Gypse

We've written about the Gypse divine horse before but we've never written about what a Gypse is and what makes it different from other Divines and Specials. So, the Gypse (or 'sand' horse) first appeared in the summer of 2010 Beach Competition, when they could be bought with 'sand' which you earned by winning competitions, buying passes, training horses etc. After the competition, Howrse then gave players the chance to win one in a Horn of Plenty (HoP). And I was lucky enough to get one.

Now the Gypse is very unusual in that the skills it had when you got it could vary hugely. Gypse's that were won in the Beach Competition came with zero skills. Players had to use the 'sand' they had left to give the horse skills. However, players who won Gypse's in the HoP's found that they came with 10,000 grains of sand which meant that these Gypse's effectively had around 1300 skills!

Like most Divines, they are male and cannot breed. However they can be sold. What makes them different from all other Divines is the fact that players can add skills to their Gypse every day and they can decide which skills the horse gains. Howrse states that you have to 'rebuild' Gypse's each day but this is a little bit misleading. In fact, you simply get given a certain amount of 'sand' each day which can then allocate to whichever skill you wish.

The best way to explain this is to show you. Click on one of the links below to see what happens when you activate your Gypse horse each day.

Ultimate Howrse video guide - Rebuilding Gypse (Standard definition)

Ultimate Howrse video guide - Rebuilding Gypse (High definition)

So that's all you need to know about the Gypse.

Patsy

The Fountain

With the Wandering Horses competition there was a great deal of discussion in the forums about the Grand Prix element. To win the 'Shy' horse, you needed to enter the Grand Prix. And the best way of getting enough points for this was to get a Fountain because you were awarded 50 points towards your'Shy'. Neither LucyLou or I had ever won a Fountain as they are only awarded to players who come in the top 100 of the Grand Prix each week.

Well, last week I managed to come 36th in the Grand Prix and so was awarded a Fountain (along with a Falabella, but I'll talk about that later!) which you can see in the picture above. As you can see it replaces the icon for water above the 'Drink' label. So what does it do? Well, with a normal water, your horse gets +2 energy and +1 morale. With the Fountain, your horse get +6 energy and +3 morale. This is really useful, especially when you are training/blupping your horse.

Now the Fountain only lasts a week. After that it disappears and you have to come in the top 100 of the Grand Prix again to get another one. However, a really good thing about the Fountain is that in the week that you have it - it appears on all your horses, which is fabulous.

So that's the Fountain.

Patsy

Ultimate Howrse videos

We're big fans of technology (as well as Howrse of course) here at Ultimate Howrse, and we thought it would be a rather great idea to try a new way of helping all of our lovely readers. So we decided to try our hand at video guides. Whilst we love writing about all of our hints, tips and news, sometimes it 's just so much easier if we can actually show you instead. As from today, we will, from time to time, be using video to help you learn about Howrse, its features, gameplay and much more.

As you'll see, we've added a new tag (called 'Video' obviously!) to help you search for anything we've posted to our YouTube channel. Below is our first video, so please be patient as it's out first attempt. Practice makes perfect remember!

This first video is really just a test and is intended for people who are brand new to Howrse. We shall be producing videos ona whole range of topics, so if you have any requests, just drop us an email to ultimatehowrse@me.com and we'll do our best to help.

Ultimate Howrse video - The Menus

Ultimate Howrse video - The Menus (High Definition)

Enjoy,

Patsy

Howrse foal games from April 2011

UPDATE: Following the changes made by Howrse in July 2012, these foal games will no longer work. See the ALL NEW foal games here.

These foal games have been devised since the major changes by Howrse in April 2011. With the removal of the saltstone, the removal of the two-carrot bonus and the increase in gains from the 'double lesson' the whole way foals are trained has changed. So it's great news that StaciMM has come up with these foal games to allow for these changes. So a big thanks to her, and here is her guide. We've tested it and it works perfectly:


This will work for any size horse/pony and should NOT result in a seriously overweight/unhealthy horse.
Board your foal in a centre with carrots & clean, fertile meadows, and make sure morale is 100% when you put the foal to bed at 6 months old.


Put your horse to bed in the meadow each night. If the temperature is under 10C put your horse to bed in the box.


NOTE: Your horse will now need a companion to be able to do these games.


8 months
Groom/1 Hr Pasture/1 Hr Games/Turnip/Feed 4 pounds/7 Hrs Games/Stroke/Carrot/Water


10 months
Groom/1 Hr Pasture/1 Hr Games/Turnip/Feed 4 Pounds/1 Hr Games/1.5 Hrs Pasture/7 Hrs Games/Stroke/Carrot/Water


12 months
Groom/1 Hr Pasture/1 Hr Games/Turnip/Feed 4 Pounds/8 Hrs Games/Stroke/Carrot/Water


1 year 2 months
Groom/1 Hr Pasture/1 Hr Games/Turnip/9 Hrs Games/Stroke/Carrot/Water/Feed **Feed 2-3 pounds less than it recommends**


1 year 4 months
Groom/30 Minutes Pasture/1 Hr Games/Turnip/Feed 4 pounds/10 Hrs Games/Stroke/Carrot/Water


1 year 6 months
Groom/30 Minutes Pasture/2 Hr Games/Turnip/Feed 14 Pounds/10 Hrs Games/1 Hr Games/Stroke/Carrot/Water


At most ages you are feeding a little less than recommended so as to get ready to overfeed at 18 mos. You MUST feed 14 pounds at 18 months to be able to put your horse to bed with 20% energy. Do not feed more than 4 pounds on each day when it says to feed just 4 pounds. The horse is eating a little in the pasture, and will be at a good/healthy weight when games are done. A pony (or small horse) may need to be underfed slightly at 20 months.So good luck with your foal games. As long as you follow these instructions carefully, you will be rewarded with a perfect 1.2 GP gain on your horse.

Check out our post on Training Methods to find out what to do next.


Patsy