Greyfell(s) to Palomino Sleipnir update

As you may know, Howrse recently made a couple of changes to the Greyfells. One was that you now get 2 diamonds instead of 1 diamond every time you bring your Greyfell back to life. The other change was that you can now give Greyfells' Philosophers' Stones to make them immortal.

So the question came up in the forums (from me actually!) asking if all 12 Greyfells needed to be mortal (have no Philosophers' Stone) in order to produce a Palomino Sleipnir on the 1st of the month. I was asking because I didn't want to put a Stone on one of my Greyfells and then find out that they must all be mortal (have no Stone) on in order to get the Sleipnir.

I was contacted by Jacinta92 who very kindly, sent a ticket to Contact about this. Howrse came back saying that it did not matter -  you can give some of your Greyfell's a Stone and you will still be able to get your Palomino Sleipnir on the 1st of the month.

So for those of you who are lucky enough to have all twelve Greyfells', you can relax and look forward to getting that wonderful, new eight-legged Divine.

Good luck!

Patsy

Send your penguins & polar bears to the North Pole

Finally from today, Christmas Day you can now send your penguins and polar bears off to the North Pole. And they can bring back a variety of wonderful gifts for you.

Now the number of polar bears and penguins you have will determine what they can bring you. You can see all the details from the Howrse home page. Items include aging points, 5th Element coats, Black Orchids as well as new items like the Treasure Chest and Achilles Heel.

We will tell you more about these items very soon. In the meantime, just be careful about how many penguins and polar bears you send on each expedition. You have until 31st December at 23:59 to send them on their journeys. After that they will not be able to go to the North Pole.

The time each expedition takes depends on the value of the items being collected. So 20 turnips take just a day but the Treasure Chest takes 8 days - so plan carefully!

We will be back soon with more information and help but as it's Christmas Day there are other things to do!

Merry Christmas,

Patsy

Merry Christmas from Ultimate Howrse

Put away your Greyfell's, forget your BLUP and your EC's for a moment. Patsy and LucyLou would like to wish all our wonderful readers from all over the World, a very Merry Christmas! We hope you enjoy a peaceful, happy and excting Xmas with your friends and family.

And we would like to say how pleased we are that Ultimate Howrse is read by so many Howrse players. We've more and more people visiting the site every day - more than we ever imagined!

So thank you, dear readers. Please tell your friends about Ultimate Howrse so that they can come and join the best Howrse support site on the Net.

Feel free to leave a Christmas message in the comments. OK, now you can get back to your selling, buying, breeding, BLUPing and Christmas Card scratching!

Patsy & LucyLou

Baby Greyfell

Yes they are here. Greyfells' which have arrived during the Christmas Card competition can breed only once and now the offspring are beginning to appear in the game.

Let us know what you think of them. Personally, we think they are maybe not the cutest foals in the game. I actually think there is a passing resemblance to a donkey. Which makes us think - how wonderful it would be to have Divine Donkeys on Howrse.

Maybe one day. In the meantime - enjoy the new Greyfell foals.

Patsy

Instant Greyfell

We don't normally post about ourselves on Ultimate Howrse, because it's all about you and the game - not us! However, I thought you would be interested to know that I managed, by pure chance, to buy a Greyfell in the Direct Flash Sales. Have a look at the screen grab.

It was a complete fluke. I just popped on to the Flash Sales as I was looking at possibly getting a diamond card. I clicked the 'update' button and it said a Greyfell was up for sale in 2 seconds. I clicked 'update' again and there it was - 'Greyfell'. I just hit the 'Buy Now' button and 'bingo'!

I can't actually believe it. OK, so it cost me 1.59 million equus but seeing as they've been selling in the Flash Sales Auctions for 6 million equus - it's not a bad price! I have to laugh because I actually bought him by accident really. So I now own two Greyfells. Now the first one I got after getting a diamond card just for logging in. It's true, so don't give up hope. You CAN get diamond cards when you log in to the game. And my first Greyfell is a mare and so is now expecting a baby Greyfell. Exciting times.

So good luck with your Christmas Card competitions everyone. I really do hope you win lots of lovely things. And don't forget - you'll be able to send your polar bears and penguins to the North Pole from Christmas Day until New Years' Eve and get even more goodies.

Have fun,

Patsy

Greyfell's in the Direct Flash Sales

With the Christmas Card competition in full swing, prices are very high for those players that can afford to bid on Greyfells in the Flash Sales Auctions. And we are talking multiple millions of equus. Now the Direct sales, also have Greyfells in them but they come up very rarely, so I was really pleased to be able to see one today.

Sadly, I had recently bought a silver card so couldn't try and buy it but it was interesting to see what price it was selling for. And the answer is 1.59 million equus. Still a lot of money, but far less than prices in the auctions. In fact, I've seen Diamond cards selling for up to 2 million equus in the actions so I suppose this price for  a Greyfell is almost a bargain! Almost.

Well, whatever your budget, we hope you're enjoying the competition. Let us know if you manage to win a Greyfell or even all 12 of them.

Good luck,

Patsy

Diamonds in the Store

Well Howrse kept this one quiet. You can now but Diamonds in the Store. They cost 25,0000 equus each. Now Howrse do limit you to having just 2 Diamonds in your inventory. So if you have have more than 2, you cannot buy any more until you've used them.

However, this could be a valuable feature for those players who use Diamonds for trades and for buying items. Remember, once you have 10 diamonds, you can trade them for a Pass.

Very handy if you're taking part in the Christmas Cards competition!

Happy shopping.

Patsy

Christmas Scratch Cards

It's nearly Christmas so it's time for Howrse's Christmas contest. This year you have to collect Christmas scratch cards which offer gifts and the opportunity to win the new Divine - Greyfell.

You can win cards in the following ways:

- The first time you log in each day (3 cards)

- When your horses win competitions (up to 3 cards a day)

- By buying them in the flash sales (you can buy 1 card in each type of sale every 4 days)

- By trading them. If you scratch a card and it's a duplicate of one you already have you have the option to trade it for another card. Be careful though, you don't know what you might get in exchange and each trade costs 2 diamonds.

Some cards contain gifts such as aging points, Made to Measure tack and BM items. Other cards allow you to complete the 5 Christmas puzzles. If you complete a puzzle by collecting the 5 cards needed you will win the new Divine Greyfell. If you complete all 5 puzzles you win an extra Greyfell.

Other cards offer you penguins and polar bears. These are like the reindeer from last year. Between Christmas day and 31st December you can send them to the North Pole and they will come back with gifts such as aging points, equus and Harmony Packs. The more you have, the better the gifts they bring back.

You can see your cards by going to your player's homepage and following the link. To scratch your card simply click and move your mouse over them. Then click the Activate button to claim the prize (if you have a duplicate it's at this point that the option to trade will appear). There are 50 Christmas scratch cards to collect in total.

Happy Howrse'mas!

Lucy

New features and all new objectives / acheivements

A new round of features & changes that have been introduced to Howrse. Here's a brief summary of those new features:

• New achievements
• Rookie horse competitions
• Unicorn 5th Element coats
• Archimedes 'face lift'
• Sleipnir 'run away' and 'invoke' removed
• Reserving coverings for your own mare no longer requires your login name

Of these new features, today we will be looking at the new achievements/objectives. Following on from the 90 previous objectives, numbers 91 to 100 have been introduced. And so here is our guide to getting them:

• Objective 91 - Buy a horse over 25 years with 0 skill points

This is obviously a simple task. However, as always happens - at present the price of horses that fir the bill for this objective are crazily expensive. They were selling for 800,000 equus + yesterday but have dropped to 400,000 equus today. If you want to risk it, you can pay that much for one, pass the objective and then re-sell it for the same price. Beware though - prices are falling so you may be left out of pocket. Ultimate Howrse's advice: Wait for the excitement and prices to come down

• Objective 92 - Have a (certain number) of living horses

Another straightforward one this. Just buy a few more horses of any quality and you're done. The number you have to buy is determined by how many horses you already have. I had 76 and needed to get 86. Ultimate Howrse's advice: Hunt the auctions for bargain horses.

• Objective 93 -  Win 1 equus in a competition

This is actually not too difficult. You will need a useless (!) horse and then enter it into the lowest-ranked race you can find. Ultimate Howrse's advice: Check your horse's genetics and enter him into a competition for which he has the lowest genetics.

• Objective 94 - Get a Pandora's Box by trading items

You'll need to head to the Item Exchange for this one. Now you are best to check in the Find Items area first to see what people are offering for a Pandora's Box. Then you will have an idea of what is trading. But be careful not to give away an item of lesser value. Ultimate Howrse's advice:If you already have a Pandora's Box, simply offer it in echange for another one! Worked for me.

• Objective 95 - Find a saddle cloth, whip & blanket all on the same horse

For this one your horse must have none of these items to start with. Then simply age your horse, putting him in the box each day, until you find all three items. Ultimate Howrse's advice:Putting your horse in the box for 6 or more hours each day seems to improve your chances. Shouldn't take too many days to find them all. Took me 7 days.

• Objective 96 - Give an apple to a horse born on 29th Nov 2009

This one was tricky at first but now players who have a qualifying horse are posting links on their page to a horse born on the correct date. Dr Zig is one. I did it the long way round by checking the Breeder's Production on the highest ranked players until I found a horse. Took ages but I gor there in the end! Ultimate Howrse's advice: Depending on where you live, due to timezones, you may find some 29th Nov 2009 horses don't work. You may have to try a couple to get one that validates this objective.

• Objective 97 - Give birth to a Holsteiner breed horse

I haven't done this one yet. As with No.91 - the prices of Holsties are through the roof right now. If you own a pair then you're all set. Otherwise you're going to have to pay. After that, just breed the pair and you're done. Ultimate Howrse's advice:Wait for Holstie prices to come down. It will happen! 
UPDATE: A couple of people have said you do not need the mare to be a Holsteiner.

• Objective 98 - Reach a reserve that ends in 3333

I loved this one. It's pretty simple but can be tricky to achieve. What I did was to look at my reserve and then change the last 4 digits the threes. Now you need to work out what the NEXT occurence of 3333 will be. So for me, my reserve is 47,855,209, the NEXT time 3333 will occur is when my reserve reaches 47,863,333. So 46,863,333 MINUS 47,855,209 = 8,124. So I need to get exactly 8,124 equus to reach a reserve ending in 3333. What I did was, once I had my target number, was to sell a horse for exactly that amount. Of course, it was worth abouth the right anount, but to be sure it sold right away, it was a little cheaper than I'd normally sell it. Of course you can sell saddles, droppings etc or even BUY something and bring your reserve DOWN to the correct amount. It's actually just a bit of simple maths, so have fun. Ultimate Howrse's advice: Remember that any races you have running may finish and earm you equus just as you're trying to complete this objective. Make sure no races you've entered are about to run.

• Objective 99 - Win 10 competitions with a horse bred from Ouranos & Gaia (non-Divine and non-Special)

We all have a Foundation horse when we start playing Howrse, so that's what you'll need to complete this one. If you don't have yours then they are always for sale although they can sometimes be harder to find. Prices for Foundies may well increase for a while whilst these objectives are new, so it may be worth waiting of you don't own one. As for the races, well it may take some time but you'll get there. My Foundie got his 10 wins in two (real, not Howrse) days. Ultimate Howrse's advice: : The new Rookie competitons will help with this one.

• Objective 100 - Find Secret Page Number 3

Ah the old secret page. At Ultimate Howrse, secret pages are one of the most requested things we're asked for. Now as with all secret pages you MUST be able to see the objective in your list of next objectives AND be logged in to Howrse. Otherwise it will not work. So, how to find it - as previously, you need to open a new tab on your browser and paste in: www.howrse.com/ow/THE ID
Now THE ID is where you add the ID number of the player who is at the top of the rankings on the day for competition wins. You can find this player under the Ranking tab and then Breeders. In the bottom half of this page you'll see a ranking for the 'number of competitions won yesterday'. Click on the name of the player at the top of this ranking. Once on their profile page, if you look in the URL bar at the top of your screen you'll see the web page address. this includes the player's ID. So, for example on my profile page this is what you will see: http://www.howrse.com/joueur/fiche/?id=1406178. That last number is my ID. And that is what you need for the secret page number 3. Ultimate Howrse's advice: : Today's URL that you would paste into your URL bar is: http://www.howrse.com/ow/26530587 Obviously this may change each day - so be sure to check.


We hope you find this guide to the latest objectives useful. Ultimate Howrse cannot guarantee how well they will work for you but we have tested them ourselves and have researched on Howrse so hopefully you will be successful.


Have fun and enjoy all those goodies!

Patsy

New features on Howrse - rosettes, unicorns and more

Howrse have just announced some new features.

You can now win Rosettes in competitions. In competitions with a prestige of more than 75% it is now possible to win a rosette if you come first. The amount of equus you win also doubles if you win the rosette. There are two new rankings to go alongside the rosettes - one for the number of rosettes won per player during the month and one for the number of rosettes won per horse over all time.

Note that it is only possible to win the same rosette once with a horse. So if you enter and win the same race more than once it won't give you another rosette.

You can now also choose the time you breed your unicorns at. This is great if the old unicorn breeding times of 6.23 am and pm GMT were in the middle of the night for you. You can change the time once every 30 days. It will now also say on a female unicorn's page if she was covered at the right time, with the right breed etc. This will make it much clearer for people buying pregnant unicorns in the sales that they are getting the genuine thing.

Howrse have also introduced some new rules to make reserving EC boxes a bit simpler:

• You can reserve a box for the player of your choice, even if there's already a horse in it
• When you move a horse, it will now be given priority and placed in a box reserved in its owner's name
• A horse boarded in a box with a shower in it can only be moved to another box that with a shower

And finally these small changes have also been brought in:

You can filter Golden Apple and Helios' Ray creations by their dominant color

When a male donkey is put up for sale, all coverings it has offered that haven't yet been accepted by a female are canceled

Previous achievement levels no longer appear on player profiles

You can now search for horses in sales using the 5th element

Philotes' Stroke has been added to the Horns of Plenty

Divine horses now have in front of their names so you can pick them out more easily

Happy Howrsing,

Lucy

Halloween Magic Potions

As its Halloween next week, Howrse are providing us with lots of contests to celebrate. They've bought back the popular Magic Potions, this time with a Halloween theme.

Until 7th November at noon Game Time you can make Magic Potions and win yourself some great gifts. Each potion requires you to collect the right ingredients to make it and win yourself the gift. For example, you need to collect and make a potion with 2 x Phoenix's Tears to win yourself 1000e. You can make a maximum of 3 potions a day.

The top prize is a gemstone Divine - either a Ruby, Sapphire, Jade, Emerald or Amethyst. To win one of these horses you need 5 pegasus feathers, 15 horseshoes (found in HoPs) and 15 ingredients of your choice (all the same). You also need to have made 30 other potions before you can unlock this gift.

You can collect ingredients in the following ways:

	Remove the horns off your Unicorns
	Remove the feathers off your Pegasuses
	Collect the Halo by using a Pandora's Box
	Find the Horseshoe in the Horns of Plenty
	For the other ingredients: with UFOs, when your horses wake up on their birthdays (maximum 6 per day), when your horses win competitions (maximum 6 per day), while your horses play with their companions (maximum of 3 per day), in the Flash Sales, the first time you log in every day, in the Horns of Plenty

You can get to the Magic Potions contest page by going to your player's homepage and clicking on the link. To get to the Flash Sales (where you can buy extra ingredients that you are missing) follow the link from the Magic Potions contest page.

Happy potion making.

Lucy

Halloween Candy Fight

It's nearly Halloween and so of course it's time for some fun on Howrse. To celebrate the spooky day you can take part in the Halloween Candy Fight.

Until 8th November at noon Game Time the regular UFOs have been replaced with various types of Candy (otherwise known as Sweets if you're in the UK!). If you catch a Candy you can throw a copy of the gift it gives you to a friend.

The players who throw the most gifts during the contest get the following prizes:

• 1. to 10.: 2 x Harmony Pack and 100 000
• 11. to 50.: Harmony Pack and 50 000
• 51. to 100.: 50 000

It is only possible to RECEIVE up to 15 gifts per week but you can throw as many as you can catch.

To take part you need to visit the contest page which can be found by going to your player's homepage and following the link.

So get sharing!

Lucy

Wandering horses are back

Looking for the April 2012 Wandering horses? Then click here.

Yes, the Wandering horses are back on Howrse and as before, there are some great prizes to be won. However, like the last time, achieving all the objectives is both difficult and expensive.

When the Wandering horses contest last appeared in the game, many players were upset because they felt it favoured players who could afford to buy passes. Well, it looks like it could be the same this time round. We shall have to see if Howrse offers a helping hand to ensure more players get a chance to complete all the objectives.

Some of the objectives are pretty straightforward, such as the one to win Cochise. You simply need to be congratulated a number of times. So simply congratulating players should mean that they will return the favour. Other objectives include entering competitions, logging on and getting your horse to play with its companion.

Strangely, some objectives are adjusted so that the number of horses you have, affects how many points count towards that objective. Whilst others don't. For example, on the 'taking lessons' objective to win Columbus, it doesn't matter how many horses you have - you get 3 points per lesson. I have 79 horses but LucyLou has 7237 horses. However, on the 'playing with companions' objective to win Lucy - the number of horses does matter. I get 0.3 points per hour of playtime but LucyLou only gets 0.08 points. Strange.

Aside from that, the objectives are fairly straightforward, if a little daunting. As for the objective that means you must buy passes - well all we can say is that a lot of players will feel that is unfair. Others will say that Howrse have to get people to buy passes in order to make money, because they are a business. We can see both sides of the argument so we shall let you have your own say on that one!

If you manage to complete all the objectives you will win one of the new Divine horses - Jade. The first 65 players to finish get a Jade, with the runners-up winning a Ruby.

Oh and for the duration of the contest, there will be two extra Unicorn breeding times at 10.58am and 9.58pm. Remember that these are both game times! And of course the current breeding times of 6.23am and 6.23pm game time, are still there for you to use.

We will post more information as we get it. In the meantime, let us know how you are getting on and ... good luck!

Patsy

How to get karma

OK, so karma seems to be a bit of a 'secret' topic on Howrse as you're not allowed to discuss it in the forums. We're not entirely sure why (maybe it's to stop a deluge of questions) so we've put this post together to give you the basics of how karma works, how to get it and how to lose it.

This is what Howrse says about karma:

'Karma responds to your reputation within the game. The higher your karma, the better your reputation and you gain access to more areas of the game. Likewise, negative karma is a sign of a bad reputation and may limit your access to certain areas or features of the game.'

Here's how you can earn karma:

• You get a karma point for every 30 days registration on Howrse
• You get a karma point for every set of 10 passes you buy
• You get a karma point every time 5 people you have sponsored reach their first karma point.

These are the only ways to obtain karma. Occasionally you can also win karma points in contests and promotions such as the recent jigsaw puzzle contest, although these occasions are rare.

Well, once you've got karma you can do several things with it:

• You earn 1 pass for every 5 karma points you collect
• You gain access to the private sales once you have 3 karma points (although new players can now 'buy' their way into the sales by purchasing the Business Key, even if they have less than 3 karma points)
• You can create 1 affix for your horses for every 2 karma points you collect
• You can create breeding farms once you have 3 karma points

You will find that players with higher karma command more trust and respect on the game. It is a measure that you are a longstanding and fair player. For example, if you are trading horses or BM items with another player it is usual for the player with the lower karma to fulfil their part of the trade first.

And don't forget, if you break the rules you can also lose karma in several ways:

• By posting rude or offensive messages, advertisements or spam via PM or in the forums
• Having inappropriate content on your page or in your EC forum
• Selling a horse for more than 20 passes or a divine for more than 200 passes (using other horses to do so)
• Cheating
• Having more than one account (multi-accounting)
• Trying to steal other players accounts

That's a quick overview of karma - remember if you play the game fairly you will never have any problems about losing karma.

You can check out your karma by going to profile - my account - my karma.

Lucy

Harrassment and bullying on Howrse

Here at Ultimate Howrse, LucyLou and I enjoy helping players, giving advice and news as well as seeing all the chat and help our readers share in the Comments sections. Generally, everyone is polite and friendly but sometimes we receive comments that are rude, offensive or unkind. Fortunately, all comments that are sent to Ultimate Howrse have to be approved by us before they are published. Now we are pretty easy-going here, but occasionally if a comment is too nasty or impolite then we simply delete it.

And this brings me on to Howrse. We were asked by a player to write about bullying and harrassment in the game, and how to deal with it. The player concerned had themselves, been subject to harrassment whilst playing Howrse and so wanted to help other people who had similar experiences.

So here is our advice for dealing with bullies on Howrse:

• 99% of the time, people who send you offensive or threatening emails do not know you in 'real' life. You are just a name on an online game. They know nothing about you - where you live, how old you are or even if you own a horse or not. So these emails/messages are often sent to loads of people in order to get a response. It's often just attention-seeking. They don't know you! So always ensure you do not provide any personal information on your Profile. If you do, that's your choice, but it's safer to keep your private life, well, private.

• When you receive a nasty email, Howrse has two brilliant ways of dealing with it. Firstly you can simply report the sender. I've done it loads of times - but ONLY if the email breaks the rules set down by Howrse of course. This is what it says on your Private Mail page: "Never use personal messages to send advertisement or spam. If you encounter an abuse please report it by using the link Report an abuse located at the bottom of each message." And believe me, Howrse DO take action against players. They will (and do) dock the karma of offending players. Very satisfying to see! The second thing you can do is to block the offending player from sending you any more emails. Next to each email you get is a simple link, underneath the Report an Abuse link which allows you to block the player - for ever, if you like. 

• Now players are also harrassed in their forums. The forums don't have the same 'report' and 'block' features that you find in Private Mail, so what should you do if someone is leaving nasty messages? Well you can report them to a Moderator. I've done it before and the person had karma docked. Players who post offensive things in your EC forum are rather stupid because other players can see what they're writing. You simply need to ignore it - let them keep writing their silly, attention-seeking messages, and inform a Moderator.

• Myself and LucyLou are adult players, so have seen plenty of times when people have tried to bully or intimidate someone. It is important to remember, that, unless you actually know these people in real life - there is NOTHING they can do to you. To be honest, much of this sort of thing (not all of course) comes from younger players who are just behaving immaturely. I ignore most of the stupid or offensive rubbish that arrives in my Inbox on Howrse. But as soon as something becomes unacceptable, I just hit that Report an Abuse link, and get on with playing the game. I never get into a discussion - that's what these immature people want. Ignore and report is my advice. 

• But what if, on those rare, rare occasions, you DO know this person in real life? Well, again, because they are not especially clever, you already have something to help you - their bullying, harrassment is right there, in writing. Whenever someone emails you or posts in your forum, they are leaving evidence. Proof of what they have said. So, if you know this person in real life, tell your parents/guardians or someone you trust. Show them what's been said and let them help you sort it out.

• Bullying and harassment from an unkown person is often scary because you imagine all sorts of things about who they are and what they are going to do. In reality, they are probably a girl or a  boy who is actually rather insecure and can only make themselves feel better by sending nasty emails to a heap of people, just hoping to get a reaction. If they get a reaction it makes them feel like they have acheived something. So ignoring them is a simple and brilliant way to deal with them. They CAN'T do anything to you. They just need to grow up and realise that they will get so much more out of life when are nice and kind and respectful of other people. Just like here on Ultimate Howrse!

• Finally, if you find that you are still worried, scared or upset by things that people may be saying to you on Howrse, please tell someone, such as your parents. It's always better to share your concerns because it makes eveything seem so much better. Remember, Howrse is just a GAME and you have every right to play the game however you want - as long as you play by the rules and treat others how you want to be treated.

I hope this helps any of you who have had problems whilst playing the game. Now as this a sensitive subject, we ask that you don't send comments for publication as we won't be publishing them. This is only because this article was written to give some help to those who need it. It is not really a Howrse-related subject but we felt it was an important issue that LucyLou and I wanted to address.

So play Howrse, enjoy the game and HAVE FUN!

Patsy

Win a new Emerald Divine horse

As expected, Howrse have announced the arrival of Emerald, the new Divine horse in the game.                                                                            
You can get the chance of winning an Emerald buy opening a Horn of Plenty between now (23rd September 2011) and the 27th September at 8am Game Time.
Although Howrse seem a little confused as it says 10am on another page!



Here's the Howrse announcement:

Emerald is in the Horns of Plenty! - 23rd September 2011 Try your luck at getting an Emerald by opening a Horn of Plenty!

Today 23th of September, you could get lucky while opening your Horns of Plenty ! Everyone has a chance to catch their own Emerald by opening a Horn of Plenty until Tuesday 27th of September at 8am game time! For those who haven't met Emerald yet, she is a Divine horse and she can be bred with Sapphire to give birth to the new divine Topaz.
If you have won an Emerald in a Horn of Plenty don't worry, sometimes she takes a few minutes to get to your account. And don't forget the Calendar this weekend, you could get lucky too!
We wish you luck!
The Howrse Team

So at present you can only get an Emerald in a HoP, IF you're lucky.  Now this is what we know about Emerald Divines' right now:

• They are female and can reproduce but ONLY with a Sapphire Divine
• Emeralds will give birth to a Topaz Divine horse
• They have 1200 skills in total

Plenty of Emerald Divine's have been won already, so if you're feel lucky, try a HoP. But beware - they cost money!

Good luck,

Patsy

September Calendar continues

The September Calendar giveaway continues and so far, all of the daily objectives have been pretty straightforward. This is great as it means almost every player can take part, which is good news for everyone.

And to be honest, the prizes we've all been given have been rather good too. Today, 20th September, the objective for the day is to congratulate three players. Lovely and easy. But it gets better. The prize for completing this simple task is a Horn of Plenty. Amazing!

So with all the Black Market items, cash and more we've all been collecting, the September Calendar is proving to be a huge success for all us intrepid Howrse players. Let's just hope the daily objectives stay accessible to everyone.

Enjoy September!

Patsy

Equestrian Centre - boxes needed for max lesson gains

We often get asked how many boxes you need to achieve maximum lesson gains for your EC. This has always been a tricky one to answer because so many factors affect how well your EC ranks. Obviously you need to have excellent meadows, competitions, mashes, carrots and stables, with the largest boxes as well as horses with high dressage skills and the right number of employees.

However, a key factor has always been the number of boxes your EC needs in order for you to achieve high lesson gains, with a 60 equus price. Well the moderator Zepharo has today confirmed that players need just 20 boxes to achieve this.

Now be careful with this statement. If you just buy 20 boxes, you won't achieve a high lesson gain and high prestige. You need all of the other elements in your equestrian centre to be at the right level too. So for example having horses with 350 in dressage will not result in a high prestige EC.

This confirmation from Howrse does help those of you who are starting out and need to have some sort of guideline regarding box numbers. So good luck with your EC and remember to rotate your fields so you always have 100% fertitlity.

Good luck,

Patsy

The September Calendar

To celebrate the end of summer Howrse have today introduced the September Calendar.

You can win goodies such as as saddles, turnips, equus and Black Market items by logging into Howrse each day and visiting the calendar page. The calendar can be found by following the link at the bottom of your home page when you log in.

Each day you will need to complete a mission to be able to open the calendar door and get your prize.

Today, 1st September, the mission is to give 5 apples to other players horses. Once you have done this you can go to the calendar, open the first door and win the prize - a Pluotos' Parchment.

To win all the prizes you do need to log in each day. If you miss a day you can't go back to complete the missed mission you can only do the current day's.

So keep logging in and happy calendar opening!

Lucy

Updates to Equestrian Centres

Howrse have today (August 30th 2011) announced some small changes to the way Equestrian Centres run.

They have increased the wages (which is good news for employees, maybe less so for employers!) on all Equestrain Centre jobs. The game will have automatically changed your current employee salaries to match the new maximums and minimums.

You can now also set the maximum length of boarding in your Equestrian Centre. Simply go to the boarding tab in your EC office. You can set it anywhere between 5 and 30 days. This is great if you want to stop players leaving their lower skilled or ill horses in your EC for a long time.

Howrse have also introduced some new animations that you can add to your horses page for free. The range now includes balloons, fireworks and lightning (all quite scary for horses!).

Lucy

Howrse Player Meeting in London

After the success of the player meet and greets last year, Howrse have just announced that there will be another UK one - on Saturday 15th October 2011 from 2pm - 6pm.

The event is taking place at the Novotel City South hotel in London and gives you the chance to meet fellow players and members of the Howrse team (including Ow). The Howrse team have promised to take along some surprises as well - although they haven't announced what they will be as of yet. They usually take things like Howrse merchandise and codes to get new horses or BM items on the game.

They have also said that they will be arranging more meet and greets in the future - so don't panic if you're not in the UK!

Let us know if you're planning on attending.

Lucy and Patsy

Puzzle Contest Extension

Howrse have just announced that the puzzle contest will now be running for an extra 4 days. So instead of finishing on the 24th August you now have until the 28th August to try and complete your puzzles.

You can also still find extra pieces for your puzzles in Horns of Plenty until 26th August.

So keep trying to win those Gypses. Happy puzzling.

Lucy

Bonus Puzzle Update 2

We've had some requests from players asking for a picture of the completed bonus puzzle. Well, here it is. And as we've said, you now win a Gypse along with three 5th Elements when you complete this puzzle.

Whilst it's great that hundreds of players can now get Gypse's, it does mean that their rarity is hugely reduced and as a result, their value. It's rather a shame that there are fewer and fewer Divines and Specials that are actually rare and valuable in the game.

Maybe Howrse will release a Divine or Special horse that is actually limited to a small number. That would make them wonderfully appealing and sought after. But that's just my opinion.

Anyway, congratulations to everyone who has won a Gypse. Remember to top up your sand piles each day and your horses' skills will increase.

Have fun,

Patsy

Bonus Puzzle Update

Update: For completing the bonus puzzle you can now win a Gypse as well as the 3 5th elements.

Since Howrse revealed the bonus puzzle in the Summer Puzzle contest was aimed at pass buying players, there have been a lot of unhappy people. Even more so when they revealed you could win pieces for the puzzles in Horns of Plenty.

After this happened the 30 Balios were won within a few hours, leaving a lot of people upset that they never really had a chance.

Now Howrse have decided to change the reward for completing the bonus puzzle. You can now win a Gypse if you complete the puzzle as well as the 3 5th elements. There are no limits to the number that can be won so everyone completing the puzzles will win a Divine. Here's what Ow said in the event forum about the change:

Good morning.
We are distributing a Gypse to all the players that have finished the 5th puzzle later than the first 30 as a form of token.
We hope to ease out the frustration this operation has generated for those who did not finish in the first 30.
Cheers
Ow

So you have until 24th August to win your Gypse - happy puzzle piece finding!

Lucy

Holsteiner - the new breed of horse

A new breed of horse has appeared today - The Holsteiner. Details are a little thin on the ground right now, but this is a picture of one of the first adults on Howrse. A quick look at the genetics shows that their top three skills, in order, are Jumping , Gallop and Dressage.

At the moment, you can only get a Holsteiner when you win one as part of the bonus puzzle - see below.

Patsy

UPDATE: They are already appearing in the sales at rather immense prices!

Jigsaw Puzzle: Bonus puzzle

Just when we thought it would be an 'ordinary' contest, things have changed. Howrse have just introduced Horns of Plenty with which you can win missing pieces for your jigsaw puzzle.

It appears that you can (actually NEED to) use HoP's to complete the bonus puzzle. This means that some of the Balios's have already been won.

We're not quite sure how some people have managed to get their third login for puzzle no.4, but they have and have then used HoP's to help complete the bonus puzzle.

According to one player (NOT confirmed by ultimate Howrse), the bonus puzzle has the following objectives:

• Objective Gift
  1. First login of the day 1 x Holsteiner foal
  2. First login of the day 1 x Diamond
  3. Use a Philosopher's Stone 1 x Diamond
  4. Give birth to twins 1 x Diamond
  5. Give birth to a Unicorn 1 x Diamond
  6. Open Horns of Plenty 1 x Diamond
  7. Open Horns of Plenty 5 x Diamonds
  8. Open Horns of Plenty 5 x Diamonds
  9. Be the original breeder of
  a 40 year old, non-immortal horse 5 x Diamonds
  

So, we don't yet know how some players have managed to complete the Jigsaw Puzzle Contest, but they certainly have and those Balios's are disappearing fast!

More news as and when we have it.

UPDATE: Players are reporting that they used over 40 passes to buy HoP's, to complete the bonus puzzle.

UPDATE 2: All of the Balios's have now been won.

Patsy

Jigsaw Puzzle No.4

Howrse's jigsaw puzzle contest continues and we've now reached puzzle no.4. as you'll see, it's essentially the same as most of the others.

The prize for completing the whole puzzle is a Dragon, which some players will find pretty useful. OK, enough chit chat. You want answers and we have them for you.


Here are the objectives and the gifts for puzzle no.4:


Objective                                                       Gift
1. First login of the day                          Posiedon's Saddle
2. First login of the day                          150 x turnips
3. First login of the day                          20 x Energy Mash
4. Win 30 competitions                          1 x 4000 equus
5. Be congratulated 3 times                    1 x Dog
6.Take part in the Grand Prix                 1 x Daphne's Laurels
7.Find the hidden piece                          1 x 6000 equus
8. Groom xx horses                                1 x Apollo's Lyre
9. Go to contest page at (TIME)            1 x Pandora's Box

So there you have it. The latest round of objectives and gifts. We're still seeing dozens of questions about the contest. Our advice? Read the other postings on here because all your answers are there. Trust me!

Well good luck for this round of the contest. And, as always, we will be back with news on jigsaw puzzle no.5 as soon as it's available.

Patsy

Jigsaw Puzzle No.3

OK, Howrse's latest contest continues and we are now on puzzle no.3. There are still plenty of questions and comments coming in from players.

 Now one thing which seems to be confusing people is the 'login' objective. As you'll see, each puzzle has two login objectives. So, you can only activate one of these per day.

Now, if you completed most of the objectives for puzzle no.2 yesterday, you still have one 'login' objective to complete. When you login in today, you will complete the 'login' objective for puzzle no.2.

Therefore you cannot complete the first 'login' objective for puzzle no.3 today. You can do that tomorrow. And so the second 'login' objective for puzzle no.3 can now only be completed in 2 days' time. So remember, you can only complete ONE login objective per day.

Right, so here is the list of objectives and gifts for jigsaw puzzle no.3:

Objective                                                       Gift
1. First login of the day                          Posiedon's Horseshoes
2. First login of the day                          100 x turnips
3. Take part in 50 competitions              8 x ageing points  (Depends on how many horses you have)
4. Win 15 competitions                          1 x Made to measure bridle
5. Catch a UFO                                      1 x Made to measure saddle
6. Be congratulated twice                       1 x Helios' Ray
7.Take part in the Grand Prix                 1 x 3000 equus
8. Groom xx horses                                1 x Ow's congratulations
9. Go to contest page at (TIME)            1 x Golden Spurs

Now the big news with this puzzle is that to complete it, you must have access to the Grand Prix. That's a bit of a shame for players who don't have this. Currently, the only way to get access to the Grand Prix is to win it from a Horn of Plenty.

Right. We'll be continuing our coverage of the contest so make sure you keep visiting and let us know how you're getting on.

Good luck!

Patsy

Jigsaw Puzzle No.3 - soon

Well LucyLou and I are doing our best to keep up with the contest. We hope you are too. My fingers are aching after a long session at my keyboard but I just wanted to let you know that we are on track to bring you the latest news on puzzle No.3 in a few hours.

There are several questions that players keep asking us about the contest. If you read the other posts, you'll find all the answers you need. Just remember that the hidden pieces appear randomly, rather like UFO's. So you should get all the ones you need as you're online, playing the game.

Anyway, I need to rest my weary hands. See you soon, with all the info on the next jigsaw puzzle!

Patsy

Puzzle No.2

Well the Puzzle contest is well under way. And as always with these contests, each level gets harder to complete. So, if you haven't yet completed Puzzle No.1 and want to know what the challenges are in No.2 - here they are: 


     Objective                                                       Gift
1. First login of the day                          Posiedon's Horseshoes
2. First login of the day                          50 x turnips
3. Take part in 50 competitions              5 x ageing points  (May depend on how many horses you have)
4. Catch a UFO                                       2000 equus
5. Find the hidden piece                         10% energy for all your horses
6. Find the hidden piece                        1 x Giraffe
7. Be congratulated one time                 1 x Eolus' Wind
8. Groom xx horses                                1 x Swallow (Depends how many horses you have. Max 100)
9. Go to contest page at (TIME)            1 x Helios' Ray

Now as in Puzzle No.1, the jigsaw pieces that you have to find, appear randomly just like UFO's. Also, the time you need to visit the contest page varies, so make sure you check it carefully. As for the 'First login of the day' - there are two of these because Howrse doesn't want players to complete the puzzle in a single day. So you will need to login on TWO different days to achieve these objectives.

Happy jigsawing everyone!

Patsy

The Jigsaw Puzzle

Howrse have today launched another new contest for the summer - the Jigsaw Puzzle.

Starting today (9th August) until the 24th of August at noon game time, you can collect Jigsaw Puzzle pieces on the game to complete 5 Puzzles. If you are among the first 30 players to complete the puzzles you win a Balios. Everyone else who completes the puzzles will win three 5th elements.

You also get gifts for finding each puzzle piece. For completing the first puzzle you win a Horn of Plenty. Here is what you need to do to complete the first puzzle:

Objectives of Puzzle no. 1

1 First log in of the day

Gift: 50 x Apple

2 First log in of the day

Gift: 25 x Turnip

3 Catch an UFO

Gift: 3 x Aging point

4 Find the hidden piece

Gift: 1 000

5 Find the hidden piece

Gift: 5% energy for all your horses

6 Find the hidden piece

Gift: 5 x Caloric Mash

7 Groom 100 horses

Gift: 1 x Squirrel

8 Go to the contest page at 21:18 (site time zone)

Gift: 1 x MF bridle

9 Go to the contest page at 22:18 (site time zone)

Gift: 1 x MK saddle

(Please note that the number of horses you have to groom will depend on how many horses you own, up to a maximum of 100. You can also groom the same horse 100 times - it works both ways. The times in 8 and 9 will also change depending on when you log in.)

So start searching for those Jigsaw Puzzle pieces!

Lucy

Sapphire's in HoP's

From today, 4th August 2011 until the 8th August at noon game time, Howrse are giving us the chance to win a Sapphire in Horns of Plenty. So if you have any spare HoP's sitting in your account or you feel like spending a pass or two, then you may just win yourself one of these wonderful new Divines.

Good luck!

Patsy

The Water Balloon Fight Summer 2011

Well, it's all go on Howrse at the moment as we go straight from the Potion Contest into the Water Balloon Fight.

This is a great contest and anyone can join in. Water balloons will appear as UFOs for you to catch. Inside each water balloon there are prizes - anything from ageing points and apples to tack and BM items. You get to keep the item and you get the chance to give an exact copy of your item to a friend - by throwing a water balloon at them.

At the end of the contest, the players who have thrown the most water balloons to their friends will receive the following prizes:

1st - 10th: 2 x Harmony Pack and 100,000e

11th - 50th: 1 x Harmony Pack and 50,000e

51st - 100th: 50,000e

You can only receive a maximum of 15 balloons per week but you can throw as many as you can catch.

The contest runs until 5 August at noon game time so get throwing those water balloons!

Lucy

Fruit Salad Potion contest is extended

Howrse announced today (18th July 2011) that the Fruit Salad Potion contest has been extended until noon, Game Time on Wednesday 20th July.

So that means you all now have an extra two days in which to get those missing fruits, horns and feathers for your potions. However, the Flash Sales will still end today at noon, although on Howrse's page about this it says the 16th! We're assuming they mean the 18th though.

Additionally, the extra Unicorn breeding times which are currently available, will also be extended until 20th July at noon, Game Time. So you can now also breed Uni's at 10.58am and 9.58pm Game Time until the end of the contest.

So get potioning. Hmmm, that's not a word is it? Never mind. Have fun!

Patsy

Ultimate Howrse Summer Giveaway - Winners

Well we had a fantastic response to our contest so thank you to all of you who entered. Well, it's a shame not everyone can win but the three lucky players who did, are listed below:
FIRST PRIZE, A Helios' Ray - blubell
SECOND PRIZE, A Ploutos' Parchment - stormie11
THIRD PRIZE,  A Squirrel - Chaddie


So congratulations to all our lucky winners. We hope you enjoy your prizes. We will be running more competitions in the future so make sure you visit Ultimate Howrse regularly.

Now I have to head off back to Howrse. I need to check on my Humphrey!

Patsy

The Ultimate Howrse Summer Giveaway

It's summer and here at Ultimate Howrse we're enjoying the sunshine. And when it's sunny, Patsy and LucyLou like nothing more than to share our good mood with you - our wonderful readers.

So we have devised a brilliantly simple contest for you to enter. And when we say simple - we mean simple. You don't need to know anything to enter and anyone who plays on International Howrse can play. All you have to do is post a comment below that includes your Howrse player name. How easy is that?

OK, so what do you win? Well we are offering three fantastic prizes. The winners will be chosen at random so everyone has a fair chance. You can win:

First Prize: A Helios' Ray

Second Prize: A Ploutos' Parchment

Third Prize: A Squirrel

Rules:

• Only one entry per person
• You must post your Player (user) name in a comment to enter
• You can add more to your comment if you wish. Feel free to say hello!
• You must be registered on the International version of Howrse
• You must have a Karma of at least +1
• You must spell your player name correctly or we cannot verify who you are
• Absolutely NO personal information is to be included, such as your email address
• Winners will be notified by Private Message on International Howrse
• If you are under 16, please get your parents' permission to enter
• Prizes will be sent via the Item Exchange and via Gifting

The contest closes at 8pm GAME TIME on Friday 15th July 2011. So make sure you enter and get your friends to enter too.

Good luck everyone!

Patsy & LucyLou

UPDATE: Once the contest closes at 8pm game time on Friday 15 July 2011, we will choose the winners by drawing the names from a hat. We will then contact the winners by private message, on Howrse. After this we will publish the list of winners on Ultimate Howrse as soon as we've contacted everyone.

UPDATE 2: The contest has now closed and we are notifying the three winners. We will publish the names of the winners soon. Please note, several players entered the competition after the deadline, so they could not be included in the draw.

Sapphire- the new Divine horse

This is Sapphire - the latest Divine horse to come to Howrse and he arrives by way of the current 'Fruit Salad' contest. Like the Ruby Divine, Sapphire gives you diamonds which can be traded to give him more skills or to buy items in the Black Market. 10 diamonds equals 1 pass and Sapphire gives you a diamond on even days and 1000 equus on odd days. So if you look after him every day, you will have enough diamonds to trade for 1 pass, every 20 days!

Howrse also says this about Sapphire: Sapphire is a precious horse. Each time he wakes up, he asks you to come and join him on another player's page. If you follow his instructions, Sapphire gives you a diamond on even days and 1000 equus on odd days.

Each Sapphire comes with a Philospher's Stone and a Water of Youth. Like most Divines they are male and cannot breed and currently they cannot be sold either. This may well change so we'll let you know if and when you can get Sapphires in HoP's or in the sales. They also have 1200 skills split evenly amongst speed, jumping, gallop etc.

Now the only way to get one of these lovely horses right now, is by cooking up a potion using the following ingredients:

15 x Horseshoes
5 x Pegasus Feathers
15 x Ingredients of your choice

But even that isn't quite enough. You need to have made 30 potions throughout the course of the contest too.

So get those potions brewed and maybe you too can soon be the proud owner of a magical, diamond-giving Sapphire!

Good luck,

Patsy


UPDATE: We understand that the issue with Sapphire's not working properly has now been fixed.

Howrse Magic Potions - The Fruit Salad

Starting today until the 16th of July at noon game time Howrse have introduced the Magic Potions competition. You have to collect ingredients for a Fruit Salad and then trade your potions in for Black Market items, companions or the new Divine, Sapphire.

Howrse have also introduced a new breed - the Gypsy Vanner - who can be won during the contest.

Also, because some of the potions require Unicorn horns, for the duration of the contest Howrse have added in two more unicorn breeding times:

10:58 game time
and 21:58 game time

To enter the contest simply click on the link from your Howrse homepage.

Happy Fruit Picking !

Lucy and Patsy

Thank you to our readers

Since LucyLou and I started Ultimate Howrse in September 2009, it has gone from strength to strength. And we are delighted. We are especially pleased with all the comments and feedback we get. Not only that, it's great to see you all helping each other too.

We have always aimed to be the number one place for players to go when they want help, advice or news on Howrse. And with your help, we really are getting there. You, our readers, are part of a huge worldwide community of players who visit Ultimate Howrse in growing numbers.

And speaking of numbers, since we began we have had over 56,000 visits with more than 113,000 page views. And we now average over 300 visits every single day. And this is brilliant because the more people who visit, the more comments are left for you to read and enjoy. We try to answer every question you ask, but often other players provide their own answers too, which really helps us out. You are certainly a very helpful and supportive lot!

So we wanted to say a big 'thank you' to all our lovely readers who continue to use Ultimate Howrse as their first choice for Howrse help. And don't forget, you can post a comment or question on any of our articles or you can email us at: ultimatehowrse@me.com. You can also follow us by clicking on the 'Follow' button on the right hand side of the page. That way you can become part of the Ultimate Howrse family.

So let your friends know about Ultimate Howrse and then they too can join the biggest and friendliest Howrse community on the internet!

Happy Howrse-ing,

Patsy