Redwood Valley Equestrian Centre || Discussion

[Galaxy Thoroughbred]

I think just promote combined driving more because there is such a low interest rate adding two of the same genre of sport would be pointless. Focusing on one would ensure that if two people were competing it wouldn't be one in carriage the other in combined and keeps it simple and easy.

[chellerd]

I voted for Maybe.

The reason why is because I have no idea how much it would cost to get involved. Meaning time and what the objectives could be.
I would like to enter for a few horses, because I love Mustangs, but I am just not sure if I have the time.

Characters I can create, or atleast the basic stuff, a name, gender, age, a backstory would be a bit harder.
(I still need to "staff" my barn properly with people)

[SydneyandStorm]

That's an excellent point, Chellerd; I'll be happy to explain everything here ^^

RVEC's Mustang Million has four steps: Adopt, Gentle, Train, and Compete.

For step one, users bid on several different Mustangs that will be put up for adoption on RVEC. Bidding will start at 125c for each and must increase by at least 5c, although there is no cap on how much you increase a bid by (so if you want to jump from 125c to 450c, you certainly can). There will be a mix of mares and stallions ranging in age from yearling to age six.

For step two, users must complete writing or visual art for each of the following events: unloading, haltering, tacking, and gentling. You can do more than one story/artwork per event, and doing so will give you bonus points, but you are only required to describe what happened once per event.

For step three, users must write/draw/create 3-5 rides/training sessions for their intended contest, ideally going over any moves they will need to know to do well in their chosen competition. The more training sessions and commands you practice, the higher your score will be, but you are only required to do the 3-5 rides in order to enter. (You will also receive bonus points during step three (and two) if you incorporate the horse's attitude, willingness, and intelligence into the sessions, as well as mixing media. Going above and beyond is optional but a really good idea. Additionally, you should keep everything highly realistic. In the Mustang Million, there exists a concept of "implied training" in that if you go over something once and the horse refuses to pick it up, it is implied that you went back and worked on it until you and the horse mastered it. In other words, you don't have to end every session on a good note, and realism and setbacks will earn you many more points than having everything go perfectly. Keep this interesting for both yourself and the judges c; Taking "days off" just to play with your Mustang will also go a long way in the competition!)

For step four, users will compete in different sections, which is the part I'm working out right now. As it stands, Legends will be included no matter what, Youth will be included if there is enough interest, and Specialty classes will be included if there is excessive interest and a flood of well-prepared participants. Legends includes three sections: horsemanship (which will be judged on your sessions and horse-handler relationship developed over the training process, as well as your submission to the contest itself), pattern (which will be judged on overall training, writing/art effort, and physical stat acknowledgement [as in, if a horse has weak hind legs, acknowledging in the writing/art that the horse may have a difficult time with a pivot]), and trail (which will be judged on attitude and character stat acknowledgement in writing/art as well as horse-handler relationship and overall training). The top 50% of contestants in Legends will move on to the Finals, in which contest each participant will come up with a freestyle routine, include a link to any necessary music, and write/complete visual art for such a routine. That will be judged on realism, former training, effort in writing/visual art, creativity, and overall excellence. Finals performances will be judged without regard for former scores in the preliminary rounds.

Youth will be included if there are enough young characters wanting to be involved and consists of essentially the same three sections as Legends, although all are in-hand instead of ridden and horsemanship will be replaced by handling/conditioning (which will also be judged on day-to-day care of the horse). Youth also consists of a Finals that will be judged in the same way as Legends.

Specialty will be included if there is an abundance of participants, as a horse cannot cross between Specialty and Legends and vice-versa. Specialty classes include hunters, dressage, pattern, cow work, trail, and freestyle, and horses are judged according to training, physical conformation in accordance with the discipline, writing/art effort, and general creativity (for freestyle). This one is still up in the air.

The competition will most likely take place RP-style, and an additional award will be given out to an outstanding participant, so when the competition takes place, you are encouraged to continue interacting with your horse or engaging with the crowd and competition before and after your performance. For example, if the entries for the trail class are open from an arbitrary 15th to 18th, you may choose to groom your horse beforehand, invite another user to lunch, participate in the trail class, untack and reward your horse, and then watch other members compete in several different posts throughout that time period. All of that, except for the actual participant post, is entirely voluntary but will increase your chances of receiving that additional award and prize, so it depends upon the time you have available and how fond you are of that sort of participation.

Background details for any characters or a written physical and personality form is not necessary for the Mustang Million; the character of each individual should be evident from your writing or artwork. You will have to spend a good deal of time cultivating a relationship between horse and handler as well as coming up with unique events and setbacks even during the competition, as "robotic" horses will be penalized for being drugged and "perfect" horses will be penalized for speculated abusive techniques. This competition is all about creativity and subtle character- and relationship-building, but it shouldn't be too work-intensive or difficult if you can come up with that easily enough! I intend to make entry submission deadlines long enough to allow for life events to not get too much in the way, as well as to allow everyone to have plenty of time to complete the competition posts without stress or rushing. This is intended to be a fairly relaxed but fun competition that will be incredibly rewarding to those who put a dedicated amount of time and effort into it ^^ Prize money will be given out in the form of the amount of money accrued by the initial adoptions times five (so if ten mustangs are adopted for 350c each, the prize money pool will be 17,500c to be distributed among the various competitors, as well as a custom for the first place of Legends), and there will be an auction hosted at the end of the Mustang Million for any interested in selling their Mustangs. More information on this to follow when we get there.

So hopefully that clears most things up! If you have any questions still, please let me know!

[Starwalker123]

That's going to be so much fun. I can't wait.

[caf.]

a couple of questions:
for one, when are we allowed to know the stats of our mustangs? at adoption? after purchase?
secondly, what are the requirements for writing and art pieces? as you've probably guessed, i'm incredibly excited about the gentling and training portions, however i'm not terribly sure how much time i can devote due to my upcoming competition season.
where will all the gentling, training, and interacting take place? in one, large mustang million rp thread? or on the pages of the respective horses?
i'm super, super stoked for this event, though i will have to work carefully with my time management. i voted for two horses, though i may have to back down to one as i'd much prefer one extremely well-developed character to two moderately developed ones. please let us know if you need any help with organizing this! the rvfha would be happy to offer sponsorship to contestants as well, if you'd like to set something up like that please let me know!

EDIT: also, roughly how many days total should the entire event span over?

[SydneyandStorm]

Good questions! Thanks for asking!

for one, when are we allowed to know the stats of our mustangs? at adoption? after purchase?

Physical stats will be visible during adoption, and you may be able to guess the attitude from their picture; however, character stats and the actual attitude will be hidden until after the horse has been purchased ^^ I may consider adding an option where before an auction, you can interact with a horse RP-style and possibly reveal some of its stats... However, I'll have to think more on this, and of course I'd want to know everyone's opinion on it <3

secondly, what are the requirements for writing and art pieces?

There are no requirements, really; you could theoretically write just one sentence for training or draw stick figures and I guess that would technically count, although it certainly wouldn't bode well for you in the competition ^^' Whatever amount you need to convey what is happening in that particular session is perfectly fine, no stress! Additionally, I think the only deadline I'm going to set will be the competition itself, so if you get a little behind, it's okay; you'll just need to get caught up by the time the Mustang Million swings around c:

where will all the gentling, training, and interacting take place? in one, large mustang million rp thread? or on the pages of the respective horses?

All of that can take place on the horse's personal page or on a page you create for the sake of training etc., so that you don't clutter your horse's page if you don't want to ^^ So long as I have the link to that page, you're golden c:

the rvfha would be happy to offer sponsorship to contestants as well, if you'd like to set something up like that please let me know!

That would be fantastic, actually! I'd love to have something like that up and going! c:

EDIT: So sorry I didn't see your edit when I responded! I expect the training and gentling to take maybe a month and a half or so, with the Mustang Million taking place over about two weeks cx

[brindle.]

would you ever put halflingers in this sim? i own a couple myself, and would love to see some running around, but no rush, i dont know if were allowed to suggest breeds, i have some though

- halflingersssss
we haven't gotten any ponies in a while as well

[SydneyandStorm]

would you ever put halflingers in this sim? i own a couple myself, and would love to see some running around, but no rush, i dont know if were allowed to suggest breeds, i have some though

- halflingersssss
we haven't gotten any ponies in a while as well

Haflingers are a great idea! I'd be happy to add a few, perhaps even for our Around the World event <3 We do have a separate thread for suggestions if you'd like to suggest more there, so that when I go back through your suggestion doesn't get buried in general game discussion! c:

[brindle.]

would you ever put halflingers in this sim? i own a couple myself, and would love to see some running around, but no rush, i dont know if were allowed to suggest breeds, i have some though

- halflingersssss
we haven't gotten any ponies in a while as well

Haflingers are a great idea! I'd be happy to add a few, perhaps even for our Around the World event <3 We do have a separate thread for suggestions if you'd like to suggest more there, so that when I go back through your suggestion doesn't get buried in general game discussion! c:

ahh, sorry ><

[SydneyandStorm]

would you ever put halflingers in this sim? i own a couple myself, and would love to see some running around, but no rush, i dont know if were allowed to suggest breeds, i have some though

- halflingersssss
we haven't gotten any ponies in a while as well

Haflingers are a great idea! I'd be happy to add a few, perhaps even for our Around the World event <3 We do have a separate thread for suggestions if you'd like to suggest more there, so that when I go back through your suggestion doesn't get buried in general game discussion! c:

ahh, sorry ><

No, no, you're perfectly fine, I assure you! That wasn't meant to chastise you at all, and you certainly haven't made a mistake or anything; I just don't want to forget your suggestion and will be more likely to remember it if I can go back through the suggestions thread when I'm looking for ideas for new horses to make c: Please don't worry at all!