HGG Community Forums

My biggies are:

- Even generations. No ifs or buts.
- High quality all through the lines. All horses put through SBA. All studs at least superior to sire. 2Gs must be Red/Blue or B/A (strongly prefer all Bs to be superior to an expro). 3Gs and 4Gs must be Blue/A or Gold/Star. 5Gs must be Gold/Star.
- Fillies. Its extremely rare that I buy colts from outside stables.

Color is not as important as quality, but must be either DP or At, would prefer them to have satin, KP (must have two KIT genes), GP (prefer no e or a), chin (prefer At based) or mushroom (prefer liver/chocolate based).

Also, if I open a search to horses for sale that someone posted, if I see lots of uneven horses, I simply do not have the time to look through them to see if I can find the even ones. Lots of ponies + limited game time.

I know I have high expectations when buying new stock, but I have alot(!!) of horses from my own lines, and I know the ones I own is up to my standards. Quality always comes first. If horses have not been put through SBA, or colts have not been comparison tested superior, I will not buy.

I'm a color breeder so lots of color, but not all white horses. A horse that's all white is a turn off for me. I also like when a horse is "dressed up" meaning at least a halter or bridle and a pulled mane or braids and a long straight tail or a short braided tail and a set of shoes with clips. I'm not too picky about even breeding, but it doesnt hurt. Must be papered. I cant live without papering my horses now. Getting a basic upgrade was the best thing ever. I like my horses I bred and horses I but to be *Star/*Gold or *Star/Blue. I check past foals to see the ratio of snipped to intact. If a stud has too many snipped foals, I will not buy him. If it's one of my stallions I bred, then I will because we all need show ponies.

Example of a "Perfectly Groomed" horse to me:



Small Town Fly


She is also even bred in the generations shown. She has white, but not too much. To me she is a perfect example of a "desirable" horse for my breeding farm. I too find myself struggling to get the public to buy and breed to my horses. So to solve the problem of selling and to earn some extra hbs, I just auction my horses and put my studs up for breeding and hope for the best.

I rarely buy outside horses for my even lines beyond foundations, or gen 2 blue mares, or Gen 4 Gold mares. I am very picky with what I keep. I cull aggressively and even though there may be many that pass sba, rarely do I keep more than 5-6 out of a 60 mare pasture intact, and quite often not that many. I rarely sell any horses and just toss my snipped culls in my show barns to make me money. If I do sell a horse that has met my standards, even if it has fancy genes etc., I sell them for create plus testing price now. Show barn overflow are tossed in the auction. I used to try and sell them, but I have had limited success in selling horses.

I will make an exception for my bootstrap herd and buy a high gen, high PT stallion that is sup to sire. I have had a lot of success with some HighFive stallions that I picked up on open sales. DarkStar or Kintara stallions would be good as well, however I have yet to snag one.

I think it's hard to please everyone.
Personally if I am on the lookout for mares they must meet my colors (hom sooty, no bay) and for my regular lines I tend to look at the lines getting better each time, even looks nice but personally I am not that bothered, as long as the line gets better. I only buy a stud if he is a foundation (who I may want to GMT) or if he has a gene I want to increase in my herd. Let's face it we all have way too many studs :P
My alternate is always on the lookout for tiny ponies so she buys lots of little blue or gold mares whatever their color or lines (she only bootstraps). She also looks at small star studs (although she has started to GMT her own smaller, as she is having a hard time finding studs as good as the DarkStar one she has).
I always bred horses for myself. If anyone likes my horses I am flattered but I don't breed for anyone but me. You often find what was popular last month soon goes out of vogue and a new thing is everyone's must have!
I find other goals in this game :)

Focus on one thing and be the best at that one thing.

I seldom, if ever, buy a horse if it is up for sale on a forum thread with a 'make an offer' comment. I want to be able to open the horses page, decide if I want it, and buy it right then! If I think the price is too high (or, as has happened upon occasion, too low) I will say something, but for the most part, I think if you want to make it easier for people to buy your horses, put a price on them! It will definitely get them sold to those impluse buyers! *evil grin*

Sorry, this is one of my big pet peeves!

Agree. Put a price tag on ponies you want to sell. Much more effective than 'make an offer' threads. If it's not an auction I want to take it home.

In my opinion, the answer to that question should be: breed what is most desirable to you. You could breed the flashiest, best, greatest horses and you'll find people who will find reasons not to buy them so, in the end, what's most important is that you enjoy producing the horses you are producing.

I like Ammit's suggestion of picking one or two traits you really like and working on getting the best horses you can. No matter what you pick, you're bound to find a subsection of the members who like it and want to also breed for it. If not, you can show how awesome it is and be a trend setter! If you pick one or two traits to focus on and breed for the best quality possible, you're bound to make those horses enticing to the people who like that trait. There are some basic characteristics that seem popular and, if they are ones that appeal to you, you could work them into your breeding: even generations, papers, guaranteed DP, less common and pricier genes like satin, KitM, etc.

I, finally, decided to focus almost exclusively on snowflake (with other genes tossed in here and there) and I'm building my lines to produce high quality, even bred hom snowflakes with as little in breeding as possible (I know many don't care, but this is one of those 'it's what I enjoy and not what others want' things - and, in the end, people who don't care about in breeding won't care and people who do will appreciate it so I get the largest market).

levesel2, you can, if you put them up in that color chat room.

Yes I know, it’s just that makes it harder for the forum buyer who might not be in those chat rooms but just wants prices listed on the horse page...