
• From 2nd to 5th runner up: 0.4 to 0.1 point of GP
• For the 100 first: 2000 Equus
• For all the participants: 1000 equus

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

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

Following the weekly Grand Prix ranking:

• The 10 best get an award on their profile page
• The 100 best win access to the Fountain, who replaces the drinking trough and triples the gains in energy and morale!

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 200 and 7500 Equus). The owners of mares can look for the best stallions by browsing through offers or replying to specific offers.

It is possible to cross-breed. Each foal is thus unique: it will inherit characteristics from its parents and their ascendants. It is up to you to make the right crosses to produce champions or to create a breeding farm that is focused on this or that 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. After the 8^th month and for 50 equus, you can ask for an ultrasound to find out the gender, breed and coat of the foal. At this stage of the gestation, the mare can only do lessons. At month 12 of the gestation, you must send for the vet (the link is in the Reproduction box, bottom-right) and make sure, if possible, that your mare is boarded at an equestrian center that provides quality care.

Such a venture is nothing trivial, and you must make sure that you carefully assess the financial investment involved in the production of a foal. The vet costs 200 . Once you have sent for the vet, you can choose the name of your foal and start to take care of it. When it is weaned from its dam at 6 months, you must 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 tyring 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 win 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 there 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 Game Time. 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' reproduction time once every 30 days. To change a unicorn's reproduction time, go to its page and click on 'Information' in its reproduction 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.

There is only one way to improve the genetic potential after a foal is born: have it play between the ages of 8 and 18 months.

Inborn skills and skill improvement are not part of the genetic potential. Thus the skills of a horse may exceed the values indicated in its genetic potential.

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% endurance, 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 reproduction because the BLUP of the parents has an impact on the potential of the foal at birth.

It is calculated according to:

• The level of training achieved by the horse in its three best skills
• The number of competitions that the horse has won; the ideal is 20 wins.
• Age, as the BLUP can only reach 100 after the horse has turned 10.

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?

• The Lessons: Your horse earns a certain amount of equus that depends on your equestrian center
• Having a Job: You earn your salary each day as long as you have connected to the game and have taken care of at least one horse the previous day

• The competitions in which your horses run
• The covering offers of the stallions you own
• Selling one of your horses
• Selling the manure made by your horses
• Selling unused items from your inventory to the store.
• The Black Market Item Exchange
• The use of a pass to credit your equus reserve

Your reserve is full when you reach one billion Equus. However, you win a Diamond on days when you reached a billion Equus at least once the previous day.

On Howrse, each player may have a paid job. You can hold this employment with that of equestrian center director. The equestrian centers hire employees.

Access to jobs is now unlocked by seniority.

To change 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

Players need 60 days of seniority to register a breeding farm. Each can player can have up to 5 breeding farms.

A breeding farm that is officially registered in the directory groups individuals of a same breed 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 attribute them according to the breeds he or she raises, for example, or to distinguish various lineages within a breeding farm of a given breed.

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 breeds among both horses and ponies. You may differentiate pure bred horses or ponies from individuals produced by cross-breeding thanks to the blue origin stars, which indicate the proportion of each breed present in the ascendants of the horse or pony. Pure bred horses are assigned 1 star on the details of their owner.

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 the auctions if you have at least 10 days of seniority and if your karma is positive or null. If you karma is negative you loose access to the auction sales.

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 best 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 of seniority, 2 living horses, and a positive or neutral karma can access 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

This is a refuge for horses. Here, horses and ponies can relax and take a breather, far from the hustle and bustle of the competition world.
Here you can sell:

• your horses for 400 Equus
• your non-unicorn horses born to two unicorn parents for 1 000 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.

Your illustrations can be horse coats for the Golden Apple, landscapes for Helios' Ray, or companions for the Horn of Gold.

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 February 00:00 » 5th February 23:59
  Everyone can propose illustrations using the Black Pearl
  
  
• Validation
  Our team removes any illustrations that don't comply with the rules
  
  
• Voting
  11th February 00:00 » 18th February 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 February 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
  • 20 pass(es) for a Horn of Gold companion

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 step, the Staff makes no editorial choices. It only verifies that no rules have been broken. If your illustration is rejected for failure to comply with the rules, you will be refunded your passes already 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...

• 80 new coats for the Golden Apple
• 50 new landscapes for Helios's Ray
• 80 new companions for the Horn of Gold

Winning illustrations will be published online at the Black Market every month at the same time (this month: 26th February 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!