The next phase

To be released mid October

Equestrian center prestige changes
A comfort rating indicates box size, type of bedding, fodder, treats, and available equipment. This rating impacts center prestige.
The occupancy rate is taken into account in prestige calculation.
Boarders' prestige is revised in order to take the best skill of each boarder into account.
Lessons are no longer taken into account in general prestige. Lesson pricing directly depends on boarders' prestige.

Box changes
Ownership is removed.
Bedding quantity impacts morale loss and energy recovery when sending a horse to his box.
Box quality impacts morale and energy recovery when a horse wakes up.
The boxes and boarders pages are merged.
Boarding fees changes
Boarding fees range from 20 to 200 Equus.
Centers can offer equipment and food to boarders.
Center managers can pick a minimum boarding duration, from 3 to 30 days.

Meadow page changes
Meadow-related information are displayed in a clearer fashion.
You can now filter your meadows according to land surface, fertility, and use (fallow, pasture, or crops)
You can now purchase meadows from the meadows page.
Equestrian center office changes
It is back and now integrates the changes made to center management
Some elements (forum configuration, admin tab) have been moved.
The center registry is added to this page.

Removal of jobs
Bedding will be changed automatically so, grooms are no longer needed.
Instead of saddlers, equestrian centers can provide equipment to boarders, if they have some available.
The riding instructor no longer impacts the lesson fee, which now only depends from boarders' prestige.
A privilege that gives Equus is provided during the tutorial in order to help new players.
What's next...
Here is an overview of what we are planning next.
We will provide further details on each feature as the release date approaches.
The competition management page is updated: competition related info is easier to find and edit.
Inventories, breeder storage, and equestrian center storage are merged.
You pick a location for your equestrian center: the beach, the mountain, or the forest. This location defines the main resource you can obtain (sand, iron or wood).
Production cycles are added to allow harvests, crafting, and product selling.
Rides are easier to manage.
You can now add improvements to your structures in order to improve their quality or output.
Lessons are now missions. Missions allow the horse to receive experience. Howrse owners receive Equus from them, and equestrian centers receive resources.
A tutorial is available when setting up equestrian centers.
Workhorses are added to the game.
And maybe other features to be added in the meantime.

"A tutorial is available when setting up equestrian centers."

I thought missions were replacing lessons, right? Yet in FantaPaddyxx's post, it said:

"Lessons are no longer taken into account in general prestige. Lesson pricing directly depends on boarders' prestige"
and
"The riding instructor no longer impacts the lesson fee, which now only depends from boarders' prestige."

How can lesson prices be affected if lessons are being replaced? Also, does anyone know how skill gain/energy used is being affected? (Sorry if that's been asked/answered already, I didn't see it.)

Now, for things that I'm interested in, but not really confused about.

Is the "privilege that gives Equus is provided during the tutorial in order to help new players" only for people who haven't started an EC when the change occurs, regardless of seniority, or is it for players under a certain seniority, regardless of whether or not they've already started their EC, or has that not been tested yet? I'm just curious, as I can't really be classified as 'new' in any way, so I'm assuming the equus wouldn't be for me anyway.

And as mlp44 asked, does "removal of box ownership" mean that we will no longer be able to reserve boxes? I've *always* reserved boxes to myself, so that I don't have to worry about horses with insufficient dressage skills boarding. (Even if I were to set a minimum skill, not all horses that meet the min. skill would meet my preferred dressage requirement, which is why I leave my min. skills at 0 and reserve boxes to myself.)

For the workhorses, where will we buy them from, and does anyone know prices? Will they be required to maintain EC quality? If they are available in the sales or from a pass buying promo (which would be terrible, although I'm sure since it's a change not an addition they won't do that), or from the store, and prices aren't fixed, then they would likely be astronomical at first, when everybody rushes to buy them.