How to Raise the Perfect Foundation

Hey all, 

I've just created ANOTHER herd of foundation horses. This time Trakehners. 30 of them.

My clydes fell behind as I would log on but not care for them and (for some reason I don't really know), I never locked them. Same thing happened with my Friesians, but not as bad.

This time I want to raise the perfect foundation herd, and while I've never been a super dedicated breeder to any breed, I need your help. I remember a long while ago, before the recode, when the breed art was a bit cartoony, I had a small herd of Connemaras and raised them to 200 stats. That was the highest amount of stats I have ever raised my own set of foundation horses until now. My Clydes are starting to hit 300 stats, and I just had my first Friesian hit 300 stats as well. They're moderately good showers, but I did make the mistake of feeding them hay cubes due to being impatient and wanting to increase stats more than thinking about the affect of hay cubes, so now I want the BEST, most detailed advice on how you all raised your champions from scratch.

First few questions,
1. Is feeding hay cubes to foals worth it? Or should I immediately jump to feeding something that will boost a specialty stat? 
2. How many total stats are you rewarded if you reach 100% on foal training by the time they turn 3? 
3. Through treating every day, how many stats do your foundations usually have by the time they turn 3?
4. Once they turn 3, is it better to test the waters and jump straight into 10 shows each day? 5 shows and 5 riding school slots? Or just riding school until a certain age? 
5. I've started feeding straight specialty stat treats to my Clydes and Friesians, and switch between specialty stat treats per 100 stats earned in each. For example, my Clydes were on red apples (and some still are) until they began reaching 100 strength stats, most are now switched to turnips to increase endurance stats, and they will be switched back to red apples when they've reached 100 endurance stats. Is this a good method? Should I switch every 50 stats? or does using riding school and placing in shows help balance out the stat gain enough to keep doing what I do?

I'm sure I'll find more questions as I go, but I want to hear how you raised your champions, and the best methods and advice you have. This could also be a very helpful post for newer members, or members who are recently started a new foundation line as well.

Thanks in advance!

Wey

My personal routine.
NO HAY CUBES, SUGAR CUBES etc.
It really isn't worth it unless its a foal and then you change its specialty when they turn 3.
But if you're starting with 3 year old store horses, I wouldn't suggest it.

I would suggest hand showing them, and if a horse doesn't place well, put them in riding school.
You NEED to keep track of each horse and where they place! I'm so glad Abbey reinstated show results! 
I did this for my foundation contest and she gained 10-12 stats PER DAY!
All her non specialty stats were 18 though, which is rare for a store horse.. but the proof is in the pudding.

To answer your questions I'm not 100% positive but..

Foundies gain around 55 stats between the two categories associated with the discipline you choose.

I only have experience treating foals with designated stat boosters, but I believe they gained around 40 stats by the time they were 3.

Iv'e seen others recommend switching treats up, not sure at what increment.. I'm bad about this and don't switch them LOL but I'd think around 50 gained you should switch. But only switch if there is a huge gap. A lot of mine end up staying pretty level through gained stats from showing.

Oh and jump into shows ASAP so you know which horses are at the top of the class. So you can focus on, and not waste valuable time on the others that aren't fit for showing.

Last edited on 2017-07-10 at 21:35:55 by STYX

1. Is feeding hay cubes to foals worth it? Or should I immediately jump to feeding something that will boost a specialty stat?
IMO, yes. But you have to remember that when you select the discipline after foal training it does not transfer stats so you have to pick another discipline and then convert it. If you don't it's a very expensive mistake.

2. How many total stats are you rewarded if you reach 100% on foal training by the time they turn 3?
+57 I believe.

3. Through treating every day, how many stats do your foundations usually have by the time they turn 3?
I can't remember exactly. I would expect them to be at least N2.

4. Once they turn 3, is it better to test the waters and jump straight into 10 shows each day? 5 shows and 5 riding school slots? Or just riding school until a certain age?
Well for the first day, it's definitely worth doing 10 shows, because they'll have the training boost stats above what their grade is... but in general I would run the showing if in top 10% stats for the level.

5. I've started feeding straight specialty stat treats to my Clydes and Friesians, and switch between specialty stat treats per 100 stats earned in each. For example, my Clydes were on red apples (and some still are) until they began reaching 100 strength stats, most are now switched to turnips to increase endurance stats, and they will be switched back to red apples when they've reached 100 endurance stats. Is this a good method? Should I switch every 50 stats? or does using riding school and placing in shows help balance out the stat gain enough to keep doing what I do?
I don't have a system this consistent (I just swap when I remember).

So if I'm willing to spend the 300k by the time my kids are 3, it would be best to set them in a specialty I don't want them to be in, and then convert them all to what I DO want them to be in? Will converting give me a good set of numbers in relation to high specialty stats and low non specialty stats? 

More or less yes, it will reset their stats to what they were created with and distributes what they earned to their specialty stats.

I tried out different training techniques on foundation horses and kept record of their stats.

 Check out the results >HERE<

1. I never use hay cubes. Or peppermints. Or sugar cubes. I just sell the items, and decide what I want them to be when I get a hold of them. Unless they've already been trained to a specialty, which then I keep.

2. I don't pay enough attention? Really. 

3. If I'm making sure it's balanced, then around 40 or 50, give or take a few.

4. I've always just thrown them right in, but I don't know if that's the best method or not. Actually, it might be the way to go, seeing as this pretty girl was done so, and look at her. 

5. I think that's a good way to do it, I usually switch every 10 though, if I'm paying attention.

Apparently I had attention problems? Or those aren't things that I pay attetnion to. O.O 

my personal method for raising foundations is:

- buy as 0 year olds
- feed peppermints their entire lives
- at 3, choose a discipline that is NOT what you actually intend to have them in
- train every day
- enter in riding school every day
- at age 19(ages tomorrow) convert them to the discipline you want and breed them

the foundations earn no points, but they do earn money via the riding school
this results in 1000+ stats (for peppermints) by retirement. 
since stats are my metric for success with this method, i'd consider it very efficient

CAUTION: you need to have the money to spend on peppermints (a total of ~367k EVD per horse over their lifetime). 
feeding hay cubes is a much cheaper option, and yields about 900 stats by retirement.

1. I tried it out on a couple of foundy welshies - mainly because all my horses were pre-foal training and didn't do well compared to the foals born recently (: check them out, they are the ones with (sj) next to their name I bought all stores over 60 confo and then fed them hay cubes until they were 3 and trained them in dressage and converted them to show jumping. i used sugar cubes on the mares and they didn't get as many stats as the stallions with hay cubes so thats what i would use. they show amazingly and my top stallion is at 250 stats before 4 years old :D 

2. It really varies for me but i have seen +30 +40 in two stat categories, idk why the range when i do the same thing to them idk lol 

3. I recorded that my stallion califormula went from 100 stats to 212 when he turned 3 (after foal training) 

4. Honestly I just show all of my horses, its super tricky to hand pick your shows the right way if you want to invest your time because you want to make sure there is over 5 entries so your horse gets stats but not too full a class that you don't have a chance to win (also making sure it ends soon so no one else enters) and you don't want your other horses in the same class because they might both place but not get stats... it's complicated. i just slap my horses in cheapest on auto show now that i dont have the time ): they are still placing though c:

5. honestly i used to have my mares on red apples and my stallions on turnips because when you breed them (as foundations) the foal will have the balanced stats but most of my horses i try to balance the stats by switching them as you say so that they look more appealing to other players lol