HGG Community Forums

Hi HUSG!

I’m not great at telling stories, but the story I do have for you is about my breeding program:

I joined HaJ about four months ago, with absolutely no experience in the horse world (I’m just a genetics freak...I love them!). Since then, I’ve been working really hard to learn all I can about how the current top players/longtime lovers of HaJ have established their stables to become quality breeders and community members. I did get swept away by shiny pony syndrome for the first couple of months...and then finally solidified a breeding plan that would help me build a herd I can be proud of, and which will help me contribute more to the game!

Thus far, I’ve been working hard to save up for a 60 stall barn, in order to increase my show herd. I was excitedly throwing in tons of shiny ponies from all sorts of genetics for the first few months, and then actually stopped to talk to some of the higher-earning players...and asked them questions about what they wish they’d known sooner. The resounding answer was: “build up your show herd before you start increasing your breeding herd, since the show herd will be your bread and butter for the length of your time playing the game.” I have really been trying to take that to heart, because I see so many people doing such amazing things in the game, and am very much looking forward to becoming a pillar of the community in a similar way. So, my show herd has become a big focus for me, even and above my color/performance/size breeding goals. These past two game years have been my first doing hard culls in my herd (some of them hurt so badly, I won’t lie, and there have been 2 I couldn’t bring myself to snip…); the experience has been difficult, to say the least. I’ve been seeing the beauty in every horse, and then reminding myself so carefully that show horses are still part of my herd, and still just as beloved as my breeding stock. Different, but no less wonderful, no less cherished.

Alongside my show herd realization, I had many points along the way in my first few months of playing where I was absolutely shocked at the genuine care and altruism of more experienced players...their offers of show ponies, quality breeding stock, gifting me with hbs, and advice were absolutely imperative to helping me understand the game. I had never met a kinder community, and the genuine magnanimity of it really warmed me. It helped me form more goals than just monetary checkpoints, for my time playing HaJ.

Once I can build up a good herd of show horses (I have a 1:4 breeding:show goal...but we will see how that goes hahaha) I plan to use my 15-stall barn to set aside horses that I’ll use for giveaways (eg new players, etc) to help boost their herds and/or get them started. My goal is to be able to give the entire barn away every game year, eventually, and hopefully more as time goes on.

Ultimately, my goal (along with every other player) is a self-sustaining breeding herd where I can aim my sights towards a color/size/height goal; however, alongside that, my parallel aspiration is to make sure I can build up a small altruism herd to help others the way I’ve been helped. The amount of really spectacular community I’ve experienced in my short time of being part of HaJ has truly moved me. It makes me, more than anything else, want to give others the support and surprise which I have experienced: being able to build up a herd that not only benefits myself, but benefits the rest of the community as well, and to help inspire those new to the game, the same way I have been.

I hope you enjoy the read, and hope your contest goes well! I’ll be excited to be able to celebrate the winners alongside the rest of the wonderful stable owners in HaJLand!

Hunter, thank you very much for hosting this giveaway and I look forward to seeing other people's entries. I have also enjoyed reading the prior entries!

This is a scene snippet of a significantly larger fan-story/saga that revolves around a shifter and a bunch of eclectic characters from various movies/fandoms that have all united to fight the Organization which is a huge company with monopolies all across the galaxy and conduct illegal research, experiments, yadda yadda, what you would expect of a corrupt multi trillionaire corporation sooo.... not quite horse related LOL but I do have some characters with equine traits (Sai, for one) that might make an appearance at some point.

Basically each story revolves around a character, introduces their story into the plot line and ultimately culminates into a gigantic mish mash of characters in another story related to the Organization. Quite a mess but a fun project! Anyway, as stated, this is a very small snippet of that- more specificially: Cougar, as the unofficial doctor/med is examining the newest arrival at Galliacun, Kal, to get baselines for her notes.

This will be broken into 2 parts as I ran over the limit LOL. It is uncompleted as of yet so that's why it cuts abruptly. Constructive criticism is always appreciated as well as any comments or questions! I also have sketches of Kal so if you are ever curious, holla and I'll pop them up!

____

The more Cougar studied the newcomer, the more fascinated her scientific mind became. He was such a unique melding of both species and yet all the features he had inherited seemed so natural when one stood back and really looked at him. From heavyset brows that protectively overshadowed dark solemn eyes, a pair of horns gracefully spiraled and swept back over his large crest, providing another bulky layer of protection on top of the nearly indestructible skull. Cougar was willing to bet serious money that he’d be a regular winner in the head butting contests the other males seemed so fond of having. She also made a mental note to stock up on remedies, painkillers, and ice for the increased rate of concussions the others were sure to have after a round or 2 with these heavyset horns.

His features were distinctively predatory with two pairs of mandibles- a smaller set situated on top of the pink maw which in turn housed a set of chompers that seemed to bear a closer resemblance to his gargoyle sire’s dental set. For a second, Cougar pondered whether his diet was more inclined toward a carnivore's diet like most of the alien inhabitants of Galliacun or more that of an omnivore. Prior experience and the memory of painfully throbbing fingers wisely preempted Cougar from excitedly sticking a finger into his mouth to check for the presence of molars. Damn her impulsive nature.

His lower mandibles were much larger with nasty looking tusks tipping the ends of the flexible joints and hemmed the bottom of his face, enclosing protectively over his gaping mouth. After years of living with the fierce species, Cougar was well acquainted with the crushing power of their jaws- she had watched both young and old easily crunch their way through bones thick as the circumference of her forearm… even had an ear bitten nearly all the way off the first time she met Bti Jfl. The albino had to finish the job with the blades on his gauntlet and Cougar had held a very healthy respect for their inherent strength ever since. As if in agreement, her finger throbbed once in remembrance and again Cougar cursed her jump before thinking nature. How she hadn't lost a finger yet, she'd never know.

Quickly yanking her ADD brain back onto track, Cougar tilted her head thoughtfully- the hybrid, if not for his preference to pad around on all fours, probably would have stood 8 and a half feet tall- extremely tall for a male of his dam’s race but perfectly average when compared to the rest of the chest thumpers that populated (and destroyed on a regular basis) the house. Leaning forward, the blonde woman eyed the male’s feet whom he had very clearly inherited from his sire as well. Easily balanced on the balls of his feet and further stabilized by three toes, each tipped with a wickedly curving talon, Kal’s heels ended in well-developed dew claws that looked like it’d do some serious damage. Cougar made a mental note to never creep up behind him- she didn’t need to add being eviscerated to her list of prior aliments thankyouverymuch.

As expected for someone who borne his weight in such a modified way, the strong columns of his thighs and calves met at such an angle that whilst he was capable of walking upright whenever he pleased, Kal was clearly far more comfortable ambling around on all fours. Reflecting that mode of movement, the pads and palms of his hands were heavily callused and darkened; the muscles in his forearms well developed and toned from years of constantly supporting his weight on his forequarters.

His upper torso was a different story however- whereas the rest of him had been sleek and leanly built, his shoulders and chest were massive, bulging with thick cables of organic steel overlain by velvety soft skin dyed a warm caramel color. One glance at the wings that folded along his back in neat parcels, and it was immediately obvious why he had such a developed physique- these wings, massive and sturdy looking as they were and combined with his weight, clearly needed an incredible amount of support to both anchor the struts of the specialized appendages during flight and to even get into the air at all. Cougar was almost willing to bet that if she took radio graphs of his back, it would show how his scapula had fused with the extended humerus and was further locked into place by layers upon layers of muscles wrapped around the skeletal frame. Despite the somewhat wary look on Kal’s face- he had heard of the were’s infamous mood swings after all- Cougar beamed, a quick flash of teeth carefully modulated not to trigger his instinctual reaction to what normally would be seen as a challenge, and extended her hands, palms up. “Can I see one of these wings?”

Seeing the wary look on Kal’s face deepen even further into one of mistrustful suspicion, Cougar huffed and rolled her eyes- honestly it had to be a gargoyle thing because only the other gargoyle, Justin, was so uneasy with someone handling his sensitive flight limbs. “Please I just want to look! I’ll even let you kick me around if I so much as tickle you!”

Kal had been born and raised on Earth, exposed to a wide variety of cultures at an early age and raised with a loving and tenderly firm hand by his yautjian dam and gargoyle sire and so even though his instinctual paranoia was probably shrieking at him, he nodded mutely, responding to the note of undisguised curiosity in the were’s voice- after all, had he not pestered his sire all those years ago in the exact same way, admiring the broad expanse of his uniquely shaped wings?

Well here's my entry

It was a beautiful morning, sunrise was blooming in the sky, in a half hidden cave was a stunning dunskin tobiano mare who was about introduce a new life to the world. With one final heave the foal was born. Lyria a dunskin tobiano mare was to have a foal that day to the silver grullo stallion named Ace, now the foal was finally born, she turned to see a beautiful colt, possibly to beautiful for his own good. Behind her he lay quite still looking at the world. A beautiful blue roan colt with a big silvery white patch the colour of the moon on his rump with two silvery white stockings on his front legs & two silvery white socks on his hind legs. He had a really weirdly shaped blaze that had the same silvery white colour, he also had a strike of silvery white through his forelock, mane & tail. Lyria knew what to call the stunning colt the moment she saw him 'Ghost' for the strange colour he was looked extremely ghostly & he would have to act like ghost to keep out of mans grasp… He was able to stand around half an hour later but it took him an hour to be steady on his feet so they started their slow journey back to Ace's valley from the half hidden cave, near a crystal clear river where Ghost had been born. As they were steadily jogging towards Ace's valley, a man saw Ghost & wanted him for himself. As Lyria had predicted he would be sought for by men who wished to posses Ghost for the rest of his life because of his glorious rare coloring. The man snuck up on the beautiful colt & his dam then threw his rope with very precise aim, managing to get the loop over Ghost's head, Ghost panicked as the loop tightened around his neck because of his panic he was rearing & snorting which caused the rope to become tighter. Lyria saw where the rope came from & charged, she didn't give birth to the beautiful colt just for him to be caught within a few hours of his birth, she started to strike at the man with her feet being careful not to hurt him to badly , the man dropped the rope & ran from the protective mares feet, after the man had retreated Lyria cantered back to Ghost & helped him get the loop of the rope of his head then they cantered to Ace's valley making sure the man didn't follow them. When Ace saw the he pranced over his head high & proud, He nickered then touched noses with Lyria. Ghost was hidden behind his mother watching the stunning stallion touch his nose with Lyria. Lyria saw her foal being shy
"It is okay little one this is your father the current king of the southern brumbies, Ace" nickered Lyria to Ghost, so Ghost slowly & cautiously walked out from behind his mother & sniffed Ace's nose, Ace stood astounded by the newborn colts beauty
"What is your name?" Ace neighed curiously
"My name is Ghost." nickered the colt shyly, Ace nodded it was the perfect name for the strange colt.

Thanks for hosting this :)

My plan is to close this on Monday, and give out prizes on Tuesday. So still not too late to enter!

Assassins (1 of 2)

Solemines was already mounted by the time the Prince emerged into the Courtyard. Technically, protocol indicated that he should have stayed on the ground and offered to aid the Prince or hold his bridle, but since mounting was still occasionally a production, he had opted to swing up early. He had a feeling the Prince wouldn’t care anyway. While Sol didn’t want to push it too far, Prince Joachim was still impressed by Sol’s brutal honesty several weeks before. Sol was still bemused that calling the Crown Prince an ass was all that was needed to raise his position at court from “barely tolerated” to “pursued by everyone who wanted a good word with the Prince.” At least Quinalaos hadn’t sent him back to the Valley.

The Prince grinned at his friend as he effortlessly swung up onto his golden mount. Sol knew the Prince loved the rides through the city. When he couldn’t adjourn his duties to spend the whole day in the field, his rides out to the main gate and back at least got him out of the Great Hall for a short stretch. He would frequently wave off his guards and hangers on so he could travel faster. Quinalaos had nearly nailed the Crown Prince to his throne when he found out that the Prince was traveling alone, and after a week of heated arguments involving the lines “I can do whatever I want” and “technically, you’re not King yet”, they compromised on at least traveling with at least one of Quinalaos’s mages, and the unspoken promise to never bring up the argument again. Ever since the day that Sol had scribed in the Great Hall, he had served as one of the two. It made him glad that Stefan had insisted on training up a stocky gelding for him, even though Sol had pointed out that Palace mages technically didn’t rate their own mounts. Stefan hadn’t cared and sent him off with Kalin, a plain, jug-headed but solid gelding that was trained to account for an unbalanced mage with a bad leg. Riding escort with the Prince would have been a lot more challenging on a horse that didn’t ground tie or appreciate Sol’s atypical riding style.

The pair set off, sticking to wider, less busy streets. It wasn’t a market day, but the northern winds were kicking up, promising early rains. Judging by his leg, Sol estimated the first of the great rainy season storms was at least a day off, but people bustled excitedly, trying to finish errands in case the skies opened up. Sol could hear singing from a nearby street and smiled. Sol took a swig from his flask. It was a nice day for a ride, if only the aching in leg and hand would go away. The Prince took off trotting, trying to canter when he could find open stretches, and Sol urged Kalin after him.

The ride continued without incident until they neared Jessaro’s Square. Jessaro’s Square had become one of the staging areas for supplies and men working on the Great Wall. Eager to leave his own mark on the city, Joachim had ordered the construction of a new wall ringing the city. Designed by the Kuastans to work with the natural plateau, the new would be one of the great architectural marvels when it was finished. In the mean time though, the Kaustans had purchased or rented many of the townhouses and inns that lined the square and were using it one of their staging areas for supplies and workers. Kaustans considered roads optional and spent as much time running along and jumping across roofs as they did on the actual ground, so Sol didn’t immediately process what he was seeing.

He was aware of the hooded person standing balanced on a tower on the far left side of the square beyond the Prince. He saw the flap of a cloak and discounted it as one of the long sleeveless overtunics the Kuastans favored. He continued following the Prince, scanning the area ahead for unruly citizens or other threats. What bothered him about what he just saw? Keeping his head forward, he turned his eyes back to figure on the tower. Surely just a Kuastan, yes? Sol frowned. Among their many other quirks, Kuastans were wel known for their distinctive plains hats, designed to keep the sun out of their faces. Made from either straw or felted fur, Kuastans pretty much wore them every time they were outside. The outline of the figure on the tower was definitely hatless. Something more - Kuastans favored reds and yellows for their overtunics. This man looked like he was wearing black. Like a mage, Sol thought. He didn’t recall anyone being assigned to patrol Jessaro’s Square, much less from a height. There was one other thing that gave it away. Kuastans preferred slings to bows, and the man on the tower had definitely nocked a bow.

Thank you! I enjoyed this SO soo much! Funds depending I hope to do this either once a month or once every two months.

@TheBlueMoors Recieved 1st prize of 400k
@BellaVoce recieved 2nd prize (I don't know exact amount you will get yet because it's being donated)
@magesvalley Recieves 3rd prize (I don't know exact amount yet)

The rest of you feel free to pick out your 3 favorite horses from this search

https://hj2.huntandjump.com/adv_search.php?runsearch=1&status=any&ageg=8&agel=16&agee=&erag=&eral=&erae=&heightg=&heightl=&heighte=&boneg=&bonel=&bonee=&f_basic=none&f_adv=none&f_limit=25&gelding=1&spayedmare=1&bty=1&lined=lined&foundation=1&name=&name_lm=like&color=&color_lm=like&owner=15552&owner_lm=like&breeder=&breeder_lm=like&sire=&sire_lm=like&dam=&dam_lm=like&barn=&barn_lm=like&pasture=&past_lm=like&tattoo=nfs&tat_lm=not+like&tat_and=and&club=&bc_lm=like&bc_and=and&e1=&e2=&a1=&a4=&a2=&a3=&f1=&f2=&p1=&p2=&s1=&s2=&s3=&c1=&c2=&c3=&d1=&d3=&d2=&g1=&g2=&ch1=&ch2=&z1=&z2=&sa2=&sa1=&mu2=&mu1=&chn2=&chn1=&kit1=&kit2=&kit3=&kit4=&kit5=&kit6=&kit10=&kit11=&kit12=&kit7=&kit8=&kit9=&sp1=&sp2=&sp3=&spM=&pax31=&pax32=&rb1=&rb2=&o1=&o2=&l1=&l2=&ice1=&icei=&ice2=&ice3=&ice4=&ice5=&ice6=&ice7=&ice8=&ice9=&ice10=&ice11=&ice12=&ice13=&ice14=&ice15=&nexn=&nexx=&nexr=&nexg=&nexb=&nexw=&rainr=&rainwt=&rainpl=&raint=&rainna=&brindle1=1&brindle2=1&wf1=1&wf2=1&wf3=1&wf4=1&wf5=1&wf6=1

Are you AislingGheal?

Putting those horses up for you!

Thanks for participating!

They are in "HUSG".

@HunterUnderSaddleGirl holy cow! Thank you! I am very excited to put it towards the barn! Thank you!