No cull project (5/19/19 update)

There's been a lot of discussion in the past about how DNA tweaks, unlimited horse purchases from the EC, unlimited dumping at the RC, etc., have led to being able to obtain the "ideal" horse too easily. I'm feeling a bit disillusioned with my current herd and have a little more time on my hands than I'd intended, so I thought I'd give something new a try. So I've created a herd of no-cull Thoroughbreds. 

The No Cull Project (NCP) horses were purchased direct from the EC at 3 years old. The herd consists of 32 horses (16 mares, 16 stallions). I won't be applying any tweaks or modifications, and I didn't cull any horses (except for two random selections because I accidentally bought 17 of each to start). I'll be showing all horses with use of the autoshow tool until age 20 (ages tomorrow), at which time I'll breed pairs one time and retain all foals for the next generation. Rinse and repeat until I'm down to a single NCP horse in generation six.

I'm mostly just curious what I can accomplish with a herd of "untouched" horses as opposed to my standard herd that I'm extremely selective with. 

I'm sure I'll have them locked up occasionally as my attention can be short-lived, but we'll see!

Anyone else want to give it a try with me?

Sonoma

EDIT: It just occurred to me I might have to change some genders in future generations unless I'm super lucky. But modification-free otherwise!

-----

1/27/19 - Update:

I'm going to follow Feline's lead and post some of the basic stats of my NCP herd to this point. I'll try and update periodically.

Age: 6 years (ages tomorrow)
Highest stats: 305
Lowest stats: 209
Highest NS stats: 67 (horse stats: 209)
Lowest NS stats: 49 (horse stats: 286)
Highest overall confo: 61.00
Lowest overall confo: 48.25
Grays: 17/32 (8 GG, 9 Gg)

I'll write up some better statistics at some point.

--- 

5/19/2019 - Update:

I've taken a couple of hiatuses off and on through this project, so my herd has progressed more slowly than intended in terms of age. However, updated stats are as follows.

Age: 14 years (ages in 4 days)
Highest stats: 735 (horse NS: 49)
Lowest stats: 509 (horse NS: 67)
Average stats: 602
Highest wins: 160 (horse NS: 49)
Lowest wins: 42 (horse NS: 63)
Highest NS stats: 67 (horse stats: 509)
Lowest NS stats: 49 (horse stats: 735)
Average NS stats: 58

A good chunk of the herd have over 100 wins. All horses have at least 100 show placings. 

Though my initial plan was to breed at 20, I may breed them earlier as they're impacting the success of my primary herd since many of them are showing at the same level. In the future, I'd choose a breed/discipline I didn't specialize in for this experiment.

Does any else have herd updates?

Last edited on 2019-05-19 at 12:57:38 by Sonoma

ooooo sounds like a fun little experiment.. I'll make some room and try it out with the same number of horses as you.. Ill do it with Appaloosas, of course ..lolz

Here is my brand new herd of EC Appys for the 'no cull project'. No tweaks, none traded to rc for any new ones.. Just the first 16 mares and stallions I created.. Will be interesting to see how far they get lolz.. ( now to browse through them lolz)

No Cull Appaloosa Project Herd

Last edited on 2018-12-29 at 12:08:17 by 🌀 WINDSPUN APPALOOSAS

I really shouldn't because I have too many little projects already... but this sounds like so much fun.

Neat idea! If I had any free space or free time I'd give it a try, but I have so many horses already!

This sounds fun! When I get home to my computer I’ll start a little herd for this. Not sure what breed yet, but I’m always up for a new project c: 

I will give this a try, could be fun. I'm usually a stickler for 60 or less non specs but I will set it aside for this little project. Let's see :) 

Hmm, i have too many projects at this time, but i might attempt this with miniature horses in the future. I usualy avoid gray horses, but i’ll need to ignore that for this fun challenge.

Last edited on 2018-12-29 at 22:50:58 by Sapphire Hills

This sounded like fun so I'm joining in! I tend to be mostly modification-free, though I have used coat pickers on my Vanner herd. I've never bought a foundation herd and bred without outside lines so this will be interesting. I started a herd of Chincoteague ponies for this project.

Last edited on 2018-12-30 at 17:32:25 by Oswin

Ohh I am so curious to see how this turns out! If I played more consistently and had more time I would join - good luck all!

I bought a small herd of endurance mustangs, a breed I would never considder raising so it is a challenge.

I normally cull EC horses by the dozens and DNA-tweak the hell out of my foundies :p

Oh my, it's great to see another players do this! 

I'm doing the same with TBs, already having like 300+ horses (still planning to get about 200+ foundations). Most of them are bought from Equine Center and some of them were bought off from other players (I think almost all the ones with cream genes). I haven't considered culling ever.

Good to hear that I'm not the only one rejecting this whole culling idea and wondering how far I can come with planned breeding.

^{I would join in but I've made the decision not to create any more foundation herds in an effort to actually move on with my generations lol. I already did this method for pretty much all my herds anyway and they all turned out fine, the hardest part for me was trying to keep what little nice colours you do get from the EC in your herd generations on.} 

Im actually going to have much less time to play as Im back to working my 12 shifts ( days and nights) as of New Years Day.. ( uggg the joys of being a nurse pffft).

Soo Im locking all my champions, super high statted, single digit horses and will only be working with my small, unique, foundation herds.. I may make up a couple more non cull herds too.. Would have well over 1000 horses to work with if I didnt lock the rest.. This way, will be a much smaller bunch.. less time consuming.. and some fun at the same time.. 

Oh! I like this idea! I may have to make room for some more. Most of my horses, now, are modification free. But I just picked up a TON of DWBs from the RC. Maybe I'll use those. Or I'll use the the Shetlands I picked up, as well.

oh man I might have to try this.