Bring back confo shows!

My issue is that the same horses will always win the conformation shows, so I don't feel like there's really any competition to be had. Yes, you can breed more high confo horses, but then you have a minimum of 3 weeks before that foal is even able to compete which means one person is guaranteed to win for at least that long.

There's also a cap on confo, and so eventually someone will breed a 100 average, and then what?

I could see value in confo adding a boost in existing shows, but I don't understand it as stand alone event.

EDIT: and as an aside, I do breed primarily for confirmation already so I'm not nay-saying it as someone who would have to start over for this platform.

EDIT2: Also, the title says "bring them back"--could someone explain how they were structured before? How was a winner determined? What did they get for a win? I haven't been playing long enough to have seen them.

Last edited on 2016-10-12 at 19:23:18 by Sonoma

Ditto everything Sonoma just said. If winning confo shows doesn't give confo points - and Confessor made a good point about that not being realistic, keeping the game realistic is important to me - then the same horses will win every time so what's the point? And I'm saying this as the owner of the best confo Clyde in the game right now, lol.

The point is that, as the owner of the best confo Clyde, you could gain money. That's really it lol

And I don't really know how they were before, as I only entered a few, but I'm pretty sure the horse with the best confo in a show would win.

I support this, however, I think that maybe how well your horse is trained should also factor in to this, or at least something along the lines. Meaning, a horse with 100% confo, but has never been trained might not do as well as a horse with 90% confo but training level 4.

This is just a thought, or a suggestion to add to your suggestion :]

Is there any way you could put a random factor in conformation shows, perhaps on a movement trait? A horse does not always move as well. I've shown horses to National Championships in halter (conformation), and some days they do flat out move better and "show" better than others. I've also seen horses that, stood up, look near perfect, and then they move off and it's like...what on earth happened? I've seen it the other way, too. There are some greatly athletic horses that are conformationally a mess.

If there was a way to code a bit of a random factor in there, it would be more realistic for sure, as well as offer the level of unpredictability that makes it more fair.

@Mairgold: well, probably not, as it's a confo show and doesn't focus on one particular specialty

@raptor - or as will suggests, and with her reasoning, a randomness factor. I am assuming that halter horses have some sort of training, so that's where I was going with my reasoning

OH, like confo training? That would be cool!

A randomness factor would have to be put in.. because what would happen for horses with the same confo, if two horses are 100 confo... who wins? and it would be just like in RL halter shows... a horse may have a good show one time but may not the next...

Last edited on 2016-10-14 at 13:06:18 by ♓BlueEyedLuv♓

Yeah, but... this isn't real life.
I personally wouldn't care if there was a randomness factor or not, but I guess that's a good idea.

well, yes its not real life... my point was if every horse that entered was perfect confo, who wins? if its only judged by the number... I compared it to real life as an example of randomness. Im not nay saying, {im a confo breeder}

Last edited on 2016-10-14 at 13:16:22 by ♓BlueEyedLuv♓

If we added in-hand as a training specialty, the horse with highest confo AND in-hand training level would win.
But that's a bit much I guess lol

Another idea might be "brackets" like with the shows now.

Another idea might be "brackets" like with the shows now.

Last edited on 2016-10-14 at 13:20:25 by ♓BlueEyedLuv♓

The problem with hosting conformation shows in this sort of environment is that conformation just isn't as simple as the best horse always winning.

In real life--which I am well aware this isn't necessarily going to emulate--there are other factors, as Willow noted. Granted my experience is only through FFA horse judging competitions almost 10 years ago, but there were different types of class; hunter/jumper, stock horse, cow horse, etc. A different conformation was desirable in each class. For example, a stocky Quarter Horse might do well in stock or cow horse classes, but place poorly in hunter jumper because we'd be looking for something higher-withered, leaner, and longer-legged in latter.

At the same time, judges don't always place horses the same. One judge might place a horse 1st and another might place them 5th because they are putting attention on different areas; maybe one is really focused on the definition in the gaskins and head carriage, and the other cares more about the height of the withers and angle of the hip. The horses could be very similar overall, but those differences are enough to flip their placement.

If this is implemented, I agree that there has to be a randomness factor, potentially brackets, etc. Maybe it becomes less a question of overall confirmation and the randomness comes into play because each show focuses on two specific areas--like hooves and back--and another show might focus on head and knees.

I still think this is going to be too complicated to have any value because I think it's a waste to implement if we accept that one horse is going to win all the time.

EDIT: And Willow made great points about movement, too. And clearly has more experience in halter/confo than I do.

Last edited on 2016-10-14 at 13:49:52 by Sonoma