Breeding Goals

[reyn2]

Our of interest do people find it more important to breed horses that are true to type - ie correct conformation- or breed horses for showing - ie, with a large number of green/gold stats? I see a large number of horses with many green and gold stats that are no longer even close to the correct type for their breed which seems to defeat the point a little for me.

I am aiming for both so have perhaps been a little slower getting there with green and gold stats than others, but most of my line are of correct or close to correct type. Just purely curiosity on what other players are aiming for .

[WinterSage]

Our of interest do people find it more important to breed horses that are true to type - ie correct conformation- or breed horses for showing - ie, with a large number of green/gold stats? I see a large number of horses with many green and gold stats that are no longer even close to the correct type for their breed which seems to defeat the point a little for me.

I am aiming for both so have perhaps been a little slower getting there with green and gold stats than others, but most of my line are of correct or close to correct type. Just purely curiosity on what other players are aiming for .

I honestly don’t think about the conformations to the breeds very much since many of my horses are mixes or grade horses.

[reyn]

Fair enough, I'm really meaning horses that are 100% breed. For instance I'm currently putting some mixed blood in to my knabstruppers for stats and colour, but those that have been bred back to 100% are mainly 5 star or close but with green and gold stats which is really my end goal. My grade horses and mixes also aren't generally 5 star of any breed I'm focusing on, that's just the aim when I have them back at 100% .

[WinterSage]

Fair enough, I'm really meaning horses that are 100% breed. For instance I'm currently putting some mixed blood in to my knabstruppers for stats and colour, but those that have been bred back to 100% are mainly 5 star or close but with green and gold stats which is really my end goal. My grade horses and mixes also aren't generally 5 star of any breed I'm focusing on, that's just the aim when I have them back at 100% .

I mean like most people’s horses don’t stay with perfect conformation for a breed unless each of their breeders is 5*. I’ve talked to lots of people about it, but it seems like after a while they just stop caring about that aspect as much.

[reyn]

Yeah, I guess the way the game plays at the moment it doesn't really matter if breed standards are maintained or not. I guess I'm just waiting for the day when clubs/societies exist and conformation might play a part . I also just like the way knabstruppers look so I want to stay true to it. Was just curious about what the general consensus about it all was .

[Hilayla]

I kind of like the idea of player ran breeding clubs with their own standards. It would add a touch of realism. That being said, I could also foresee popular breeds having more than one club with different standards. Stock quarter horses are different than racing ones, for instance so people could totally make clubs for their favorite breeds. It's how the real life ones started in the first place. Makes me wish I had more time to devote to something like this.

[flrancho]

I focus on breeding horses true to standard even though it doesn't seem to be widely focused on by anyone else. It drives me crazy when I see 20hh blue roan blanket spotted Thoroughbreds (a size and color that a real Thoroughbred would never be seen in), but they're full of green and gold stats and that seems to be all anyone cares about. I've literally come to the realization that I'll pretty much have to breed all my breeds from scratch to attain what I want in achieving a horse true to standard because no one else seems to breed for that and I don't want to incorporate unwanted colors, sizes, or other traits into my lines.

This means its taking me a lot more time to get where I want to get breed-wise, and I generally end up using my own studs almost exclusively because no one else breeds what I'm looking for (which I'm sure will lead to inbreeding issues later on). TBH, I've thought about leaving a few times because of it..... sometimes I get overwhelmed trying to put all the breeds together by myself and being so disgusted at the specimens standing for stud at other stables, I wonder if its really worth trying. I'm aiming for Welsh Cobs, which aren't a really easy breed to get to if you're having to breed all of them yourself. I've even thought of switching to something easier, but I love my Welshies. I've also thought of either switching to or incorporating TB. Horse racing is my passion, and it drives me nuts seeing those afore mentioned champion TB's that look nothing like real TB's. I've even been toying with the idea of Hucul and/or Bosnian Pony. I like the look of them, and they're easy to breed, just very limited in rl colors.