lagging horse?

What do you do when you have a horse that is lagging behind it's herd mates (speaking of stats)?

I have a group of second generation qhs called the the jackalope project phoenix project. One is starting to lag (nearly 100 stats separate her from the best stallion in the group & 40 stats separate her from the median) they were all born with nearly the same amount of stats. They are still young (only 7) and I'm concerned about how much the difference could grow in the next 10 weeks. Right now I'm competing them when they are within 10 stats of their next level and putting them in riding schools for the rest of the days. 

lagging horse 

these are second generation horses so I can't easily replace her (like I could if they were foundies).

so my question is how do you handle these laggers? (I'm considering re-organizing my pairs so that a higher statted stallion is paired with her, as her mate is also lagging a little).

this is happening with another group of horses too. ;n;

Last edited on 2018-03-12 at 16:56:40 by insomniaglet

How are her non-specialty stats compared to the others?

They are a little higher than some, but a little lower than others. 

She has 22, 22, 17 (which aren't aweful, but they aren't great either). 

Here are two of her fellow her herd mates 1 & 2, granted their overall stats aren't much higher. But she seems to struggle to win competitions more than they do. 

Last edited on 2018-03-12 at 09:45:13 by insomniaglet

Sadly some horses just are stubborn and won't show well. 😑 I usually just pair those with horses that have the lowest non-specialty stats possible to help the next generation do better in the shows. 😊

And throw the lagging horse into the Riding Schools for 5 hours so they gain SOME stats!

Last edited on 2018-03-12 at 09:52:46 by Feathered Gold

I think mud bug might be that horse; I'm probably going to have to re-pair them so she is bred to someone a little better than she is. 

Sometimes things are just that way.  She's got the same non-specialties as your top horse of the same age in that division.  She could have just chanced into shows that had more competition than your other horses.

The good thing is, there is no reason why that can't turn around.  She could be your top horse a few years from now, even.  There's no predicting it.  This is real luck, which unlike the luck programmed into the game, can't be affected by training levels.

I see no reason to change the way you show her.  She's still very young, and has every chance to catch up to the rest as they all experience natural fluctuation in fortune.  

This is actually her top herd mate here, who is much better than poor mud bug. I have my horses separated by showing level rather than herd right now (trying something new to try and make showing less time consuming)
Her herd has ag2.jk.# in their names, to separate the from the rest. 

My point was to compare her to another horse of the same age and non-specialty stats.  

I still think that the disparity of their stats has mostly to do with a run of poor luck in showing, probably to do with her just chancing to land in shows with stiffer competition than the other horse who is practically identical to her.  Since they are so young, and you show them so rarely, variations like this will stand out more than when they are older and have more shows under their belts, and she will get some lucky streaks, and her "twin" will get some unlucky ones, and they will probably even out.  Though there is always still a chance that she may just be cursed by fate, just like when you flip a coin wanting heads, and keep getting tails.  The longer you flip the coin, the more likely you are to have close to the same amount of heads and tails, but there is always a slim chance that every time you flip it, you will get tails.

The horse you just linked is that much further ahead because he has lower non-specialty stats, as well as probably not having the same early misfortunate streak that Mud Bug had.  She will most likely draw a little closer as she gets older, but probably won't catch up entirely, unless he has a very bad turn in luck, and she a very good one, because in this case, he actually does have an inborn slight advantage.

It is one of the hazards of this particular showing strategy (only showing at the very top of the grade) that any little streak of bad luck will show up more dramatically, because you don't get enough shows to smooth out the averages as much.

But it is no fault of hers, and there is nothing you can do to fix it other than let time and fate do their thing.