Need help, info, and suggestions from everyone :)

So this topic that I am creating is a pretty long one but I would really appreciate everyone's contributions so I can decide some final points on what to do. 

I am trying to figure out what I want to do on equiverse, I love this game so much and other horse sims I just feel like I could never succeed in the breeding and showing so I would just do a rescue center aspect of it and I loved doing it. However, I feel like just rescuing horses, while helpful, just isn't exactly enough. I want to turn unwanted horses into something useful. I don't want to breed horses that already have lines though because for some reason it just feels wrong to me... I would much rather breed unwanted foundation horses to produce better foundation horses for people to buy and use in their lines. That way I am not selling horses off of other peoples hard work, but rather I am doing my own breeding program in a sense by taking unwanted foundation horses and making kind of like a super foundation horse for people to use in their lines if they are interested in doing that. For starters I am thinking about starting with 8 foundations of the same breed that i find and breeding them until the end of that line then sell the offspring, whether it be just one foal at the end or multiple. 

Here is where I need help. What do you, as a player, breeder, etc. think? Would you be interested in a higher stat foundation bred horse or would you prefer to just do it yourself? I want to know every thought you have on this folks. The more info about this and your preferences would be greatly appreciated! Thanks everyone for your time!!!

P.S. Any information is helpful whether you are an experienced breeder or a beginner. I guess in a way I am also trying to figure out the current demand out there as well. If you like this idea then what breeds are you interested in? What disciplines would you want? What are your Pet Peeves or something that you are not okay with? Any specific training requirements? Any colors or conformation stats that you are interested in? Even though I am pretty novice at these two areas (color, conformation) but I will learn if that is what the people want :)! Thank you so much! 

Personally, I like the idea of it, but only if the horses weren't overbred or didn't have too many siblings.

I breed endurance Tennessee walkers, and one thing that is important to me is low non specialty stats. I think a lot of players value this. I also now won't buy anything with a conformation lower than 55.

Thank you! That is very useful info! My original plan was to breed a simple foundation line of 8 horses till I end up with one foal and sell the one foal. This way if you buy it from me there is no chance of inbreeding and you don't have to worry about it at all because one click on the pedigree and you can see the whole lineage of that horse with foundations as the great-great grandparent. I would prob breed them at age 20 (ages tomorrow) to guarantee to the buyer that I wouldn't breed the forefathers because after they turn 21 they can't breed anymore. I am curious if it breaks the line if the horses are deceased. If this is the case I would probably lock the horses so they wouldn't die or I could give them to the buyer of the foal if they wanted them. I have got the big picture but the fine details are what I am still trying to decide on. Driving me crazy! 

I also know that it is going to take a lot of work obviously, Especially if I am training foundations from the ground up to age 20 and doing the same to the offspring but if people are interested in this then I am all for it! I wonder how many stats the ending foal would come out to? Do you folks have any idea how much this theoretical foal would be worth? I want to also try to figure out how to budget this so knowing an estimated return on investment would also be helpful if you have any idea.

Also when you said you wouldn't buy confo lower than 55. Are you talking average or individual stat? I am gonna guess no single conformation stat lower than 55 because most of the average conformation stats that I have seen on horses are above 55. Just want to make sure that i've got it

Some might be more strict on conformation, but for me, for now, 55 is an average.

It's hard to say what that foal would be worth, as the horse market isn't really that great right now.

I can usually get foundations to 1000, so if you get them to 800-900, just imagine how great that end foal could be.

Have you thought about just having a really great line of horses? With the hall of fame, I find that a really good incentive to have good horses. And there are plenty of breeds who need focused breeders.

I think that it is a really good idea. You could probably do well with training up some unwanted foundations (I have loads on my rescue account) and then breeding when they get 19-20 and selling some quality foals as long as conformation isn't low, good stats, and not overbred. 

I'd definitely be interested in something like that, especially when I start new projects :D

assuming you are going to be focusing on stats, eight foundations will take you 20 weeks to raise, then 20 weeks for the 4 second gens, and 20 weeks for the 2 third gens. So that's 60 weeks - a real life year+ devoted to raising a single foal. i have a feeling you might be more attached to that foal than you think ;)

that's essentially starting a line of your own which many of us do!. you mention not thinking you could succeed in the breeding and showing at other sims; i think you absolutely could here at Equiverse. 

i buy most of my foundation stock from the RC. people dump all sorts of horses. i've bought homozygous flaxen stores and foundations with 65+ total conformation.

and then answers to your questions:
what breeds are you interested in?
arabians, mustangs, thoroughbreds

What disciplines would you want? 
arabians - dressage
thoroughbreds - dressage
mustangs - endurance

What are your Pet Peeves or something that you are not okay with? 
not too many foals from the parents, for me that's not more than 15, for other players it might mean not more than 3.
 
Any specific training requirements? 
i'd prefer to buy the horses as young as possible, but i'm flexible

Any colors or conformation stats that you are interested in?
the higher the conformation the better. I prefer nothing under 60, but will go down if the horse also has great color or stats. 

color for arabians: black and chestnut; rabicano, sabino; high white markings on face and legs
color for thoroughbreds: black and chestnut; cream; rabicano, sabino, splash, white; high white markings on face and legs
color for mustangs: black, chestnut, wild bay, seal; cream, dun, champagne, flaxen, silver, pangare, sooty; rabicano, splash, roan; high white markings on face and legs

To marigold Sunshine: 55 conformation minimum for ya for the average confo stat? That makes sense to me! Also, I have thought about starting my own line and I do absolutely love vanners but I think right now I just don't have the money quite yet to start the line that I would actually want so I feel like doing something a little smaller to get some more practice too. 


To Olympea: I am really glad you think this is a good idea too! You mentioned that it would have good results if the conformation of the horse isn't low and it has good stats and as long as they are not overbred. In the case of being overbred what would being overbred mean to you? If I did start with 4 pairs of foundations and bred them down the line to get one foal would that be okay? I might have to breed the forefathers more than once to get pairings of stallions and mares but I wouldn't imagine doing that more than three times even if I am extremely unlucky... What are your thoughts on being overbred exactly?

To Bandit: I am glad you are also interested in this Bandit! That helps me validate that there is an actual demand that I can create from these foundations that are just being essentially thrown away. :) What are your preferences when you do start new projects? If you don't mind me asking that is :)

To Kahzie I: All of the info you provided is very helpful! Thank you very much! You mentioned one of your pet peeves is making sure the parents don't have too many foals. Are you talking like total foals all together? This is kind of what me starting plan was so far. Any thoughts or tips?
 

                           I would pick the best of the three foals from each pair above then breed these foals together 

I would pick the best of the three foals from each pair above then breed these foals together

The foals that didn't make the cut would not be bred to ensure the end foal F1F2F3F4F5F6F7F8 would not have any chance of being related to any other horse in equiverse. 

The parents would be bred at age 18, age 19, and age 20 to ensure to be able to get three foals 

The parents of  Foal  F1F2F3F4F5F6F7F8 would only need to be bred once so they would be bred at age 20 only

I really only wanted to end up with one foal at the end but I may change my mind and breed until I get a filly then geld all previous colts. That way there is still only one breedable foal as the result. I think this breeding plan above allows me to have more options to pick breeding pairs and also guarantees a high value and unique offspring where there is no fear of its ancestors out and about because they would not be bred if they were not the best selection. Sorry if im not explaining the above breeding plan very well and let me know if any of you have any tips or advice for me :)

@Abigale-
To answer your question, personally I tend to look for.... unpopular projects, I suppose. For example, at one time I planned on a Driving line of Trakehners, Racing Paints, Western Clydesdales, Racing Lippizaners, etc. Basically taking breeds that I like and looking for unpopular disciplines for unique lines and the challenge or more of an aesthetic of being one of the few people on the breeder's directory that breed for certain things. Although I do like the challenge of having colorful herds or a herd of one color as well. I am a bit strange that way.

Last edited on 2018-01-15 at 21:29:29 by Bandit

@Bandit 
I like different too! Who says paints cant race and clydes cant be cowboys? In regards to color I think I might run into issues because normally people don't get rid of foundations that have nice colors. Even more of a challenge is that I haven't even looked at how to breed colors and not even sure which colors are considered as "good" colors for each breed. So need to do a lot more research and info gathering. In the future if you start a crazy project and your looking for certain foundies let me know if I can be of service! :) 

The system you posted is what I'm doing (though I have 128 foundations instead of eight). I'm pretty happy with my results so far. You can have a look at my first lot second generation (foundation grandparents).

I've also started picking up high/all good conformed foundations from the rescue center regardless of breed, putting them in their best discipline according to their base stats. 

Last edited on 2018-01-15 at 22:06:59 by Almárë

@Almare

Thank you so much! 128 foundations is quite a lot, you have your work cut out for ya that's for sure. Your foundation line looks like its working quite well indeed thank you for showing me! That also answered my question if a horse is deceased would it get rid of the line info which it does not thankfully! Now I know I don't have to keep the forefathers locked up! YAY! I am starting to feel a lot more solid on what I want to do now. 

so I can't tell for sure if you already know this based on what you've written, but the term "foundation" applies only to a horse bought from the EC (either by you or someone else) or from the Custom Horse Creator. Once a horse has something toher than "Foundation Mare" and "Foundation Stallion" as their parents, they are no longer considered foundations. 

to answer your question, 'too many foals' refers separately to the mare and the stallion. since you plan on pairing yours off (your plan looks great, btw!) obviously your mare and stallion pairs will share the same foals, and three is a good number.

if i were looking to buy a foal and the mother had only one foal but the father had 86, i'd value that foal less than i would if the parents together had 10 foals. that is a personal choice, of course- others might feel differently!

as far as color goes, any coat modifier is considered desirenle in any breed that can have them. i can't think of a single breed that has an unpopular color modifier. white markings, on the other hand, are tricky. some of the white markings look super funky and inaccurate (cough*tobiano mustangs*cough) and so breeders tend to avoid them. once you've figured out your breed it'll be easier to ask those specific players/breeders what markings/colors are good/bad in the breed. 

aaaaaalso if you're at all considering getting into gypsy vanners, i have managed to amass a ridiculous horde of foundations that i would be glad to let you look through and pick a few, since you seem like a focused breeder and we always need more of those ;)