Howrse is 10 years old - Birthday Candles contest April 2017

Happy Birthday Howrse! Today the game turns 10 years old. To celebrate they are holding a short one-day contest where you have to find the candles hidden around the game. If you follow the clues and find all the candles you'll win an Ow's Helios' Ray.

To get started, head to the event page. Here you'll find clue number one. Go to the webpage that the clue leads you to and find the picture of the candle hidden somewhere on that page. Once you find it, click on it and it'll give you the next clue. There are 10 candles to find in total.



Where to find the candles:

• Candle one: Hidden on the event page itself
• Candle two: Hidden on the birthdays page
• Candle three: Click on any player who has a birthday today - you'll find the candle at the top of their profile page
• Candle four: Hidden on your own profile page
• Candle five: Hidden on your account page next to the date of your birthday
• Candle six: Go to your trophies page and scroll down to the birthday trophy at the bottom
• Candle seven: Go to the sales page and click 'more criteria' in the search options
• Candle eight: Hidden on the page of a horse born on 23 April. The best way to find one is to go to the team rankings, choose an active team and go to the last tab of their horses. This horse will work
• Candle nine: You need to visit the page of a horse in your own breeding farm that is more than 10 years old.
• Candle ten: Hidden on the page where you invite friends to play Howrse

Remember you must visit them in order or you won't find the candles!

You might also come across a star rain - which is like a super UFO with gifts that can include Black Market items such as HoPs or Nyx Packs. Click on one of the stars to get your gift.

Enjoy the celebrations.

Lucy

Ow's Memories Easter 2017

A brand new promo has come to Howrse - Ow's Memories!

It's an easy game to recognise - if you've ever played the memory game Pairs. The idea is you keep turning over pairs of tiles until you find a pair with matching pictures. To complete a level you must match up all the tiles it contains. You'll win prizes for each level you complete. As you progress through the levels they get harder - and there are more pairs to find in each. If you get all the way to level 20 you will win the new Divine Fern.



How to play

Turn over your tiles two by two.

Each pair you turn over costs you one key.

If the two tiles you turn over show the same picture, then you've found a pair and it gets removed from the level. If they don't match, they will turn back over and you have to try again.

Top tip: Draw a diagram of your tiles and make a note of what they are as you turn them over (or take screenshots). This way you won't waste any keys guessing. This will be particularly useful on the later levels when there will be a lot of tiles and you won't necessarily be able to finish the level in one go.

How to get keys:

• when you first log in (6 per day)
• by completing objectives
• by buying them with passes

The game also includes jokers which you can use to help you identify where a tile's matching pair might be. There are three different types and you can get them by completing objectives or by buying them with passes.

Jokers:

• The 4 Make a Pair joker highlights 4 tiles, one of which is the twin of the tile you turned over.
• The Favorable Alignment joker highlights the row or column where the twin of the tile you turned over is hidden.
• The Family Ties joker highlights tiles in the same series as the tile you turned over.

Each level gives you a certain number of objectives that allow you to gain more keys and jokers. Make sure you complete all your objectives before you finish the level in order to not miss out.

I'm quite excited about this contest as it's something new to try. Really pleased Howrse have come up with something a bit different instead of rolling out versions of contests we've seen before.

Get those memories sharpened up and happy matching!

Lucy

P.S. Coming soon - the Wandering Horses are back. Keep your eyes peeled!

Maze Event April 2017

For their latest event, Howrse have brought back the mazes.

As you travel through each of the mazes you can pick up prizes along the way. There are four mazes to find your way through until 10 April 2017. If you make it through all of them you win the new Divine Taranis.








How to play

To get started you need to choose a horse to accompany you. Remember that you can't look after or sell your horse while they are in the maze with you so choose carefully.

Each step you take through the maze costs 10 paces. Your paces will regenerate at between 3 and 5 paces an hour. 

Top tip: Choose the highest skilled horse you can - their paces will regenerate faster.

As well as prizes ranging from tack and food to Black Market items, you will also find spyglasses and treats in the maze.

• One treat allows you to move one step in the maze (even if your horse has no paces left). You will find treats in groups of three.
• A spyglass uncovers squares on the maze map so you can see more clearly where you're going and how to get to the prizes.

Top tip: Work out if it's worth going to get the treats or not. If they're 1 step down a dead-end then it only costs you 2 steps to fetch them and get back to where you were - but you're gained 3 steps in return.

You can gain extra treats by using a Titan's Challenge during the promotional periods (usually at weekends).

Prizes

• Maze One: A winged draft horse - the first time they've been available on the game.
• Maze Two: Helios' Ray and a Golden Horseshoe
• Maze Three: Titan's Challenge and a Golden Horseshoe
• Maze Four: New Divine Taranis and a Golden Horseshoe

I find that you end up having to spend quite a bit on the maze event to make it through to the end, so it's not one of my personal favourites. Calculations suggest you'll be able to get all the way to the end of maze three for free, as long as you don't miss any steps and you don't go off course to collect prizes. However, if you're not aiming for the Divine then I'd suggest going to fetch the prizes hidden on the way as it's a good way to stock up on useful items without having to try too hard!

Happy mazing.

Lucy

Plants Event March 2017

So the latest event to get involved with on Howrse is the Plants!

The aim is to plant seeds and grow plants to win prizes until 20 March 2017. Each seed takes a different amount of time and water to grow, and offers you a different prize. Each plant you harvest also counts towards the Divine Plant - and if you manage to fully grow your Divine Plant you win the new Divine Carnivorus.





How to play

To get started you need some seeds. You can earn these:

• when you log in for the first time each day (2 per day)
• via the daily objectives
• by buying them with your passes

You then need to sow your seeds. Note you can only grow 5 plants at any one time.

Your plants grow every day when you log in for the first time each day. You can also help them to grow more by giving them water. You can earn water:

• when you log in for the first time each day (20 per day)
• via the daily objectives
• in gifts from your friends (maximum 4 times per day)
• by buying them with your passes

Once your plant reaches 100%, harvest it and retrieve your prize.

Yellow seeds are the quickest to grow and give you basic prizes like tack and food items.

• + 5% upon first daily login
• + 5% per water added

Green seeds take a bit longer and give you basic BM items such as Helios's Rays and Achilles' Heels.

• + 4% upon first daily login
• + 4% per water added

Red seeds offer even better BM items including Bonus Packs and Aphrodite's Tears.

• + 3% upon first daily login
• + 3% per water added

Orange seeds take the longest to grow but offer the best prizes - such as Philosopher's Stones and Hestia's Gifts

• + 2% upon first daily login
• + 2% per water added

Each plant you harvest adds 1% to your Divine Plant's growth. You can also buy boosters for your Divine Plant in the shape of Flies. These are available in packs which cost passes (starting at 1 pass for 2 Flies). Each Fly adds 0.25% growth to your Divine Plant.

Good luck and happy planting.

Lucy

The Piñatas January 2017

The Piñatas are back - this time with a bird theme!

One of my favourite promotions, it's quite easy to get some good prizes as long as you regularly log into the game. Until the 6th February 2017 you can try to open your Piñatas and win gifts. There are 20 Piñatas to crack in total and if you manage to open them all you win the new Plant Kingdom Divine - Liana. You can also win a Gypsum Divine with Piñata #17.

Your Piñata will open once you have reached the required number of points. You can earn points in the following ways:

• by clicking on your Piñata (at first you can do this 5 times per day but it becomes more often as you complete objectives)
• by purchasing Mace Blows on the Black Market
• by asking your friends to click on your Piñata (at first just 1 friend can help you per day, again this increases as you complete objectives)
• by completing objectives

Each Piñata offers between 1 and 3 additional objectives. If you complete these objectives they allow you to collect extra clicks.

For example, on Piñata number 1 the objectives are to click on your Piñata (for this you earn 5 Mace Blows) and to stroke a horse (for this your friend clicks will earn 2 points instead of 1).

Each Piñata offers gifts once opened ranging from aging points and tack to Black Market items.

One of the good things about this version of the event is that you can click on the arrow next to your current progress box to see the all the upcoming Piñatas, exactly how many points they require and what objectives you'll need to complete - so you can plan ahead!

Good luck and happy clicking.

Lucy

Horse Adventure - Tale of Etria

So, not strictly a post about Howrse however... The makers of the game have just launched a new mobile app game called Horse Adventure - Tale of Etria.

It's available to download for free on both IOS and Android, and like Howrse you can play the whole thing for free or you can speed up your progress through the game with in-app purchases.

You and your horse will go on an adventure through the magical world of Etria. The Millennial Horses have disappeared and the Ancients need your help to bring them back and restore magic to their lands.

The game involves you riding your horse and moving through various landscapes to discover items and help solve the mystery. You will meet several characters along the way and complete tasks and challenges in order to progress. There are 4 maps to explore with different landscapes to ride through in each.

You can train and care for your horses as you go - just like Howrse, however it's more interactive as both your avatar and horses are moving. I think fans of RPGs will really like this game as it's a more immersive experience than Howrse.

I was lucky enough to be invited to test the game when they were developing it last year - and would highly recommend downloading it to any Howrse fans. If you want to share your progress or ask questions about the game then feel free to comment below.

You can find out more about the game on the website horse-adventure.com

Have fun on your adventures in Etria!

Update April 2017: Howrse have just released two new Divine horses, Etrian and Wikaila, which can only be earned by playing Horse Adventure and completing certain quests. Etrian can be earned after completing quest 21 and Wikaila after quest 52. You can do these for free but you will have to invest a bit of time playing the game before you reach these quests.

Once you have successfully finished each quest, you'll get a code in Horse Adventure that you will have to enter on the "Pass Page" in the "Promotional Codes" box to receive the divine horse on your Howrse account.

Note the codes only last for 8 days and are only valid for a single use by one player.

Lucy

Annual Survey 2016

Keep an eye on your inbox today - Howrse have sent round the link to their annual survey for 2016.

The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete and asks for your opinions on the game over the past year. It has questions about contests, particularly around what you liked and didn't like, as well as your thoughts on new features and how the game works across different platforms such as your smartphone. They're also after what you think the game should look like in the future. So if you're keen to share your thoughts - this is the perfect opportunity to get your feedback to the Howrse team.

It also includes a series of questions on pass purchases and the paid subscription accounts - Pegasus and VIP. I know that a lot of you have some very strong opinions about these features, so make sure your voice is heard.

Very interestingly they also asked about players who blog / have social media accounts regarding the game, (including asking for links). So hello game team if you're reading this!

Lucy

Snowball Fight

And it's time for another snowball fight on Howrse! One of the easier and shorter events, the snowball fight is simple to take part in - and the good news is it won't cost you any passes either.

From now until Monday 16th January the regular UFOs have been replaced by snowballs containing gifts. Catch one and it will give you two prizes. One is for you, and one is to gift to your friends by throwing it at them inside a snowball.

To throw a snowball, simply go to the snowball fight page, pick a gift and select a friend to throw it to.

There are some really good prizes available for the players that throw the most snowballs:

General consensus is that UFO's appear on your game once every three hours. So if you want to win the big prizes, be prepared to spend some serious time on the game over the next week. If anyone has any other advice or tips on how they find UFOs then feel free to post below.

Good luck and happy snowball hunting!

Lucy

The Vegetable Garden

The latest contest on Howrse is the Vegetable Garden.

Until 4th July you can plant seeds, grow vegetables and harvest gifts from them in your vegetable patch. The gifts range from aging points, tack and turnips to Nyx Packs, 5th Elements and even the new wind Divine - Skeiron.

You earn seeds by logging on each day and completing various missions around the game. There are currently 7 vegetable patches available for you to grow your seeds in (this will increase later on in the contest).

How do you grow your vegetables?

• Sow your seeds
• Your vegetables grow at your first connection of the day
• You can water your vegetables to increase their growth (at first, once every 8 hours)
• You can earn fertilisers by opening Horns of Plenty to boost your plants' growth
• Once your plant is fully grown, harvest your vegetables and you will earn a random gift from the ones available for that plant

There are 5 types of seeds available:

Tomato seeds

Gifts: Eolus' Wind, Croesus' Fortune, Daphne's Laurels, 1000e, 5000e, Made-to-Measure Saddle, Made-to-Measure Bridle, 10 x Energy Mash, 10 x Caloric Mash, 20 x Turnips

Growth: + 5% at first connection of day, +10% at each watering (uses 12 gallons from your water tank), +30% with fertiliser

Corn seeds

Gifts: Achilles' Heel, Boreas' Lunge, Philotes' Stroke, Golden Spurs, Black Orchid, Pandora's Box, Artemis' Arrow, Plutos' Parchment, 10,000e, 10 x aging points

Growth: + 4% at first connection of day, +8% at each watering (uses 24 gallons from your water tank), +24% with fertiliser

Eggplant seeds

Gifts: Aphrodite's Tears, Fertiliser, Horn of Plenty, Philosopher's Stone, Harmony Pack, Chronos' Timer, Zeus' Lightning Bolt, Fertility Wand, Water of Youth, Helios' Ray

Growth: + 3% at first connection of day, +6% at each watering (uses 36 gallons from your water tank), +18% with fertiliser

Cauliflower seeds

Gifts: 5th Element, Themis' Scales, Titan's Challenge, Hestia's Gift, Nyx Pack, Morpheus' Arms, Hera Pack

Growth: + 2% at first connection of day, +4% at each watering (uses 48 gallons from your water tank), +12% with fertiliser

Pumpkin seed

You get this seed for completing the contest tutorial. Plant it straight away. If you manage to grow this seed and harvest your pumpkin you will win Skeiron, the new Divine horse.

It grows by 1% for every other vegetable you harvest. You can also give it fertiliser to gain 1% growth.

So, this contest is a choice dependent on which gifts you want to earn. If you want to go for the Divine it's best to plant the tomato seeds as they grow more quickly and will earn more points for your pumpkin seed. If you don't, it's best to go for the higher value seeds and see what Black Market items you will earn.

Good luck and let us know what you decide to go for!

Lucy

The Sweet Treat Workshop

Until 13th June bake cakes on Howrse and earn gifts with the Sweet Treat Workshop contest!

This latest contest allows you to gather ingredients from around the game, follow recipes to bake cakes and earn gifts. The gifts range from turnips, aging points and tack to Hestia's Gifts, Nyx Packs and 5th Elements.

Once you've baked 30 cakes you have the chance to unlock the recipe for the new Gemstone Divine - Quartz.

Ingredients can be found in the following ways:

• when you connect to the game for the first time each day
• when your horses wake up on their birthdays (max 4 per day)
• by entering competitions (max 4 per day)
• by finding tubs of grease with your horses (max 3 per day)
• removing pegasus' wings
• removing unicorn's horns
• in UFOs
• in the Flash Sales
• in Horns of Plenty (2 ingredients per horn)

Once you have enough ingredients for a recipe, choose the gift you wish to make, add the ingredients and put your mixture in the oven. Gifts take various amounts of time to bake - the higher value the gift, the longer they take. You can use boosters (found like ingredients) to reduce the baking time by 2 hours.

Remember that if you're trying to get the Divine, you need to leave enough time for the final recipe to bake before the contest is over.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

Lucy

Gift Machines contest

The Gift Machine Contest

Until the 7th March there is a new contest on Howrse - the Gift Machines!

Every day you can complete 5 objectives which allow you to gather parts to build your machines. The objectives include things like stroking a horse in the Safe Haven or finishing last in a competition. You can also use Horns of Plenty to skip an objective and get the next machine part straight away.

Once you've built a machine you need to earn fuel in order to power your machine.

For example, to build the first machine - the Manure Machine - you need to complete 10 objectives. Then you can collect energy to power it (manure) in the following ways:

• You may find manure instead of droppings when your horses wake up (limited to 300 awakened horses per day): +2
• Turn your horse droppings into manure (at most once every 6 hours): +10
• Recover Ploutos' Parchment from a horse: +10
• Open Horns of Plenty: +60

There are 4 machines to build in total. If you manage to build all 4 and then power up the final machine you will win the new wind Divine horse Caicias.

So get building and let us know what you think of this contest!

Lucy

Wandering Horses contest returns

The first new contest of 2013 has arrived although it isn't actually a new idea. The Wandering Horses contest returns and this time the theme is decidedly aquatic. In fact this version is called 'The 7 Seas Wanderers'.

As previously, you need to complete various actions and tasks during the lifetime of the contest. As you achieve each of these, you are rewarded with a 'visit' form one of seven wandering horses. These horses only visit you for 5 days before, literally, wandering off again. However, they do bring you gifts such as Diamonds, HoP's and even Nyx Packs.

Now once you have completed every task and been visited by all seven of the wandering horses (including the mystery 7th one) you win Zephyr, which is another, new Wild horse in the game.

Now the tasks and actions you are required to complete vary in difficulty. The easiest ones are things like logging on each day or entering competitions. Now, each of the seven sets of tasks require you to gain 100 points.  With some tasks, how many points you gain for each task varies from player to player.

For example, for the Competitions task, (Caraibiana horse) when I hover my mouse over the mission information, it tells be that I gain 0.32 points per race I enter a horse into. I have 100 horses. Now someone else, who owns 10,000 horses will only gain 0.1 points for each race her horses enter. So to get 100 points in the Competitions task, I have to enter 312 races but the person with 10,000 horses has to enter a staggering 1000 races! You have been warned...

Now one thing players complain about every time with the Wandering Horses contest, is that you need to open HoP's in order to complete one of the tasks (Atlantico horse this time). And you only gain 4 points for every Horn of Plenty you open. So you will need to open 25 HoP's to complete this task and get Atlantico, which is a lot of HoP's, especially if you need to use Passes to buy them.

So for many players, this contest is just too expensive, in terms of time and HoP's. However, you can still play along and win some nice free items even if you won't be able to go for that elusive Zephyr.

So enjoy yourselves and good luck!

Patsy

The Enchanted Greenhouse

There's a brand new contest on Howrse today - the Enchanted Greenhouse.

Until the 9th December, the aim is to grow seeds until they bloom into flowers giving you gifts. The gifts are the usual sorts of things - BM items, aging points, turnips and tack items.

If you get 30 seeds to bloom you get a special Gold seed which offers you a new Wild Horse - the Garrano. And if you really do have green fingers and you get 40 seeds to bloom you win another Gold seed which offers you a Brumby Wild Horse.

There are 5 types of seed - Blue, Purple, Pink, Green and Gold. Each offers a different set of gifts.

You can win seeds in the following ways:

• When you log in for the first time each day
• By completing daily missions
• When you get certain flowers blooming
• In the flash sales
• By opening Horns of Plenty (‪2‬ seeds per Horn of Plenty)

Your seeds grow a little bit each day you log in. You can help them along by watering them or by giving them fertiliser.

You can win fertiliser by:

• By completing daily missions
• When you get certain flowers blooming
• In the flash sales
• By opening Horns of Plenty (1 fertiliser per horn of plenty)

Some of the missions also allow you to water your plants more often.

The picture below shows you how long each type of seed takes to grow.

So good luck and happy gardening!

Lucy

The Treasure Race

This week Howrse have introduced a new contest - the Treasure Race.

It's a slight variation on the Pinata contest which we saw earlier in the year. The idea is that you have to click on your current obstacle to knock it down, earn gifts and move to the next level.

There are 20 obstacles in total and if you knock them all down you win a Treasure Chest which contains a new Divine horse - Earth.

To start off with you can click on an obstacle once every 24 hours. Your friends can also help you out at a cost of 200e and a maximum 3 friends per day. The first level requires 2 clicks to complete.

If you complete the objectives on the first two levels you can then click on your obstacle every 12 hours and have up to 4 friends help you. As you move through the levels you'll get more and more help but the number of click taken to complete a level will also increase!

The contest runs until the 18th October - so good luck and enjoy your adventure!

Lucy

Trophies

Howrse has recently introduced the Trophies for those players who have completed all the 100 Objectives.

The idea is that if you collect a certain set of horses, or coats or UFOs you earn a Trophy which is displayed on your page. There is a new ranking to be part of and the top player currently has 180 trophies.

The first set of trophies concern having all the available coat colours for each breed on Howrse. So if you own all the different coat colours of Arabs, you earn a trophy.

There are also trophies for owning Divine and Wild Horses, Golden Apples, Unicorns, Companions (remember those!) and even having a large amount of manure!

You can see your Trophy collections by going to Profile -> My trophies.

So good luck with your collections and let us know how you're getting on.

Lucy

The Titans' Challenge - new Black Market item

Howrse have introduced a new Black Market item called the Titans' Challenge.

It is a bit of a twist on a Horn of Plenty, as the Titans' Challenge allows you to win gifts for your horses but you have to take a bit of a gamble.

The item costs 2 passes. When you purchase it, like a Horn of Plenty, it takes you to a special page where it tells you what you have won. However, with the Titans' Challenge you can decide if you would like to accept the gifts you have been given or go on to the next level to try and win even better prizes.

The gifts can be anything from aging points, ranking points and equus to Black Market items.

Beware though, if you reach a level with no prizes, you automatically lose everything you already have! So decide if you think it's worth the risk or not.

Some people have managed to get all the way to level 8 where you can win a Wild horse of varying breeds.

Until 08.00 Game Time on Monday 24 September you can win a free Titans' Challenge to try for yourself - you just need to win 10 competitions with your horses.

Here's how I got on with mine...

This is the page you get at first...

...I think I'll keep going...

...still going well...

Oh dear!

So good luck - and let us know what you win!

Lucy

Set the horses free!

Well it's a brand new contest on Howrse this week - Set the horses free!

Basically you have to complete a series of levels to earn prizes using your own horses. Each country or level asks you to set free three horses with specific traits. For example, on the first level you have to set free a horse with a black coat. So you have to chose a horse you own with a black coat and set them free.

NOTE: You will not get your horses back. If you chose to set them free then they will disappear from the game.

You can win all sorts of prizes from Black Market items to tack, food and diamonds. The top prize for completing all the levels is Venus - the brand new Solar System Divine.

You can earn Joker horses which automatically fill the place of a horse you don't have. You earn one every day for logging in and can buy more using passes or equus.

So it's a bit of a different contest this time round - have fun but remember not to let your horses go if you don't want to!

Lucy

The Companion Journey

The companions are going home!

To celebrate the fact that Howrse are releasing all the companions back into the wild they're holding a contest - called the Companion Journey - from now until 2nd August.

This is very similar to the journey to the North Pole if anyone remembers that from last year.

You can send all the companions you have left in your inventory off on a journey to earn you gifts. Don't worry though, any companions that are already on your horses will stay.

There are 5 natural habitats that give different gifts and are the home of different companions:

• Farm
• Prairie
• Forest
• Savannah
• Divine

You can win lots of things from aging points and equus to BM items and the new Solar System Divine: Neptune. Journeys take a different number of days and different companions depending on the gift. You need to have completed 25 journeys before you can go and get a Neptune.

NOTE: Your companions DO NOT return at the end of their journey - so plan carefully!

You can earn extra companions in various ways:

• by logging in each day (4 per day)
• by winning competitions (max. 4 per day)
• by coming last in competitions (max. 4 per day)
• in the store
• in UFOs
• in the special companion exchange that has been set up
• in HOPs (4 in each)

At the end of the contest any remaining companions will be removed from the game and you will be credited with 100e for each.

As the companions have been removed from the game you can no longer play foal games with your foal. Foals are now automatically given the 1.2 GP gain at birth. You can however now play games to gain extra skills - visit our All new foal games July 2012 post to find out how.

Lucy

Howrse Cup

A brand new game is coming. It's called Howrse Cup and the game is currently is beta testing with a selected number of players from around the world. There is already some information on this new game, in the Events forum on International Howrse.

Here at Ultimate Howrse, we will be bringing you all you need to know about this groundbreaking new game which will be launched on 24th July 2012.

The game is a limited time game. That means it will only exist for a few months, before the servers are closed. This is because Howrse Cup is a group competition game where the focus is on competing against other teams of players, rather than spending time breeding and training your horses.

The aim of the game is to be the team who win the world championship in December.

A team has up to 15 members and the top 25 teams who collect the most diamonds in the next few months qualify to compete in the world championship for the Howrse Cup. The players of the team that win the Howrse Cup each get 100 passes and a new and exclusive Divine which they can activate on any server they wish.

To earn diamonds on Howrse Cup your horses need to win races. Every race you enter and place 1st - 4th brings you diamonds. The player and team rankings are all based on how many diamonds you have.

You can also enter challenges against other players to try and win their diamonds off them. For a challenge each player enters 2 horses into a Trot, Gallop, Showjumping, Cross Country and Dressage head-to-head competition. Whoever wins overall gets the diamonds.

However, it's not as easy as it sounds. On Howrse Cup you cannot see the skills or GPs of any of the other players horses - so you have no idea what you're up against!

The game is set up to make it as easy as possible to get your horses trained and start competing. Horses age 4 months instead of 2 and there are no WoYs, there are no rides, no strokes, no turnips and training is done in chunks of 3 hours in a single click.

There are no foal games, your horses age every 6 hours instead of waiting for the update and you can only buy / sell 1 horse a week (unless you have a Unicorn Account, similar to Howrse's Pegasus Account). Another thing is that you can't make your horses immortal!

Horses only start to lose health after the age of 30 and they never lose their skills - so you can keep them alive with Black Orchids if you wish. It takes a while to get used to after playing Howrse but is really simple once you pick it up.

So, an exciting development from Owlient and one we will be following closely. And of course, we will bring all the news and developments as they happen. Watch this space!

UPDATE: A lot of you are asking questions about the Howrse Cup, both here and in the forum on Howrse. Here are answers to some of those:

Q. Can I bring my horses over from Howrse to the Howrse Cup?

A. No. You start from scratch with just one horse

Q. Do you HAVE to buy passes to play?

A. No. But without passes, you have no chance of winning enough races to gain enough diamonds for your team, to climb the rankings.

Q. What is the point of the Howrse Cup.

A. To win. You join (or create) a team of players and compete against other teams to win as many diamonds as possible.  You win diamonds by coming 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th in races. That's it!

Finally, there is a great deal of chatter about the Howrse Cup. It's important to be clear - this is a separate game from Howrse. It runs on it's own server and is a short-term, competitive game. It is designed to be very fast-paced and well, competitive! 

There are no free BM items or passes to help you. The second the game starts, players will be buying dozens, hundreds of passes to race and breed their horses. The game is designed to make breeding and training much faster than on horse - so you can concentrate on entering races. BUT those players who can buy passes and give every BM item to their horses will be the ones who win the most diamonds for their team.

To BLUP a horse on The Howrse Cup only takes about 10-15 minutes! This game is fast and to be competitive you definitely need to buy passes.

If you cannot (or don't wish to) buy passes then of course you can still play. Just don't expect to earn many diamonds and don't feel too sad when more highly skilled horses 'stomp' on yours. It will happen I'm afraid. However you can still enjoy the fun of getting a team together and doing the best you can - passes or no passes.

Well, either way, everyone (over 13 years old - according to the rules from Owlient) will be able to join the Howrse Cup from July 24th. Then you can see for yourselves what the fuss is all about!

UPDATE: The game is now live. Enjoy!

Patsy

Howrse Lottery Summer 2012

The Howrse Summer 2012 Lottery

Yes, it's back - this week Howrse relaunched the Lottery, one of our favourite contests.

We like the lottery as it's something everyone can take part in and win some great prizes.

Until 12th July there are four Lottery draws a day at 00:00, 14:00, 18:00 and 20:00 Game Time.


Here's how to earn tickets:

• You can buy an unlimited amount of tickets per draw with your equus. The price starts at 100e for the first ticket but triples each time, so the second costs 300e, the third 900e etc.
• Your friends can give you tickets (maximum of 5 per draw and each friend can only send you 1 ticket throughout the whole contest).
• Each time you use a pass you will receive 3 tickets (horse purchases do not count).
• You get a ticket each time your horses win a competition (maximum 2 per draw).

There are lots of great prizes available from aging points to equus, diamonds to BM items and even a months Pegasus account subscription. You can also win a horse of the new breed: a Curly. The top prizes are a pack of 3 passes, a Falabella and the new Solar System Divine, Mercury.

Your lottery tickets also allow you to win stars. Each time you collect a certain number of stars you get a gift. So once you've earnt 5 stars, you get 1000 equus, 10 stars gives you 5 aging points etc. all the way up to 3000 stars, which earns you a Falabella.

So get buying those tickets and see what you win!

Lucy