Mars - the new Solar System Divine

Mars - the new Divine

As we predicted, Saturn is not the only Divine in the Solar System set of horses - please welcome Mars.

He could be won in the Journey Cards promotion earlier this month.

Mars is 3000 years old and has 1200 skills. You can go on rides on the supernova to increase his skills further and every time you gain 20 skill points he will give you a diamond.

Were you lucky enough to win him? Let us know.

Lucy

Saturn - the new Divine

Saturn - the new Solar System Divine

Well, we haven't actually had a new Divine on Howrse for a while. Most contests have involved winning one of the new Wild Horses.

So it's time to say hello to Saturn who can be won currently during the painting contest.

Now Saturn is part of the Solar system horses. So I think we can safely assume there will be more Divines named after planets / moons in the future!


Saturn is born aged 3000 with 1200 skills. You can go on rides in the Milky way to increase his skills.
On every full moon (so roughly once a month), Saturn will give his owner 5 diamonds, as long as you have logged in at least once over the past 3 days.

Let us know if you've managed to get yourself a Saturn and what you think of having more Divines on the game.

Lucy

Palomino Sleipnirs are here

Happy New Year everyone and what better way to start 2012 than with a new Divine. Yes, for those of you who managed to get  all 12 Greyfells in the Christmas Card competition, today (the 1st of the month) you can transform one of your Greyfells into a gorgeous Palomino Sleipnir.

I was up early, despite it being New Year's Day and was the third player on Howrse to transform one of my Greyfells into the new Sleipnir. This was done by finding the one Greyfell which had an 'Action' button added to its page. Clicking this gives you a message box and then an email which confirms that your Greyfell is 'transforming' into a Palomino Sleipnir. A minute later - he arrives!

They are the same as the existing Sleipnirs - 1500 skills, all male, cannot reproduce but they can be sold. They are 422 years old and 16.3 hands high. They also have a GP of 1080 with 54 greenstars. 

So here he is in all his glory. For those of you, who have been lucky enough to get one, remember - he can't run away now so you can relax, enjoy your beautiful new Sleipy as well as the New Year!

Patsy

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

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

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.

Ruby - the new lottery Divine

Meet Ruby, the new Divine Horse who you can win in the latest Howrse Lottery.

Like most Divines, Ruby is male and cannot be bred or sold. You get him aged 83 years and 6 months. He has 1200 skills, is immortal and has a Water of Youth already on him.

Every time Ruby has a birthday he earns his owner 5 diamonds. Now diamonds can be traded to give Ruby more skills or to buy items in the Black Market. 1 pass is equivalent to 10 diamonds. Every other day that isn't his birthday Ruby gains a little in height. He starts at 22 hands so he's going to be a very tall horse!

Only 1 Ruby is won in each lottery draw so cross your fingers and good luck. (I do hope I'm lucky enough to win one as I think he's very pretty...!)

Lucy

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

Balios - the new Lottery Divine

Today, we welcome a new Divine to Howrse - Balios. He is the brother of Xanthos and comes in four different types - Solar, Lightning, Nebula and Snowflake.

On the 19th of each month he gives his owner a Nyx Pack - providing that they connected to Howrse the day before - very generous we think!

Now, at the moment the only way to get a Balios is to enter the Howrse Lottery and have a go at winning him. As I type only 1 Balios exists in the whole game - you can take a look at the first Balios won by clicking here. Currently Balios cannot be sold, although it looks as though this may change at some point in the future.

Balios is born aged over 740 years old and with 800 skills (although this may vary depending on the type). According to Howrse his skills will increase a little bit each day - rather like an Ocean.

So get buying those Lottery tickets and let's see if you're lucky enough to win a lovely Balios. I know I'll be trying...

Lucy

EDIT 9th August 2011: You can now win a Balios by being one of the first 30 players to complete the Jigsaw Puzzle contest.

Ocean update

Well, the skills keep on gaining. My Ocean has just 'grown up' and is now 1 year and 6 months old. His skills have increased again and are now 1707.60. However, things are still a little bit weird. I spoke to another player today who told me that their Ocean who is still only 4 months old also has 1707.60 skills! I had to check to see if it were true. And indeed it was.

So just a few days ago, there were no Oceans as young as 4 months with 1707.60 skills. We've even checked the parents' BLUP and age and Oceans with identical parental skills, BLUP and age produced Oceans with different inborn skills.

Very strange. So if you have any ideas about the weird world of Oceans' skills - leave a comment. and maybe we'll work out what's going on!

Patsy

UPDATE: As of 12 Jan - skills are now 1711.60 .....

Ocean Divine Horse

Well most of you will have seen these wonderful new Divine horses by now. They are unique in that they are the first Divine foals on Howrse. They could only be born by breeding a Snow horse with a Mist. And having looked through the Directory (on Howrse) it seems as if hundreds have been born so far.

At the time of writing, we are still a few hours away from seeing the first adult Oceans, although there have been images of them floating around the site. But as foals, there have been some interesting discussions taking place in the forums about their skills. Some people reported that their Ocean foal had 1693.20 skills when born but others had 1695 and 1696 skills. However, it was soon clear that Oceans' don't gain any skills from foal games but they do gain skills as time goes by - every two days. Some players were saying that they were gaining skills at different rates to other players. So, for example I spoke to someone who's Ocean had 1702.80 skills aged 8 months, but my Ocean only acheived 1702.80 skills when aged 1 year!

Very interesting. A huge debate took place about this and people were suggesting that the BLUP of the mare (Mist horse) was affecting the Ocean's inborn skills or that matching the Snow's top skills with those of the Mist (Mist's top skills change each day) was affecting the inborn skills of the Oceans'. But no-one could explain why some Ocean's gained skills faster than others.

Well one thing seems a little clearer now - all Ocean foals aged up to 1 year and 4 months have reached the same skills - 1702.80. Right now, we don't know if they will keep increasing but we shall definitely let you know.

I think that's enough figures for now. My head hurts!

Patsy

Mist - the new Christmas Divine

Well here it is. The brand new Divine Horse! And you can get one by purchasing a pack pf 30 passes before 23.59 Game Time on Christamas Day 2010. Or if you've been lucky enough to collect enough Reindeer you may win one through the advent calendar.

Now Mist is the very first Divine that can reproduce. Here's what Howrse have to say about it:

Mist is a divine mare that has the ability to share its skills. Its skills vary from day to day: One day it'll be good at galloping, the next day it'll be good at endurance... It can reproduce with a Snow to give birth to Ocean.

Mist and Ocean can not be sold.
Mist can only have one single foal.

Now we believe that you cannot use BM items on a Mist when breeding. So no Tears, Arrows etc. We'll let you know more as we find out.

Since Divines can only age naturally overnight it will take a few days before we get to see what Ocean looks like - so keep your eyes peeled!

Merry Christmas everyone,

Patsy and Lucy

UPDATE: We've both just received out Mist's and they are lovely. Let the breeding begin ....

Dressage Snow horse

To coincide with the new dressage competitions and objectives, Howrse have bought out a brand new, shiny Snow horse. And this lovely fella is designed to excel in, of course - dressage.

At present, the only way of getting this new Snow horse is by purchasing 30 passes before 11pm GMT on 26th September 2010. Although I'm sure you'll be able to get your hands on one in other ways before too long.

OK, so what are those important statistics on Howrse's latest Divine?

Like all Snow's, this one has a total of 1500 skills, with 350 skills in it's top two disciplines and 200 skills in the rest. For the 'dressage' Snow - it has 350 skills in Dressage and 350 skills in Trot. It has 1000 GP (Genetic Potential) and is 46 'starred'. When you get your new Snow he will be 500 years old and, like all other Divine's he cannot breed. But unlike other Divines (not including the Cowbra) he cannot be sold. And finally, his name is in white - indicating he's a 'dressage' Snow. All Snow's have a colour-coded name to show you what their speciality is.

So, that's the new Snow horse. Hope you enjoy yours!

Patsy

Archimedes

Archimedes is a Special horse and we don't just mean his breed. So, yes, firstly, Archimedes' are Special horses. The other breeds of Special horse are Harlequins and Falabellas. Now Archimdedes' is unique because players can win aging points from him. Players can get an aging point from one Archimedes each day, by visiting his page and answering a question correctly. It's as simple as that.

When a player answers a question correctly - the Archimedes gains intelligence. If you look at an Archimedes' page, you'll see a bar (like the ones for health, morale and energy) that show his intelligence. When players answer a question correctly, his intelligence increases. If they get the answer wrong, his intelligence decreases.

Archimedes' also look rather grand as they wear a special blanket and a mortar board, which is a special sort of hat that people wear when they have gained a degree at University. Archimedes is indeed a very clever fellow. Which brings us to the fact that, just like all Divine and Special horses - they are all male and cannot breed. He also has a rather low GP of just 350, so won't win you many races.

This breed of Special horse first appeared when Howrse closed down it's quiz site which was a separate site from the main game. Archimedes' didn't exist at this point. They were created and handed out by Howrse to people who had completed 100 challenges on the 'Howrse Quiz' site. There are 1,117 Archimedes' in the game although this figure may change as players leave the game.

So now you know about him, you can go and start getting those free ageing points!

Patsy

Snow Horses

Snow horses are another type of Divine within Howrse. Snow horses came about in a rather exciting way. On Christmas day, 2009, if you bought 30 passes Howrse awarded you a Snow horse. It was as simple as that.

Now there are five different Snow horses - one for each of the races. So, each type of Snow horse excells in different skills.

Howrse describes it like this:

* Blue indicates a specialist in cross-country.
* Red is for show jumping specialists.
* Green designates trotters.
* Purple is for horses specialized in gallop.
* Orange indicates a barrel-racing expert.

The Snow horses themselves are all the same colour, but their name 'Snow' is written in the same colour as their best skill - as shown above. All Snow's have 1500 skills, 1000 GP and 46 stars. Like all Divine horses, they are male and cannot breed. Unlike all other Divines so far (apart from the solo 'Cowbra') they cannot be sold. So you cannot buy them.

We love our Snow's but just wonder what this Christmas may bring...

Patsy

Croesus

The Croesus' first appeared on Howrse in the spring of 2010. To get one, players had to be in the first 100 players to reach level 10 of the 'old' Achievements. Myself and LucyLou were lucky enough to be amongst those first 100 players. As it happened, about 120 Croesus' were given out originally, due to variations in people getting their level 10 of the Achievements.

Each of these first 100 or so players was also awarded a 'VIP' icon which remains on their profile pages. After the first 100+ players had won their Croesus', Howrse decided to allow people the chance of winning one (without the 'VIP' badge icon!) in Horns of Plenty. This obviously meant many players were buying a lot of passes in the hope of winning one of these rare Divine horses.

Now all the Croesus' have been given out and there are less than two hundred in the game - making them both rare and valuable. One or two have been sold in the auctions and have fetched a huge amount of equus - around 4.5 million!

So, what are Croesus' and what do they do? Well here is Howrse's own explanation:


Croesus is a Divine horse that produces money instead of manure. Every 13th day of each month, Croesus earns his owner 1 pass provided the owner was logged on the previous day. If the 13th falls on a Friday, Croesus earns his owner 2 passes.
Every month, one horse among those named Junior Croesus is turned into Croesus.

Aside from this, Croesus' skills aren't that great - just 470 skills when you get them. They can be Clouded so will make around 505 skills. Like all Divine's - they are male and cannot breed.

However, they are a lovely addition to anyone's collection - especially if you also have that little pink 'VIP icon sitting on your page!

Patsy

Xanthos stroking

Every day you login on Howrse you are allowed to stroke up to 5 Xanthos'. Each Xanthos you stroke gives you a chance of winning 1000 equus and a Horn of Plenty (HoP).

If you are lucky enough to win one, Howrse will let you know by sending you an email (on your Howrse account). Then you need to go to the Black Market, choose 'Horn of Plenty' and open one. Make sure to select from the one you have in your stock and not to use a pass to buy one!

So how do you find 5 Xanthos? There are several ways, but our favourite is to use one of the Xanthos lists. Not only are all (or most) of the Xanthos' listed in one place, some lists have an automatic stroke feature. This means you just click on the link to a Xanthos and is stroked automatically. The easiest list we know of is in the EC forum owned by the Moderator 'funnyone'. You can find her in the list of 'Mods' at the top of the Event forum page or the Game Play forum.

We tend to win a HoP (and 1000 equus) a couple of times a week. And getting free Black Market items in a HoP is really pretty fabulous. So make sure you get your '5 a day' and good luck!

UPDATE: We've kindly been sent a link by CraXoR, who used to play on Howrse. This link allows you to stroke 5 Xanthos' at once! So here's the link for you: Instant Xanthos Strokes


Patsy

The Cowbra

You'll know about Arabians, Irish Hunters, Donkeys, Xanthos and maybe even the fantastical, 8-legged Sleipnirs. But did you know that another Divine horse exists on Howrse? There is only one. It is completely unique. It's called 'Cowbra' and you can see it in the picture.

So what is it? Where did it come from and will there be any more?

Simply, it was a gift from Howrse to one lucky player - Michiba. During Christmas 2008/9, Howrse sold card packs to players. In just one of these packs (a Freyia pack) was a code which gave the recipient a very, very special horse - Cowbra.

Cowbra can never breed and, more importantly, it can never be sold. Even if the owner wanted to do so - Cowbra will be with her for ever.

When he arrived, he was 673 years old with 2000 skills! He can actually be trained (just with rides) and has now reached an incredible 2031.61 skills!

So there it is. Cowbra - unique, fasciniating and truly Divine.


Patsy