*Spaying Mares

I agree with Almare. 

Personally I don't care either way, but having spaying makes sense to me as it is possible in real life. It is also a game, so not everything is going to be 100% realistic (ie. changing genders/coats/markings). 

If spaying was added, I don't see why it couldn't cost more to spay a mare then it does to geld a stallion. It costs more in real life and would keep a twinge of realism. 

I don't like the idea. Cause often, then it is likely people will spay the mares and then sell them, then they are pointless for people who are looking to buy better mares for breeding, cause then the prices of good mares that are not spayed will be very high to where only people with tons of money will be able to get them, at least that is how I see it. If spaying does become a option it should cost a lot more than gelding something like 5,000\10,000EVD That is how I feel anyway, but in the end I guess it does not matter.

To the people worried about breeding them and not realizing that they're spayed, could we not just put spayed next to mare? And/or if people tried breeding a spayed mare then they'd get an error message?

I support this idea ^,^

Why would you want to ruin such great horses with great stats. If you don't want the horses then give them to other players instead of letting them die. That's just cruel and mean and very pointless.  

Because maybe I don't want my lines everywhere? My horses, my decision to do what I want with them.

These are pixel ponies.... They don't have feelings! And "giving away" horses ruins the economy and lowers the value of horses. Also, just because a horse has "high stats" does NOT automatically mean it is a "good horse." Like others have said, they want to protect their lines from people RUINING them by having the option to spay mares. We can geld stallions, so why not be able to spay mares...

Their gender would be "spayed mare" so one can see they are unbreedable. Just as gelding is what a castrated, aka unbreedable stallion is called.

And if this feature were added (please please please! the sooner the better), one does NOT have to spay their mares! It would simply allow it an option for those who do want to take their mares out of the breeding pool.

SUPPORTED

I don't really understand why so many people are against this. It's the same exact thing as geldings, just with mares. The whole point of geldings in this game is for there to be a way to prevent lines from being over bred and maintain their worth. Many times AFTER they have already been bred a few times. 
Sure, you can turn a mare into a stallion and then into a gelding, but you're spending a whole extra credit in order to do that. Also, mares that have been bred already can't swap genders, so if you want a few early babies (like say when breeding for color/confo) then want to safely retire your mare, you're screwed. 

If this were to be implemented then spayed mares would be very clearly labeled as such. If someone were to buy one thinking it was a mare it would be because they didn't look properly, same as geldings. We've all done it once, and we all learned to double check. New people will learn too, there's really no need to coddle them. 

Yes, I understand the frustrations of getting a horse that can't be bred and then wishing you could breed it. Especially when it's a very nice horse. But the whole point of gelding/spaying is so it can't be bred, which is a choice that an owner makes. It's their horse at the time to do with as they please. If you don't want a horse that can't be bred then simply don't buy it, then you don't even have to deal with that situation. . 

Just my two cents on the matter. Fully supported :)

My concern is the economy. It is hard enough finding good stock. I fear that this option would limit it even more

also, A mare can only have a set number of foals due to the cooling down time where a stallion can have many more foals. 
On top of that most players who play for the no more than 3 rule breed their mares at 17 or 18, it would be pointless to spay a mare for the last two years of life. 

Now, I am not really for or against this as I see some negative side effects (on my end personally) However, I can see the other sides point of view.

Just my two pennies worth, adding to the conversation as this is a community that sparks on new ideas through discussion :)
Stay calm, ride on :)

SUPPORT! I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT THIS.

I have a stock of mares that I do not want to breed. I can't sell them because I am afraid that other players will breed them recklessly. I do not want starve them because I rather for them to die by old age for records. (If you viewed a horse's foal list, you will see their ages and it is little annoying when I have to check all underage foals to make sure that they are alive. That's why I rather to let them die by old age.)

My youngest mare just turned 3 years old and it will be forever until they die omg. I want to spay them and sell them to someone who need extra riding school horses.

I support. The game is nowhere near realistic enough to worry about what's common in RL or not. I'd love to spay some of my show string mares or rescues that have bad points and won't ever be bred from anyway.

I don't support because this is a game, and if your trying to protect your lines, why breed more then what you want to keep, and just don't sell mares. Gelding stallions fine, but if you don't want a user to breed good " stalk" into there lines, or have good stalk, then simply don't breed your line more then you need to. 

@ Howl: Sometimes, it is not our fault. Majority of my overbred mares were rescued from irresponsible breeders who decided to bred them like 10 times before they even hit 10 years old. I wanted to spay them because I don't want to keep them but they had too many foals already. If I didn't buy them, they probably will give birth to more foals before hitting old age. To prevent their lines from spreading even farther and damaged my lines, I had no choice but to buy them and let them live their life in my account... ideally, I would like to spay them and give them away to players who need extra riding school horses.

@howl -
what Andromeda said.  It isn't us that over breed and ruin our own lines.  I breed my horses three times.  Once for myself, once for a friend, and I breed once to sell.  I vet the people who I sell to in order to avoid people who breed too much or too early.  But who's to say when that horse hits ~8 years old, they decide to get out of the breed and sell all their horses.  I would like the chance to buy the horse back, but that doesn't often happen.  It gets sold at a flat rate so anyone can buy it.  Someone buys it, breeds it four times before it hits 15y, before selling it off again, where I could pick it up.  They also sell off some of the foals.  If I'm picking up that horse and whatever foals from it I can buy, I want to geld/kill them off so they do the least amount of damage to the two horses my friend and I still have, so we don't have problems down the line.

I also would love to be able to buy up cheap and overbred/inbred horses in the sales and stop them from being used any further.  It's a lot easier to buy, geld/spay, and dump them in the rc where people can pick them up for showing fodder or they'll die off in a few days.

Everyone keeps mentioning new players wanting these good spayed mares and geldings..  but why would they want them? Maybe I’ve been gone too long, but personally I see EV as a horse sim breeding game. You raise horses and breed them to continue on lines, whether it be old lines or new lines. Why else would you put so much time, money and effort into raising unbreedable stock? Oh looky I raised a gelding to retirement and have nothing to show for it? 

Again, I may just be way off base and don’t understand the allure of unbreedable stock, as I haven’t researched what people do with geldings they buy. If you’re so concerned with protecting your lines, then why even sell? As a “new” player I find it more exciting to be able to purchase breedable stock to put my twist on and expand the gene pool - in a responsible way that is. If a foals really not up to your standards then let it die on a spare or something. This may be where old shifty Jim needs to come back into play so you’re not taking up valuable account space. 

It’s super late, I may have rambled and missed a few points as I’m tired. Not looking to offend anyone, just offering my view. 

People may want unbreakable stock for a variety of reasons. Maybe a horse is a beautiful color but has an undesirable breeding trait so a player keeps it simply for the color? Riding schools are a great way to earn some cash but don't do anything to promote a horse's showing ability, so why not use stock that won't be used in the breeding pen to earn an extra buck?

Spaying mares is a necessary feature that people DO NOT have to use if they do not want to but should be allowed for those who would like the ability to make their mares unbreedable for countless reasons.