Breeding True To Type

[reyn]

Out of curiosity, how many people are trying to breed their horses to have the correct look? Dished faces in arabs, feathering in Gypsy Vanners etc?

I know a lot of people are striving towards creating a favourite breed and producing greens for chosen disciplines, but as what's being bred doesn't always turn out true to type I was just wondering how many folk are trying to incorporate this in too?

I have tried to with the 3 breeds I'm focusing on, Knabstruppers, Connemara and Welsh Cob, to have them looking like they should in real life.

Maybe at some point in the game the correct look will be important (for registering in breed associations or such), but for now I find it quite fun to breed horses that are looking as they should .

[Midnight Rose]

I am with my Dartmoors. I'm actually prioritising that (and lowering COI) over the breeders report. I keep the breed standard linked on my farm log topic, although I'm focusing on the more obvious physical traits like colour currently. I'm enjoying that aspect of it too, and the show-able foals I get are just nice bonuses .

[Nate]

I haven't reached my breed yet, but I am focusing on improving conformation for strength, tempo, agility, and balance. When I get to said final breed I will focus on it in more detail.

[Syn]

I've been taking a short break currently but I went from trying to breed true to type to breeding for greens to deciding to pausing altogether.

Dutch Harness Horses kind of have unique conformation with a very high, upright neck, a flat hip and croup, and natural high tail carriage. They are very high on leg and though they have a very lean and refined appearance, they do not lack for bone. Here's an album that shows the kind of conformation they are bred for - these are all KWPN approved DHH stallions. Now compare that to a KWPN stallion of riding horse type and you can see the difference.

I want to get my DHHs to look like DHHs, but at this point I've decided to wait until we have white markings and the neck set and such are able to be changed through breeding. I know I will have to outcross in order to get those qualities in the breed, so I don't see much point to getting them to look like true DHHs when it won't last anyway. I'd really like to get them to look like proper DHHs with good stats though.. that would be nice.

[Alaina]

I had been thinking quite a bit about this the last couple weeks actually. I breed my herd right now strictly for greens and performance within a certain height parameter but I would like to really incorporate a second herd of the same breed that is bred purely with the conformation that would line up with the breed in real life. I feel like registries should be able to host conformation correct shows as well that way people who want to breed purely for horses that match the IRL ideal would be able to have an opportunity to make a name for themselves.

[Aela]

I'm primarily breeding for looks and not skills

Or rather - I was... Right now it's all about reducing their somewhat crazy COI. My horses look good (in my eyes) and do quite well in competitions, so I'm sort of going with increasing appearance, conformation and the breeding report at the same time. It's a very slow process, but I'm not that busy ;)

[Diskid]

I'm trying to get my horses to look like the real life variant.

I'm taking more time building solid foundation though, instead of rushing to get straight to my breed. I think it will be worth it in the long run. Right now I'm working on breeding some nice Tarpans and Przewalski that look like they should do well for me to create Exmoors.

[Kintara]

My Gypsies and Comtois I'm certainly breeding for them trying to be true to type, most of my horses ages too quickly for me to have a real crack and showing although I'll keep a similar foal with good or green comments over ones with reds. I don't discard the ones with reds though if they have traits I want. Most of my other breeds I use them to make other breeds, they aren't aren't usually true to type at all, more like whatever I'm trying to produce! I tried with Welshies for a while but the game stats are different from real life stats for the B's and C's so I gave up on them

[Argent II]

When I was planning on breeding Lipis, I was adamant about them being true to type.. Now, I intend to create my own breed once that feature is added, so I have the freedom to make my horses look however I want. I've been running several separate programs simultaneously: my conformation/type program, which focuses on breeding horses with ideal dressage conformation; my green project, which focuses on breeding horses with greens in dressage attributes, plus intelligence; and my all-green project, which is just for fun. Eventually, I'll intermix the first two projects and get my perfect ponies.

[Eska]

My final breed will be the Bashkir Curly. Apparently in RL there isn't one correct look for them, which suits me fine. I enjoy some variation in my herd, though I have preferences, of course. But at the moment appearance is really last on my list of things to breed for. Once I have run out of other things (breed, greens, conformation) I might try for a certain look.