Saturday, September 11, 2010

Breeds - Newfoundland Pony

The Newfoundland pony is a breed of pony originating in Newfoundland (Canada). Their ancestors arrived in Newfoundland from the British Isles. They are generally hard working little ponies and easy keepers. They are one of the original pony breeds on Howrse.

- Species: Pony
- Size: from 11.1 hands to 14.0 hands




ALLOWED COATS

Roan 6 %
Black 7 %
Strawberry roan 1 %
Flaxen Chestnut 3 %
Flaxen Liver chestnut 1 %
Liver chestnut 8 %
Bay 12 %
Chestnut 11 %
Dark Bay 14 %
Cherry bay 12 %
Cremello 1 %
Light Grey 8 %
Dapple Grey 10 %
Mousey Grey 3 %
Dun 3 %

Top 3 skills: Showjumping, Speed and Galloping

Best competitions: Showjumping and Galloping Races

Lucy

Breeds - Canadian Horse

The Canadian Horse is a breed of horse developed in Canada. The Canadian Horse has influenced many other North American breeds, including the Morgan, American Saddlebred, and Standardbred. It originates from Canada. On Howrse, the Canadian Horse was one of the original breeds.

- Species: Horse
- Size: from 15.0 hands to 16.0 hands




ALLOWED COATS

Black 49 %
Flaxen Liver chestnut 1 %
Cherry bay 7 %
Liver chestnut 12 %
Chestnut 3 %
Bay 9 %
Dark Bay 19 %

Top 3 skills: Stamina, Dressage and Jumping

Best competitions: Cross Country

Lucy

Breeds - Australian Pony

The Australian Pony is a breed of pony that developed in Australia. It was greatly influenced by the native British breeds, especially the Welsh Pony, as well as some Arabian bloodlines. On Howrse, the Australian Pony was one of the original pony breeds.

- Species: Pony
- Size: from 12.1 hands to 13.3 hands





ALLOWED COATS

Bay 11 %
Black 5 %
Light Grey 18 %
Cherry bay 4 %
Chestnut 9 %
Cremello 1 %
Dun 3 %
Dark Bay 4 %
Flaxen Chestnut 6 %
Flaxen Liver chestnut 1 %
Palomino 2 %
Roan 1 %
Strawberry roan 1 %
Liver chestnut 8 %
Dapple Grey 24 %
Mousey Grey 1 %
Fleabitten Grey 1%

Top 3 skills: Jumping, Speed and Dressage

Best competitions: Showjumping

Lucy

Breeds - Appaloosa

The Appaloosa is best known as a stock horse and is used in a number of western riding disciplines. It is known for its distictive leopard spotted coat and originates from the USA. They are one of the original breeds on Howrse.

-Species: Horse
-Size: from 14.2 hands to 15.2 hands






ALLOWED COATS

Chestnut Blanket 14 %
Bay Blanket 9 %
Dun Blanket 3 %
Black Blanket 9 %
Palomino Blanket 6 %
Few Spots 1 %
Chestnut Leopard 9 %
Black Leopard 12 %
Chestnut Snowflake 3 %
Bay Snowflake 4 %
Black Snowflake 1 %
Chestnut Spotted Blanket 11 %
Bay Spotted Blanket 10 %
Isabelle Spotted Blanket 2 %
Black Spotted Blanket 3 %
Palomino Spotted Blanket 2 %
Black 1 %

Top 3 skills: Speed, Galloping and Dressage

Best competitions: Barrel Races and Galloping Races

Lucy

Breeds - Hanoverian

Hanoverian's are Warmblood horses originating from Germany. They are known for their good temperament, athleticism, beauty, and grace. On Howrse they are a very popular breed and regularly top the Showjumping elite.

-Species: Horse
-Size: from 15.0 hands to 16.3 hands





ALLOWED COATS

Chestnut 19 %
Bay 12 %
Cherry bay 9 %
Strawberry roan 1 %
Flaxen Chestnut 9 %
Black 7 %
Liver chestnut 12 %
Dark Bay 14 %
Light Grey 5 %
Dapple Grey 9 %
Mousey Grey 1 %
Roan 2 %

Top 3 skills: Showjumping, Speed and Galloping

Best competitions: Showjumping, Galloping Races and Barrel Races

Lucy

Where is the Notebook? Objective 32

The latest round of Objectives have thrown up quite a few questions which players have had a fair a bit of trouble with. The Secret Page question, which we have already written about here on Ultimate Howrse, has prompted a great deal of interest.

But we've noticed that Objective number 32 'Where is the Notebook' seems a current favourite.

So where is it? Well, as you'll see from the screen shot above (click to enlarge), it can be found on your Mail page and is the fourth tab along, above your list of emails.

The Notebook is really useful as you can keep details of trades you've done, contacts you've made or to keep track of horses you may be following in the auctions.

So now you know where it is, you can happily say "Objective 32 completed!"

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

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Birthday Unicorns

The latest special event from Howrse is happening now. To celebrate Owlient’s 5th birthday, Howrse are releasing a ‘herd of Unicorns’ into the game. This is exciting stuff as there will be quite a few new Unicorn breeds that have never existed before.

In the last year or two, Uni’s have been rather overshadowed by all the Divine and Special horses. But Unicorns (formerly called Unicowrns) are really magical, pretty and fun to breed. Basically, apart from the wonderful horn on their head, Uni’s are pretty much the same as ordinary horses, but with one big difference.

Breeding.

When you breed two Unicorns together, you do not automatically get a Unicorn foal. Five times out of six (on average) you will just get an ordinary horse – a ‘non-Uni’. It’s down to luck and percentages. LucyLou once tried to breed a Unicorn 24 times to produce a Unicorn foal without success! However other players have managed to produce a Unicorn foal in two successive breedings. But the average is around 1 in 6.

Now, there’s also something VERY important to know about Unicorn breeding. You MUST breed your Unicorns at exactly 6.23am or 6.23pm GMT. This is also known as ‘Game Time’. If you cover your mare just 1 second outside of this minute, you will never produce a Unicorn. Harsh but true.

So that’s what you need to know about Unicorns. All you need to do now, to get one of these ‘Birthday Unicorns’ is buy 10 (must be 10 or multiples of 10) passes from Howrse! There’s always a little catch isn’t there?


Patsy

Monday, September 6, 2010

Howrse Training Methods - the basics

A lot of people often ask 'How do I train my horse'?

Now, there are lots of methods out there for training your horses. All are different and many depend on what you want to get out of your horses - do you want to breed from them or skill them to be elites or win competitions with them or something else that I haven't even thought of?

I have my preferred methods which I will share on this blog - but you may have a different way which works for you - that's fine too! I tend to skill elite horses rather than breed for the GP race so that's the plan I'll outline. I've owned several top 10 elites over the years so my methods can't be too bad!

For starters though let's go through some basic facts.

A horse is only as good as it's genetics. You can't 'make' a 1000 skiller from any horse - it has to be born to be one.

If you do no lessons:
A horse's total skills = The horse's GP + The horse's inborn skills

If you do lessons every day, you can add another 50+ skills on top of this calculation (depending on how good the EC you board them in is) and with WoY another 100+. So it's well worth always doing 2 lessons a day with every horse you train. Not only do you get extra skills but you make money as well - what could be better?

A day in the life of one of my horses...

1 and 1/2 hours pasture, salt stone, groom, lesson x 2, turnip, carrot (if bunny in box), feed, training (we'll go into more details in later posts), stroke, carrot, water.


As long as you keep and eye on the time and your horses energy levels then this basic outline should allow you to do maximum training with your horse each day and still get him to bed at 22:00 and with 20% energy.

Lucy

Sunday, September 5, 2010

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

Howrse Riding Level 7 - Answers and info


You can take Riding Level 7 after you have been registered on Howrse for 80 days. If you pass, you win a Horn of Plenty.

You need to 80% of the answers correct in order to pass.

- What gene is responsible for making a chestnut horse palomino?

Cream

- Which hormones help regulate a mares pregnancy and foaling?

Oxytocin, Progesterone, Estrogen

- Mare gestation lasts about how many weeks?



- What season is it common to breed mares?



- Which bedding is it best to use when your mare is foaling?



- There are 2 base color genes for horses, what are they?

Black and red

- How many vaccinations should mares have while they are pregnant?



- Foaling usually takes several hours?

- When your horse refuses food and water, looks around at their sides, paws the ground and tries to lay down often, what is wrong?



- Stallions can be safe to turn out with mares to breed



- What does AI stand for

Artificial Insemination

- What are some factors to consider before breeding your mare

All of these


The Howrse Helper

Howrse Riding Level 6 - Answers and info

You can take Riding Level 6 after you have been registered on Howrse for 60 days. You win a Horn of Plenty if you pass this level.

You need to get 80% of the answers correct in order to pass.

- Where did fox hunting originate?

United Kingdom

- Who was the first equestrian to be inducted to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame?

J. Michael Plumb

- What riding discipline is most popular in the United States?

Western

- What type of riding competition is the historic Sante Fe Trail?

Endurance

- What breeds of horses are represented by the acronym PRE?




- Which Olympic Three Day Event team won the gold in the 2000 Sydney Three Day Event?



- The Peruvian Paso is famous for



- Which famous show jumper now has a line of English saddles?

Rodrigo Pessoa

- What is a Charro?



- Which kind of riding demands perfection riding in an upright position with a strong curvature of the haunches, regularity, skill and finesse in all of the natural gaits in dressage?



- What rider, atop the horse Salinero, claimed gold in the 2004 Olympics for Individual Dressage?



- What nomadic people were meticulous in the careful, planned breeding of fine horses to gain desirable traits?

The Bedouins


Lucy

Howrse Riding Level 5 - Answers and info


Riding Level 5 can be taken once you have been registered on Howrse for 40 days. It enables you to become a Blacksmith.

You need to get 80% of the answers right in order to pass (that's 6 out of a possible 8).

Riding Level 5 - questions and answers

- Why do western boots have high heels?

To prevent the foot from sliding through the stirrup

- What is a Martingale used for?

To control the horse’s head

- When riding the best footwear you can use is:

a sturdy boot with a short heel

- When mounting your horse in an active arena with other riders, you should:

Use a mounting block
Ask somebody to hold your horse while you mount

- A red ribbon tied to a horse’s tail at a show means:

The horse might kick

- The bit was developed before the noseband:

True

- If your horse is participating in rigorous demanding work, he should have:

Splint Boots

- It is safe to leave a horse’s halter on when he is turned out in pasture:

False

- What is a Peacock Stirrup?

A safety stirrup

-According to the January 2008 regulations, any youth rider competing at an FEI sanctioned event must do what if they lose their Helmet?

They must stop, dismount, and secure their helmet before continuing

- Riding gloves can:

Protect your hands against the elements

Prevent blisters


Lucy

Howrse Riding Level 4 - Answers and info


After being registered for 30 days on Howrse, you can take Riding Level 4. This level allows you access to the Breeding Directory and lets you see information about genetics.

You need to get 100% of the answers right to pass.

- What should you do if your horse has a bowed tendon?

All of these

- Horses born with SCID virus have?

No immune systems

- What animals do horses commonly contract Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis from?

Opossums

- What is thrush?

Infection of a part of the horses hoof called the frog

- Horses can be allergic to bee stings?

True

- If your horse throws a shoe while you are riding what should you do?

Pad the hoof with cotton and wrap it

- It is important to de-worm your horse at least?

Every three months

- What does Mud Fever cause?

Painful sores and scabs on the horse's legs

- If your horse has colic, you should allow them to roll

False

- What are some signs that your horse may have West Nile Virus?

All of these

- What are some of the signs your horse has eaten a poisonous plant?

Difficulty breathing
Loss of interest in Food

- What is the Rhino Virus?

Equine Flu

Lucy

Howrse Riding Level 3 - Answers and info


You can take Riding Level 3 once you have been registered on Howrse for 20 days. It enables you to open your own Equestrian Centre.

You must get 100% of the answers correct to pass.

Howrse Riding Level 3 - questions and answers:


- How many stomachs do horses have?

One

-Feeding your horse sugary feeds and treats can give them cavities in their teeth:

True

- A horse that requires little extra dietary maintenance and maintains a healthy weight is often times called a:

Easy keeper

- If a horse needs 2.2 pounds of hay per 100 pounds of body weight per day, how much hay does a 900 pound horse need in a day?

19.8

- Pasture can provide your horse with an excellent source of fresh forage:

True

-When your horse refuses food and water, looks around at their sides, paws the ground and tries to lay down often, what is wrong?

They have impaction colic

- What is Founder?

Inflammation of the laminae of the hoof

- What vitamin is essential for a breeding stallion to have in his diet?

Vitamin A

- Which feed or grain provides a horse with the highest amount of energy?

Corn

- If your horse is lacking minerals, what can you do to help add more minerals to their diet?

Provide a Mineral Block
Feed a Veterinary recommended supplement

- Horses that are frequently exercised need what?

Increased protein
Increased carbohydrate


Lucy

Howrse Riding Level 2 - Answers and info


You can take Riding Level 2 after you have been registered on Howrse for 10 days. It will enable you to become Riding Instructor & gain access to the auctions/private sales depending on your Karma:

-If you have a Karma of at least 0 you will gain access to the auctions
-If you have a karma of at least 3, and you have 2 living horses, you will gain access to private sales

You must get 100% of the answers right to pass.

Riding Level 2 - questions and answers:

-When you tie your horse to a post, you should:

Tie a loose knot that will give if he spooks or runs

-Horses that are frequently exercised need what?
When leading a horse, you should walk directly in front of it to show it where to go:


False

-A horse should have access to fresh, clean water at all times:

True

-What is a curry comb?

A tool made of rubber or plastic with short teeth on one side

-When walking behind a horse, you should do which of the following?

Stand at least 6 feet behind the horse
Talk softly to the horse so it knows where you are

-A horse can get upset if it is separated from it’s herd:

True

-Which season of the year would a horse need a Blanket?

Winter

-If a horse’s ears are slanted backwards, it indicates he is:

Angry

-How often should a horse’s stall be cleaned if the horse is in it frequently?

Daily

-When you clip or shave off a section of the horse’s mane right behind it’s ears, this is called a:

Bridle path

-What are some common indications that a horse is bored when left in his stall?

All of these

-What is the basic harness item you should use to move your horse from one place to another?

Halter

-When leading a horse, you should walk directly in front of it to show it where to go?

False

-When walking behind a horse you should?

Talk to it softly so it knows you are there


Lucy

Howrse Secret Page Number 1 Objective 45

Looking for the link to Secret Page number one on Howrse?

The objectives have recently been updated and the secret page URLs changed - to keep them more secret!

The link to secret page no.1 can now be found by going to the creation space page - you'll find the link just above the timeline.

You need to click on it to complete achievement/objective number 45.

However, you can only ever visit it once - when you are completing the achievement. If you visit it before you have unlocked this particular achievement, or try to visit it again afterwards the link won't be there!

Ooooh spooky.

Not the right secret page? Read our posts on Secret Page Number 2 and Secret Page Number 3.

Patsy