HGG Community Forums

For number 3, learn how to use the horse search.

First search for horses in the auction. Put a bid on a bunch, you might get some, you might get all. But if you use the horse search, you can narrow it down to horses your giftee likes (ie chestnut only horses with KitM, would me "Must not have E, Cr, Prl, D", and "Must have Kit M").

After going through the auction, then do a general search for all horses in the game. Be as specific as you can be because there are a LOT of horses in the game. When you find someone who seems to breed similar to what you're looking for, reach out to them with a message. Usually I ask for straws. Once I messaged someone asking for straws from a gmted chimera stud, and tentatively asked if they'd sell a chimera mare they had 100% expecting them to say no, but also asking if instead they'd be happier to give me straws to send along to my giftee. They sold both to me, and my giftee was very very happy :)

Moral of the story: ask, even if you're expecting a "no", you may very well get a "yes"!

I've only done the level 1 GE but I've participated in sending secret Santa gifts too.

For level 1 I usually explain the projects I'm currently putting the most effort into (I have about 6 going on this account so I narrow it down to two or three favorite items I would love to get). Shiny show ponies with stacked closed genes are always on my list because those are pretty easy for people to acquire. But I'll specify, for instance, second gen red based het or hom mushroom riding ponies, eggs or straws. And then maybe some hom E with mushroom cobs. Because I've just got the mushroom license a few months ago and I'm trying to add that in to my main 2 lines.

When I'm shopping for a giftee I check the herd helper list several times a day, always make my 5 free helpers for the day, and click as many options that are close to their wish list as I can. If they want roans and aren't picky about color or bone size or era, I'll make as many roan herd helpers as I can. I either keep the ones that fail BA or auction them, and then I sort by suitability and keep the best to be their gifts.

I also check the auction several times a week. When there's candy or sea pony hunts, people will make their max creates for the day and auction whatever they don't want to keep. So I'll look through all the auctioned horses for ones that look promising and purchase for testing.

Finally, if I need something specific, I'll post a general version of my giftee's list to the forum. (If they want chestnut roan tall draft mares with no KIT genes, I'll ask for tall roans of any bone weight.) People will post what they have available that fits the wider range, and then I'll either message them my choices, or pick some that DON'T fit my giftee's wish list too. That helps keep it a secret who I'm buying for, and then I can give those away to others or use them for my projects or whatever I decide. Often someone will post all horses they'd be willing to sell and I can piggyback off that post to ask for certain of their horses, and that also helps keep hidden who I am shopping for.

It may be helpful to know what the auditors are looking for when they evaluate how everyone did at the end of the exchange.

Things that are bad to do
-If you don't send anything you are banned. Please don't come back.
-If you send something at the very end that was low effort, low thought, just to say you sent something it looks shitty. You won't be advancing and might even get knocked down a level. You should actually try.
-Complaining publicly on the forum or generally making drama about the exchange. Don't be that person.

What they are looking for.
-Level 1: Did you make an effort and try to do right by your recipient? Were you polite to the person who sent you things? Great you move up. This is the bare minimum level just to show you are not a flake.

-Level 2: They want to see that you not only sent things the person would like but that you put some effort into it. Buying horses/straws/etc for your recipient looks way better than just sending them stuff from your own barn, and herd helpers you created. Reach out to some other players go shopping in the auctions. Other things that look great are putting cute names, tack, etc on your gifts. Dress things up a little bit. Effort counts. The auditors are not so much looking at what you sent as if you cared about the person you sent it to. As always being polite to the person who sent you things is also important.

They LOVE to hear you paid close attention to the wishlist. They LOVE to hear that you snooped your recipient's barn and figured out what they like. They don't love it when people are careless and buy straws/horses from their recipients to send back to them.

Level 2 is the main part of the exchange.

-Moving from level 2 to level 3: If you want to gift with the level 3 people you have to gift like a level 3 person at level 2 to earn your spot. The auditors are expecting to see real-life money purchases for your person for the move-up on top of really thoughtful gifts that show solid effort. That's the norm. Yes sometimes people get promoted to 3 without spending real money but those people are doing multiple million-dollar GMT edits kind of over-the-top stuff to earn it.

Something that is important to note, is that they have notes for every single time you participate, and every time counts. If you were kind of a low-effort participant for 3 exchanges in a row you have more to prove and a harder time moving up than a person who was a super generous gifter every time.


-Level 3: At this level, you are expected to be the kind of person who spends a fair amount of time hunting down the perfect gifts, and making the experience really special for your recipient. Boosting, maxing, gmt'ing etc are common here. As are large HB gifts, and gifts of RL spending.


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Some tips about your wishlist:

-Do break it up to make it easier to read.
-Do include lots of different options and ideas for you. You don't have to copy the suggested ideas listed on the entry form, but you should include information about what you do or don't like.
-Do share a bit about the projects you are working on, maybe name the ideal horse for those lines. What makes a horse good or bad for that line?
-Do make sure what you ask for is clear and easy to understand.


-Don't use the same wishlist on multiple accounts on the same server. It's a nightmare for your recipients as it puts them in competition.
-Don't say "I am not picky." This is the most dreaded phrase in the gift exchange and causes no end of stress and problems. Just say some things like you like to give your person ideas. They don't know you, so do them a kindness and give them some ideas on how to shop for you.
-Don't be overly rigid. If you are the only purple plaid breeder on the server your person may not be able to get any purple plaid horses not created by you. If you only want ***stars with super-specific gene combos they may not be able to get that. Give them some lower-hanging fruit as well as your specific goals. Maybe just ***star is ok even if it is not as good. Maybe just plaid is ok even if not as good. Maybe they could get you a tattoo design or a stable header, or a stable mascot. Give people options.

As a side note, I always assign a random number to people who were my giftees and those I was gifting to others.

Ge7, might be one of my gifters, or horses I am transferring for someone else. All I have to do is search ge7, and every horse for that specific person will pop up. It’s a super easy way to keep everyone organized without devoting barns to specific people.

I happened to always split my list into two categories: things I always need and things I’m currently looking for. For example:

Things I’m always in need of:
Show horses
High pt horses, eggs straws
Favorite gene combo (kp2/kitm is mine)
Etc

Things I’m specifically looking for;
Red papered era 12 mares
Ice 9 genes
Etc

That way there’s a mix for them to use. I usually try to put at least 6 things in each category for plenty of variety.

Sometimes I will lay out a specific project I’m thinking of adding. I will say: I am making a new foundation stallion with (genes) and will be breeding for (genes) and would love mares that are (genes) for this project. That way they can kind of see what kind of mares I specifically want.

Please give me options and size restraints.

Ex: I would love love Red Foundation draft mares that are hom sooty and do not have roan or w20. I have room for 20.

Now I can pick the best and you don't get gifts you can't keep.

Everyone is always welcome to add pages to the wiki. :)

I usually specify that I avoid lethal white genes and I've seen a few other people specify that as well. I've also seen newer people asking what that means. If you're newer and don't know about lethal white combinations, you can get more information from the wiki. In short, the most lethal (or riskiest) white genes are frame, w1, and w10. W2 is also fairly risky but is safer than the others. https://wiki.huntandjump.com/books/genetics-101/page/lethal-white-why-did-my-foal-not-survive-under-construction-by-stormwood

If there is something else you don't understand about what they are asking for, people on the forum are generally happy to answer questions. If it seems like making a forum post is going to give away the surprise based on what your question is, you should have no trouble finding someone who is willing to message you to help privately.

At level 1 my expectations are fairly low and I'll give a lot of options. I'm not expecting all of the options to be given to me, they're just a variety of different things I would be happy with.

I'll do level 3 too if I can be qualified despite participation in the past =))

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