Breeding for Gene Improvement

[Royale Ranch]

I really dont know where to put this - so apologies if its in the wrong place!

Quick question:

Say you have a handful of first generation horses, and your sole goal is to improve their line.

so, i guess I had better get you some more information:
- The horses in question are Exmoors
- I want to breed them for a specific event.

now, before I go any further, it may be useful to note that a. I dont know anything about horses in real life, and b. my original plan was to create line for showjumping... but can Exmoor ponies do showjumping?

now, there are several ways to go about this.

do i use the horses that are strongest in the event (i.e) showjumping, and breed them together,
or
do i focus on one stat at a time, i.e: 1. improve strength, then improve balance, speed and agility.. or whatever, you get the picture.

what works the best?

[BlackOak2]

I really dont know where to put this - so apologies if its in the wrong place!

Quick question:

Say you have a handful of first generation horses, and your sole goal is to improve their line.

so, i guess I had better get you some more information:
- The horses in question are Exmoors
- I want to breed them for a specific event.

now, before I go any further, it may be useful to note that a. I dont know anything about horses in real life, and b. my original plan was to create line for showjumping... but can Exmoor ponies do showjumping?

now, there are several ways to go about this.

do i use the horses that are strongest in the event (i.e) showjumping, and breed them together,
or
do i focus on one stat at a time, i.e: 1. improve strength, then improve balance, speed and agility.. or whatever, you get the picture.

what works the best?

Either could work and there are arguments for both sides (to which one is best). What I could suggest, since you know that you're aiming for a very particular competition, that you breed the ones that show best in that competition. Regardless of whether the horse breed is good for doing it in real life or not, the great thing about this game, is it's relatively easy to make a breed into what you want it to be good at (for instance a belgain that excels in races).

Find the horses you have of the exmoor breed that do better in show jumping and as you breed the offspring that at least match or exceed their parents, the stats that work best for show jumping will also naturally climb (and you'll also consequentially target the genes you want to keep and breed into as well). This is likely the most direct route.

Also, keep an eye out for those that look weaker on paper for show jumping but seem to excel better at it regardless. Keep in mind, this is where the conformation scores can really help.

[Uralym]

I really dont know where to put this - so apologies if its in the wrong place!

Quick question:

Say you have a handful of first generation horses, and your sole goal is to improve their line.

so, i guess I had better get you some more information:
- The horses in question are Exmoors
- I want to breed them for a specific event.

now, before I go any further, it may be useful to note that a. I dont know anything about horses in real life, and b. my original plan was to create line for showjumping... but can Exmoor ponies do showjumping?

now, there are several ways to go about this.

do i use the horses that are strongest in the event (i.e) showjumping, and breed them together,
or
do i focus on one stat at a time, i.e: 1. improve strength, then improve balance, speed and agility.. or whatever, you get the picture.

what works the best?

Firstly, a word about Exmoors in showjumping. On HWO, any breed can be bred to excel in any discipline, but the amount of time and effort one has to put into breeding a good competitor differs drastically comparing breeds that are naturally suited for the discipline and those that are not. You can check what stats the breed is naturally strong in by looking on the stats charts of recipe breeds in the AC. Since Exmoors are bred from a Tarpan and a Przewalski, it's best natural stats are going to be Tempo and Balance, while Speed, Agility and Movement are going to be rather low. Comparing these to the discipline stats chart from the "Guides" section we may see that naturally Exmoors are not well suited for showjumping. However, as I already said, with some time and effort
put into breeding (probably partial crossbreeding) you will get horses that will be good at it.

And secondly, some conclusions that I made, while breeding my own lines. HGP is the most important thing. While conformation is also important if you are breeding for a certain discipline, it only acts as a catalyst for the base genes (though I do not know what the formula for the breeder's report is). Then breeding is a game of chance: you may breed together horses with totally different reports for the slight chance of getting a foal with its both parents' best qualities or you may breed similar horses and slowly but surely improve the genes. One more thing to keep in mind is that body type has a huge influence on how the horse will score in a competition. And different disciplines require different body types. Medium-light or medium horse-type body seems to fit showjumping the best.