Redwood Valley Equestrian Centre || Discussion

[Chaotic Queen]

I agree with Syd. In real life you would want goals that won't have problems.


Also, I see we have registered names now. Lol how would I get one for my babies?

You have to register them. And there is a post on the front page that has all the registries to register them.

[caf.]

So I've been thinking -- the problem with barrel racing, jumpers, and cross-country is that they essentially all share the same traits -- forelegs, shoulders, hind legs, and hindquarters. In effect, it naturally really makes good sense to breed a barrel racer to a jumper or XC horse to strengthen that horse's ability in one of those particular disciplines. Problem is, in real life, that would be a disastrous combination, and the foal would never do well in the top levels of any of those disciplines. Their body types are completely incompatible.

So! With that in mind, I'm considering adding a new factor to breeding so that if you breed two horses together that produce a foal that would be completely wonky in the real world, -2 stats are subtracted from each area or something... I don't know, I'm open for suggestions. What do you guys think? I know -2 sounds harsh, but it's tending now that the horses that are currently being bred to one another can get a boost that far surpasses that amount! I'll leave it open to discussion, and this definitely isn't set in stone, but I do want to encourage responsible breeding and unfortunately in some cases, especially with barrel racing, jumpers, and XC, it's only the general decision to not do that that keeps anything from happening -- the results are often great horses going by the standards on RVEC!

So please let me know if you have any thoughts on this -- I'd certainly love to hear them <3 (By the way, this is not directed at any particular user or breeding, I promise! I'm just having flashbacks to what started happening on the last RVEC with nonstop, unrealistic crossbreds and want to make sure I am equipped to better encourage responsible breeding this time! c:)

i'm not terribly sure, to be honest. i've known and ridden personally several crosses between traditional event breeds and stockhorses that made incredible eventers (among them a paint horse, a quarter horse, a mustang, and an appaloosa pony) - and, in turn, several warmbloods and thoroughbreds that turned out to be, well, disastrous. i think an appropriate substitute would be that perhaps breeding horses that have, say, more than 7 (just a random number, your call) points difference in a certain stat (e.g. a stallion with 2 in hind legs and a mare with 11) would result in a point deduction; this in turn would deter extreme breedings, since in real life that breeding would equate to breeding a horse with terrible sickle hocks to a horse with perfect ones - in the end, you end up with another sickle-hocked colt. it could also deter breeding in horses with poorer stats so owners are more inclined to be more careful.
alternatively, switching up the barrel stats could work. in the end, cross-country and jumpers are very similar, and while barrels is built on similar fundamentals it requires near perfect positioning of the barrel (body-aware barrel horses win races, y'know)? even the criollo stallion put up just now has the best stats for cross-country and barrels - which, in real life, honestly probably wouldn't happen (though i've definitely met more than one horse just like it).
your call, just thought i'd put in my two cents! you're doing a fantastic job keeping the quality high!

[SydneyandStorm]

Thank you so much for your responses, guys! <3 I really appreciate it! ^^

I've certainly met my fair share of horses that are wild crosses, and I don't mean to take away from them at all! Some of them can make great lower-level competitors because they tend to be more level-headed and an all-around type horse, and even non-traditional breeds can go really far in competitions -- usually much farther than the wonky crosses because they have a much more solid and seamless conformation. However, you typically wouldn't expect a horse to go all the way to Rolex if its father was a barrel racer, nor would you expect a part-WB to make it to the national rodeo scene, because they just don't have the conformation for it -- I'd be more than happy if crosses would lag back a little once it got to the "big" shows we're going to start hosting pretty soon, but unfortunately these crosses tend to end up among the best because of how varied the stats are ^^'

That is an interesting idea, and I'll certainly consider it! The only thing is -- unfortunately, most horses end up having at least a couple stats in the 3-5 region, and I don't want to deter improvement in breeds either by penalizing people for trying to get a foal somewhere in the middle so that they can improve on that foal later on... Hmm... I'll have to think about that one ^^

As for switching up barrel racing stats -- I have tried and tried to justify it, and I've looked all over the place to try and find a place that says barrel horses need some other body part more than shoulders, forelegs, and hind legs -- unfortunately, those are the exact three that come up every time. That's never even happened for any other discipline ^^' I've considered adding "head" for barrel racing and taking away one of the others, but the horses that do best in barrel racing are called "four wheel drive" runners -- they use their hind legs and forelegs equally to get low and around the barrel, and of course their shoulder is crucial to get as close to the barrels as they can... If anything, that's the most justified discipline we've got ^^' My other solution was to perhaps put "head" for jumpers and remove "shoulders"... But then that leaves us with only barrel racing having shoulders as a valuable stat and cross-country is still very much like barrel racing. Hm :c

To clarify, however, I can assure you that the proposed deduction would only affect wonky crosses from differing disciplines! There are many, many QH and TB crosses that do well in either style, provided both parents have the conformation and everything for it, but because of that, there are essentially two different strains -- such as the English QH and the western QH -- which is why it is possible for some to do so well at a sport that would seem contrary to their breed's standard body type ^^ So if one were to cross two horses that were different breeds but excelled in the same style of riding, the penalty would not take effect if I do end up doing it c:

[brindle.]

this grade horse at a show once beat my friends pure-bred dutch warmblood, so grade horses can still have a chance lol

[SydneyandStorm]

Oh, I know, I really do! You can't ride papers, and especially at lower level shows, it's all about temperament and training! I wouldn't look twice at the breed of horse if I was looking for a horse to compete casually; it's all about the heart. However, as shows become more and more physically demanding on a horse, it's more and more imperative that the horse conform exactly to the body type needed of it to do well at that particular show, just because the shows have been developed to challenge that particular type of horse -- which is why there weren't a bunch of Friesians, Quarter Horses, and Mustangs running around at the Olympics c; It's not at all that they don't have a chance, and even on RVEC, the showing system is designed to give every horse a fair shot while rewarding breeders who put a lot of work into developing their competitors -- it just really isn't realistic to be actively crossing horses specifically bred and trained for the discipline of barrel racing with horses specifically bred and trained for the discipline of show jumping, because their body types are so different and such a cross would very rarely make it to the top of their discipline, as well as they might do in local showing. Does that make sense? I assure you this has nothing to do with purebred priority! I've just had to come up with every single formula, regulation, and nuance of this sim, which means that it's just as falliable as I am, though I would like to make it better, and I can see that there's a flaw in a particular area that I would like to fix so that we can be as realistic as possible here ^^

[brindle.]

Oh, I know, I really do! You can't ride papers, and especially at lower level shows, it's all about temperament and training! I wouldn't look twice at the breed of horse if I was looking for a horse to compete casually; it's all about the heart. However, as shows become more and more physically demanding on a horse, it's more and more imperative that the horse conform exactly to the body type needed of it to do well at that particular show, just because the shows have been developed to challenge that particular type of horse -- which is why there weren't a bunch of Friesians, Quarter Horses, and Mustangs running around at the Olympics c; It's not at all that they don't have a chance, and even on RVEC, the showing system is designed to give every horse a fair shot while rewarding breeders who put a lot of work into developing their competitors -- it just really isn't realistic to be actively crossing horses specifically bred and trained for the discipline of barrel racing with horses specifically bred and trained for the discipline of show jumping, because their body types are so different and such a cross would very rarely make it to the top of their discipline, as well as they might do in local showing. Does that make sense? I assure you this has nothing to do with purebred priority! I've just had to come up with every single formula, regulation, and nuance of this sim, which means that it's just as falliable as I am, though I would like to make it better, and I can see that there's a flaw in a particular area that I would like to fix so that we can be as realistic as possible here ^^

no i wasn't being mean or rude
i was saying, just bc your horse might not be perfect doesnt mean it haves a chance
that was going for everyone

[Chaotic Queen]

So I've been thinking -- the problem with barrel racing, jumpers, and cross-country is that they essentially all share the same traits -- forelegs, shoulders, hind legs, and hindquarters. In effect, it naturally really makes good sense to breed a barrel racer to a jumper or XC horse to strengthen that horse's ability in one of those particular disciplines. Problem is, in real life, that would be a disastrous combination, and the foal would never do well in the top levels of any of those disciplines. Their body types are completely incompatible.

So! With that in mind, I'm considering adding a new factor to breeding so that if you breed two horses together that produce a foal that would be completely wonky in the real world, -2 stats are subtracted from each area or something... I don't know, I'm open for suggestions. What do you guys think? I know -2 sounds harsh, but it's tending now that the horses that are currently being bred to one another can get a boost that far surpasses that amount! I'll leave it open to discussion, and this definitely isn't set in stone, but I do want to encourage responsible breeding and unfortunately in some cases, especially with barrel racing, jumpers, and XC, it's only the general decision to not do that that keeps anything from happening -- the results are often great horses going by the standards on RVEC!

So please let me know if you have any thoughts on this -- I'd certainly love to hear them <3 (By the way, this is not directed at any particular user or breeding, I promise! I'm just having flashbacks to what started happening on the last RVEC with nonstop, unrealistic crossbreds and want to make sure I am equipped to better encourage responsible breeding this time! c:)

I think you should change the barrel racing stats. So they are not almost the same. And I like that idea. But maybe you could -1 from each area? But it is your call really.

[SydneyandStorm]

no i wasn't being mean or rude
i was saying, just bc your horse might not be perfect doesnt mean it haves a chance
that was going for everyone

Oh I didn't think you were meaning mean or rude! Did it seem like I did? My only intention there was to respond to the idea that grade horses can't accomplish as much as purebreds, that sort of thing -- I just wanted to clarify that the reason I'm thinking about adding some sort of penalty here is because in real life nature would penalize it -- not because I think the horses that result from it are bad or inferior ^^ I really hope that didn't come across the wrong way!

I think you should change the barrel racing stats. So they are not almost the same. And I like that idea. But maybe you could -1 from each area? But it is your call really.

Unfortunately, I just don't think changing barrel racing is going to cut it because those stats are so important to barrel racing in the real world :c That was my immediate reaction, but there's just really no other thing I could change it to... None of them make as much sense, you know? There's a little more freedom with jumpers and cross-country, as in jumpers a horse has to raise its head, balance with its neck, etc... So if I change something, it may be that, but I don't know. I wish I'd thought a little more about this when I'd first come up the stats and everything! The way I figure about the -2 penalty -- if I were to change the stats and someone still bred a jumper to a barrel racer, they'd actually get less points for that particular area for their foal; I assure you all that since we don't really have a negative random factor for breeding, most horses far surpass their parents in terms of stats anyways, and two less stats -- even maybe if it only applied to stats over 10 or something to that effect -- really wouldn't make a noticeable difference in terms of the horse -- it would just be less capable at the absolute top level of showing, which is really what I'm going for ^^ We'll see, though. And stuff like breeding a WP horse with a hunter horse probably wouldn't be super penalized, since they're both very similar in the carriage of the horse and overall demands, with the exception of the fact that a hunter jumps and WP horses have less flashy gaits -- I just mean for things like mixing a reining horse with an eventer -- that sort of thing would usually not be an improvement on or testament to the strengths of either parent, you know? It's really not a very restrictive penalty at all, I promise <3 Horses would still improve on breedings and it wouldn't apply to all crossbreds or even most -- just the general mixture of horses that have incompatible discipline strengths in the real world but that go well together on RVEC because a very shortsighted person designed this showing system, hahaha c:

[brindle.]

it was all a misunderstanding cx
by the way im corpse bride i just changed my user

[Chico_Mistpool]

Guys, I am looking for a purebred quarter horse to either buy or breed with. If you have one, tell me please.
I am looking for a male one