Game guide

One free horse

Every new account chooses one free starter horse from the foundation herd — a mare or a stallion of any of the five breeds. The choice is permanent and needs a signed-in account.

Locked ages

Foundation foals are held at a fixed age: half are three years old and ready to train, half are six-month foals. A horse only starts ageing once it joins your farm.

Foundation bloodlines

Starter horses are the first generation of the game's pedigrees: fully genetically tested, no known disorders, and a zero inbreeding coefficient.

Real-time ageing

Horses age by the real clock: 2.5 weeks in the real world are one year in the game, whether you are playing or not. Ages are shown in years and months on each horse.

Growing up

Foals keep their foal picture until 1.5 years, when it switches to the adult mare or stallion portrait. Breeding, stud offers and semen collection unlock at 3 years.

Pregnancy

A pregnancy lasts 7 real days. From day 2 an ultrasound ($350) confirms the pregnancy and reveals whether the foal is a colt or a filly; the foal arrives on day 7.

A mare's foaling limit

After 10 foals, a mare's later pregnancies carry higher risks during pregnancy and delivery — difficult foalings and foal loss become more likely.

Retirement

Horses can move to the retirement pasture from age 25 (the pasture upgrade is required). Horses pass away by age 30.

Breeding steps: care and training

Each foal starts from its parents' average stats and then takes a small breeding step: up when both parents are well cared for and trained, down when they are neglected or untrained. The step is at most 2% of the parents' average stats per foal, so stronger parents gain more points.

Each parent's preparation counts care 60% and training 40% (its best trained skill). An average preparation of 50% leaves stats unchanged; full care and training on both parents gives +2%; no care and no training gives −2%. Siblings vary only a little around this, so steady care and training over many generations is what lifts a line.

Abilities can now reach 200. Foal details show both parents' preparation, the step and the points it added or removed for each stat. Parent genes are never rewritten.

Same-breed matings only

Crossbreeding is blocked. Pairing lists only show horses of the selected horse's breed, and each request is checked again before it is approved.

Pairing forecast

Each ability shows a 90% foal range; the strongest pairing for each ability is highlighted. Tap a name to pick it.

The midpoint is the average of the parents' breeding values on the foal's breed base, plus the breeding step. Mendelian variation spreads foals a little around it; the band covers 90% of foals.

Where each ability comes from

Each ability is marked as leaning to the stallion, the mare, or both, depending on which parent's breeding value is higher.

Foal comparisons

Each cell shows foal score (stallion/mare), highest totals first. A • marks abilities that differ between foals of the same pairing. Tap a foal to open its profile.

Breeds

The Breeds tab describes each breed's build, typical height and yearly upkeep. Each breed has its own pool of coat and marking genes.

The Stock Horse is a compact, muscular ranch breed in the Quarter Horse mould: explosive over a quarter mile and quick on its feet. Its strengths suit the western disciplines — barrel racing, the quarter-mile sprint and western reining — rather than long distances.

Inbreeding coefficient

The coefficient measures how closely the mare and stallion are related. Pairing horses with no shared ancestors brings it down to zero for the foal.

Penalty above 20%

Past 20%, every extra 5% of relatedness removes 5 points from each ability and about 8 points of foal health: 25% → −5 / −8 · 30% → −10 / −16 · 40% → −20 / −32 · 50% → −30 / −48.

The reduction is applied to the foal itself, not passed on: outcrossed descendants recover.

Risk bands

You set the Caution and High bands yourself; anything above 20% always counts as Penalty.

How shared ancestors add up

Each path through a shared ancestor adds ½ raised to the number of horses linking stallion, ancestor and mare, multiplied by (1 + the ancestor's own coefficient). The pedigree view shows how much of the total is found within the chosen number of generations.

Using the pedigree

Touch: drag to pan, pinch to zoom. Mouse: drag to pan, Ctrl + scroll to zoom. The selected horse keeps a bold outline; Find selected brings it back into view. Keyboard help lists arrow-key navigation.

Reading allele pairs

Each pair holds one allele from the sire and one from the dam; "n" is the plain allele. Coat genes are inherited and cannot be edited.

E permits black pigment; e/e gives chestnut. A restricts black to the points (bay); a/a allows a black coat. Cr dilutes colour. G greys the coat with age.

Grey stages

Grey horses are born coloured: steel grey from 2, dapple grey from 5, flea-bitten from 11 and white by 16.

Allele chart and N/A

Each horse page has a full allele chart. N/A means the gene is not found in that horse's breed, so it can never appear in its foals.

Markings, modifiers and dilutions

Tobiano (TO): Dominant; white crossing the back, usually four white legs.

Sabino-1 (SB1): Incomplete dominant; roaned belly patches and high white legs, near-white when doubled.

Dominant white W20 (W20): Adds extra face and leg white; stronger alongside other white genes.

Splashed white (SW1): Broad blaze and white from the legs up, as if dipped in paint; linked to deafness.

Frame overo (O): One copy gives jagged white on the sides; two copies cause lethal white foal syndrome.

Leopard complex (LP): Mottled skin on the muzzle and round the eyes, striped hooves, white sclera and varnish roaning that grows with age (bony points stay dark); needed for appaloosa-type spotting.

Pattern-1 (PATN1): With LP, makes leopard or blanket white; no effect without LP.

Roan (Rn): Dominant; white hairs through the body with solid head and legs.

Dun (D): Dominant; lightens the body and adds a dorsal stripe and leg barring.

Silver (Z): Lightens black pigment, giving a flaxen mane and tail; no effect on chestnut.

Champagne (Ch): Dominant; gold body, pinkish freckled skin and amber eyes.

Pearl (prl): Recessive; two copies (or one with cream) give a pale, even dilution.

Flaxen (f): Recessive; two copies lighten a chestnut's mane and tail to flaxen.

Colour names

Names combine every gene: for example a chestnut with roan is a red roan, a chestnut with two flaxen alleles is a flaxen chestnut, and a black with dun is a grullo.

Painted coats

Each portrait is painted from the horse's own genes: base colour and dilutions, roan through the body, dun stripes and leg barring, grey dapples and flea-bites by age, and tobiano, frame overo, sabino, splashed white and leopard-complex spotting. Leopard-complex horses also show mottled pink skin on the muzzle and round the eyes, white around the eye, striped hooves and a varnish roan that whitens the coat a little more each year while the hips, elbows, nose and cheekbones stay dark. The same horse always shows the same pattern.

White markings

Face white (star, snip, blaze, wide blaze) and leg white (coronet, pastern, sock, stocking) come from the white-pattern genes plus an inherited white tendency.

A foal's tendency sits close to the average of its sire's and dam's, so flashy parents tend to have flashy foals and plain parents plain ones. Each horse's genetics panel shows its tendency beside both parents'.

Daily care chart

Bars show condition after each day. The strips below show fed (red = missed), groomed, and showed (dark) or rested.

Farmhands

Assign each farmhand one chore. Feeding and grooming crews work down the herd list until their capacity runs out.

Staff tiers

Higher tiers cost more each month but work better. Wages are paid every 7 show days and through winter.

Retirement

Retired horses need the retirement pasture upgrade and are cared for automatically.

Show calendar

Shows run daily with several classes per discipline, up to 25 entries each. The calendar covers the next 7 show days.

"Ready" means eligible today: right age and size, flu vaccine current, condition 40+, health 60+ and not in foal.

Age rules

Foal in-hand classes are for horses 3 years and under (until their 4th birthday). Every other class — ridden, driven and pulling — is for horses 3 and older. Ages follow the real-time clock, and each entry is checked again when it reaches the show.

Foal in hand

Young horses are led in hand and judged on conformation (all five stats, temperament weighted most), how well they are cared for and their health. They need no training, a current flu vaccine and condition 40+. There is an hourly foal class, daily Novice and Open classes, and a Sunday championship. In-hand classes cost only 1 health and add no ridden skill.

Weekly rankings and rewards

Three weekly boards close every Monday at 00:00 UTC: horses 3 and over (ridden classes, top 10 paid), foals 3 and under (foal in-hand classes, top 10 paid) and players (every class, top 3 paid). Boards rank by prize money, then wins, then placings.

Prizes in farm dollars — horses: $5,000, $3,500, $2,500, $2,000, $1,500, then $1,000 for 6th–10th. Foals: $3,000, $2,000, $1,500, $1,200, $1,000, then $500 for 6th–10th. Players: $10,000, $6,000, $3,000. Rewards are paid automatically to your farm the next time you play and appear in the Ledger as Milestone & ranking rewards.

Your dashboard

Home is your farm's first screen: funds, Hoofmarks, horses and stalls, what needs you today, milestones, this week's rankings and quick links to every area. Tap an item under Today to go straight to it.

VIP office

VIP members see the VIP office instead of the membership offer: plan, renewal or access date, the date of the next 500 monthly Hoofmarks, and Train all.

Train all gives every horse without a plan this season a balanced weekly plan in its best discipline (by aptitude). Horses in foal, too young or with a plan already are left alone.

Milestones

Milestones are one-time goals — herd size, foals born, home-bred generations, breeding a horse above its breed, show starts and wins, foal in-hand wins, prize money, vaccinations, treatments, DNA panels, farm upgrades, training and sales. Each pays farm dollars once when you claim it; the next tier then appears. When you are signed in, each claim is recorded on your account, so restoring an older copy of your farm never pays the same milestone twice.

Rewards are booked to the Ledger under Milestone & ranking rewards and are kept apart from farm income, so season profit still shows how the farm itself is doing.

Exchanging Hoofmarks

Exchange Hoofmarks for farm dollars at 1 Hoofmark = $1,000, up to 1,000 at a time. The Hoofmarks are taken from your account and the dollars arrive in your farm funds straight away. Exchanges cannot be reversed and appear in the Ledger as Hoofmarks exchanged, outside farm income.

Everything in one place

The Vet tab lists your working herd with health, due vaccinations and follow-up treatments, DNA panels and pregnancy ultrasounds. Needs care shows horses with anything due in the next 3 days, health under 80 or a scan ready; other filters show all horses, mares in foal and untested horses.

Vaccinate all due and Do all due treatments handle everything due today in one go, only when your funds cover the whole batch. Records opens the horse's full health timeline and vaccine certificates.

Vet treatment

A vet treatment ($250, less with a better vet on staff) examines a horse and restores 8 health, up to 95. Health bars run from 0 to 100 with a mark at 95, the most care and treatment can restore; some foundation horses start above it. Each horse can be treated once per game day. Overdue follow-ups still cost 2 health a day until they are done.

Frozen semen

The Vet area has two parts: Clinic and Frozen semen. The Frozen semen lab is where you buy doses from outside stallions, collect and freeze your own stallion's semen (once a season), sell doses, and use a dose on a mare of the same breed ($350 pregnancy scan; the dose is used even if she does not take).

Frozen semen does not expire. Each lot is kept in a named storage location; you can filter lots by location. Destroying a lot needs a confirmation and cannot be undone.

Upgrades

Buy buttons enable once your balance reaches the quoted price, and the final bill never exceeds the quote.

Ledger

Every payment and sale is booked in the Ledger, so the balance always matches the entries. Administrator gifts, milestone and ranking rewards and Hoofmarks exchanges are listed but kept out of farm net.

Market prices

Sale and stud-covering prices are limited by each horse's abilities, health and coat rarity. Each horse keeps a history of offers and completed sales.

Your account

Open the menu at the top of the farm for Account, Settings, the Guide and Log out. Account holds your name, farm name and avatar, and lets you change your password.

Saved farms

Your farm is saved to your account and kept on this device. Each account keeps its own farm, so signing out or switching accounts never mixes horses or funds. The newest save always wins.

Settings

Choose Daylight or Evening colours (or match your phone), larger text, reduced motion, and horse heights in hands or centimetres. Settings are kept on this device.

Administrators

Administrators sign in like every player. Once the account's administrator role is confirmed, the extra administrator pages appear in the menu.

Player forums

Open Forums from the menu to talk breeding, genetics, shows, trading and farm care with other players. Pick a forum, read the threads, start your own or reply. Pinned threads hold news from the administrators; locked threads can be read but not answered.

You can fix your own post for 15 minutes after posting with Edit. The edited post is checked again before others see it, and posts marked edited show it. Posts that have been reported or reviewed by an administrator can no longer be edited.

How posts are checked

AI checks every new thread and reply before other players see it. Normal game talk appears straight away. Posts that need a second look wait for an administrator, and posts that break the rules — insults, hate, spam, scams, cheats, or real-money trading of Hoofmarks, horses or accounts — are not posted, with a note telling you what to change.

Emails, phone numbers and card numbers are never posted. If a published post breaks the rules, use the flag on it to report it; three reports hold it for an administrator.

Reporting a bug

Choose Report a bug from the menu, pick the part of the game, give a short title and say what happened (and how to make it happen again, if you can). AI sorts each report by area and urgency and checks whether it's already known. You can file up to 5 reports an hour.

The bug board

The bug board lists known problems so you can see what's being worked on. Add a "me too" to a problem you've also hit — the most-reported problems rise up the list. Reports with personal details or cheat instructions stay private between you and the administrators. My reports shows the status of each of your reports and any reply from the team. When a report turns out to be a known problem, the team merges it into the original: it shows as Duplicate, and you and everyone who said "me too" count towards the original instead.

Ask the stable guide

Choose Ask the stable guide from the menu to ask how anything in the game works. Its answers come from this Guide; it can't see your farm or act for you, and the conversation isn't saved. AI features have fair-use limits per hour and per day.