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That's a good question. For many players, the goal they have set for themselves is that every generation will produce foals, whether neutered or intact, with higher PT scores (showing indicator) and intact foals that paper better than their parents of the same gender, or at least, for stallions, comparison test better than their sires (breeding indicator). So the answer is that a good or great producer will produce foals that fall in both categories.

However, as in real life, there are no guarantees in this game. Ammit very cleverly builds a wide range of uncertainty into every aspect. In the case of breeding ability, each horse's hidden breeding ability "number" covers a range of possible contributions to the foal's hidden numbers for breeding and showing. Since PT scores are more precise than the papering grades, demonstrating how this works is easier to explain than doing the same thing for breeding ability, so that's what I'll concentrate on. Just remember--breeding ability and showing ability are two completely separate numbers, so a high PT is NOT the sign of high breeding ability. I had a foundation mare in HAJ1 once with a PT of 2.3 or something like that. She papered Red, and in fact, before Ammit reworked the papering system, she was briefly Blue.

So, taking the easiest example as the demonstration, I will do my best to recall a great post from our old forum on this subject.

Take two Perfect Foundations. They both will have a PT score of 9.9 (although this has nothing to do with their breeding ability) and a breeding ability of 100%, which means that they are the best that any foundation can be (especially in this game which, with only one exception from early in its existence, does not have exceptional quality foundations). The range of each one's contribution to a foal's PT stretches from 8.9 to 10.4. The actual PT of the foal will be the result of the combination of those two factors.

When you click the "breed these two horses button," the program rolls the die (generates a random number) from the stallion's range of possibilities and again from the mare's. Those two numbers are, I would guess, averaged to come up with the PT of that foal. Both of those numbers might come from the lower end of the range of possible results, both might come from the higher end, both might come from the middle, or one from the higher end and one from the lower end, or one from either end and one from the middle. As you can see, even two Perfect Foundations might produce a fairly low PT foal. Occasionally, they will produce a high PT foal.

Both breeding and showing ability are equally valuable in this game. Breeding is fun and useful for building up your herd, but showing is where your stable makes the majority of its income. Neutered horses have a slight advantage in training, though there is no reason not to show intact mares and stallions (they don't get distracted by showing with horses of the opposite gender, for instance). Many players like to have a ratio of 3 neutered horses to 1 intact. Ammit's recommendation is to have up to a 10/1 ratio.

This is what she had to say about the ratio of neuters to intacts and the possible results of breeding:

You should have approximately ten times the number of showing horses as breeding horses, and breeding horses will result in approximately 90% of foals which are no better then their parents.

Always remember: breeding ability and showing ability are entirely separate and ability in one area is NOT a predictor of ability in the other.