Training Method - Western Horses

This is the training method that I find works best for Western Horses. There are lots of other methods and approaches out there - some people like to vary the method depending on the breed. However, this is a good place to start if you're looking for something simple to follow that works on all horses.

Once a horse has finished foal games follows this schedule to get your Western Horses blupped and bolded.

Remember to always do a lesson every day as well.

Training schedule:

• Short Trot rides
• Speed training
• Dressage training
• Cutting competitions
• Once you're not gaining anything from the Cutting comps complete the Stamina training
• Western Pleasure competitions
• Reining competitions
• Once you're not gaining anything from the Western Pleasure / Reining comps complete the Gallop and Trot training
• Jump training
• Trail competitions
• Long Steep Slope rides and Long Gallop rides to finish bolding

Following this I usually get my horses bolded and blupped by the age of 10 years. The horse should pick up their 20 wins quite easily along the way. I then do Beach Rides if required.

Lucy

Looking to train a Classical Horse? See our post on Training Methods for Classical Horses.

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

When Howrse was 'born'

Howrse - April 2007

For those of you that don't know, Howrse first appeared in April 2007.

The game was really quite different then to how it is today.

Amongst the many things that didn't exist then are: Divine horses, the Pegasus account, Western Competitions, the Grand Prix, 25 breeds of horse, Unicorns, the Item Exchange, diamonds and so much more.

There were also things which existed then but have since disappeared, such as foal games (to earn GP),  comments on horse sales, salt stones, abortions (yes, really - pretty controversial) and an icon-only navigation menu.

Well, we've uncovered some screen shots from the early days of Howrse and thought we'd share them with you. Just click on them to view in full size.

Enjoy your nostalgic trip!

Patsy

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