New and some questions

Quite new with some of the things here, and have some questions regarding showing and the horses.

Horse Points -
What are they good for? Do they have any "value" of some kind?

Stat Boost Points, Training Progress, Training Level -
What are they and how does they work?

Conformation and Health
have they any things to do with the "quality" of the horse, and do they have something to say in breeding, showing, etc?

Showing -
Is there any horse show strategy guide somewhere? how do you get a good show horse? is the only way to work on the stats or are there something else?

Last edited on 2016-08-17 at 13:17:06 by ۞ LORTON

I'm pretty new too but I'll try to help. xD

1. As far as I can tell, Horse Points don't really have a ton of value... they're just a way of tracking your horses' successes in showing.

2. For every ten times you train a horse in their discipline, you get the Stat Boost Points button. When you click on it, your horse is given around 10 new stat points in the stats that help their discipline. Honestly not sure what the Training Level is for. xD

3. I don't think it has any affect on showing or any of that, it is just there. But some people like breeding for it, others don't care. Seems to be a matter of personal preference.

4. Based on other guides I've read in the forums, the best way to improve a horse's showing ability is to increase the two main stats in their discipline -- and ONLY those two stats, because increasing other stats just creates dead weight that will push them forward in grade but not make them any better in their discipline. Showing is the best because you can in theory get up to 30 stat points per day, but riding school is a good option if your horse is at the lower end of their grade.

Here is the list of grades and the stat ranges:
https://www.equiverse.com/topic.php?id=10309

I've had pretty good luck with showing by entering horses that are at least 20ish stats into their grade for the ranges that cover 50 stats, and 40-50 stats for the ranges that cover 100. But they'll only truly be competitive with that focus on their two main stats.


Hope that helped a little. (:

Horse Points -
What are they good for? Do they have any "value" of some kind?: As of right now...nothing, really. In the old version of EV, they had SOME value, and some people bred for them like most people do stats, but the point of them has kind of just, gone downhill.

Stat Boost Points, Training Progress, Training Level -
What are they and how does they work? : Training progress shows you where you are at as far as reaching the stat boost goes. Training levels, however, I couldn't tell you. I guess it just shows how much you've trained your horse? Like Wicked said, stat boost points are points you get each time you train your horse. You get one point each time, and once that bar has been filled up (after 10 times), a little red arrow pointing up will appear next to your horse's name. If you go on your horse's page down by training, you'll see a "Use stat boost" button. Click it, and your horse should gain around 11 stats total. Usually 5 in one stat area the correlates with the horse's discipline, and 6 in the other. Although I have had some do 2 in one area and the rest in another. It just depends on which area needs more stats for the two to be even, I think.

Conformation and Health
have they any things to do with the "quality" of the horse, and do they have something to say in breeding, showing, etc?: Conformation only affects the quality of the horse if a potential buyer cares about conformation or not. Since the recode, people have become a lot more into breeding for higher conformation. I think MOST people are picky about it, but there are some people like me, who don't care. I know that a pair of horse's conformation WILL affect what the foal's conformation looks like. So if you do decide to breed for confo, try not to breed two horses with bad confo together. As far as showing goes, no, confo does not affect how a horse does in show.

Showing -
Is there any horse show strategy guide somewhere? how do you get a good show horse? is the only way to work on the stats or are there something else? : To each their own. I don't think there's been a guide made on showing techniques because everyone does it differently. I ,myself, haven't even figured out a way that works 100% for me. What I found works for foundation horses is using 5 show slots for riding schools, and the other 5 for showing, that way it's guaranteed the horse will gain stats each day, but still have some shows under its belt. Once the horse is on the higher end of the spectrum for stats of its grade, I start showing full time.

conformation does affect showing. Presumably if all else is equal, a horse with higher conformation will beat a horse with lower conformation.

I'm not sure if this has ever been tested, or how much it affects show results, but Abbey has said that it does :)

Oh wow, I never knew that!

Horse Points -
What are they good for? Do they have any "value" of some kind?

Right now, horse points are purely bragging rights. They indicate how good your horse has been at showing.

Stat Boost Points, Training Progress, Training Level -
What are they and how does they work?

Stat Boost Points, as has been explained, boost stats. You get one every time you train, and when you get ten of them, you can trade them in for a stat boost. The boost depends on what showing level your horse is at - Novice, Local, Regional, etc. It gets slightly higher with the higher levels (it doesn't matter if you are Novice 1 or 2 - all Novice horses get the same stat boost.) If I remember right, Novice gives 11 stats, Local gives 13 stats, Regional gives 15 stats, and National gets 17 stats. I have no horses above National, but I assume that International gets 19 stats.

Training Progress shows how far you have come towards your next Training Level.

Training Levels have to do with luck. There is always a bit of a luck factor when it comes to showing. Sometimes your horse will have a good day, and sometimes it will have a bad day, and it will have nothing to do with the stats or competition or anything else. It's pure luck. The higher your Training Level, the better your luck will be. You can train up to Level 5. You can continue to train your horse after you reach Level 5, but you will only receive Stat Boost Points - your Training Level won't increase.

Conformation and Health
have they any things to do with the "quality" of the horse, and do they have something to say in breeding, showing, etc?

Conformation is a valuable aspect of a horse. Many people breed for high conformation, but it is much more difficult than increasing stats. Some people don't care about it either way. Conformation is inherited from the parents, but it isn't strictly predictable - it won't be a pure average, and there seems to be a lot of randomness involved. Normally, a foal's conformation will be pretty close to its parents, however. It is said to have influence on showing, but it is unclear how, or how much of an impact it has.

Showing -
Is there any horse show strategy guide somewhere? how do you get a good show horse? is the only way to work on the stats or are there something else?

The perfect show horse has high stats in the traits associated with its specialty, and next to no stats in non-specialty traits. When a horse shows, only the specialty traits are factored into how well it will do, but the level it competes in is determined by total stats. Two horses can each have 200 stats, and will be in the same level, but if Horse A has 100 stat points in each of the specialty traits, and none in the other traits, and Horse B has 40 stat points in each of the five traits, Horse A will wipe the floor with Horse B, because Horse A will have 200 points to fight with, and Horse B will only have 80. This is why using treats such as Peppermints, Hay Cubes, and Sugar Cubes is very dangerous. They give a high stat gain, but in random traits, so it will raise your non-specialty stats very quickly. It's better to use the treats associated with your specialty, and gain slower, but more strategically. You will make up the stat gain in show earnings.

To gain stats from showing, you must enter in a show that has at least 5 entries, and you must finish in the top three. That gives you a chance at stats. Sometimes you won't get any, but usually you will gain about 1-3 stat points within your specialty traits. If you enter a show with less than 5 entries, or place lower than third, you will get no stat gain. Hand-entering shows is recommended for maximum stat gain, to ensure that your horses are in the right shows. If you enter more than three horses in the same show, only three have the potential to get stats, and the rest will get none.

You will perform better when your total stats are near the upper limit of your level than you will when you are lower. If your non-specialty stats are low enough, you can still succeed even if your total stats are on the low side for your level. Some people enter their horses in the riding schools until their stats get more competitive for their level.

Novice level horses can be as powerful at showing as Regional levels, if they are near the top of their level and have low non-specialty stats. Don't be discouraged to show even your foundation horses. I have had foundation horses do excellently, and some even reached above 1000 stats by the end of their lives. You don't gain more money at the higher levels, or more stats or experience or anything. It's pure bragging rights.

OK, let me correct. I was right about Stat Boosts on Regionals being 15 stat points, but it turns out Local is 11 and National is 19, so I think it goes by 4 point increments, not 2. So I think Novice must be 7 points, and International, 23.

thanks everyone! makes more sense now :-)