A guide to blupping your horses

Hello again!

What is this? Two posts in one week? When did that last happen? Nope, your eyes are not deceiving you, this is the second post this week! Hooray!

Every third post on Facebook Howrse groups is asking about blupping. I have to agree, it took me years to understand this system, it can be very confusing for beginners. But worry no more, I am here today to share with you one way to do it - my way!

Please note that all pictures in this post have been taken by me!

The base for blupping is the horse's three best skills. You can find it out, when going to the "Genetic" tab. There you will see your horse's full genetic potential (or GP) and its breakdown. The top three best skills are the ones which work towards increasing your horse's blup. Fully train these skills.

Here is the GP breakdown of one of my horses. Circled are his

three best skills, which count towards his blup.

When you finish training these three best skills, start entering the horse in competitions. Having 20 wins* is vital for getting 100 blup. All wins are counted towards the 20, no matter the discipline or the event. I suggest you to use tack with as high bonuses as possible, to have a bigger chance at winning. Competitions also gain your horse skills, so make sure you take part in competitions that increase your horse's three best skills also. Skills can be gained only in a limited number of competitions, meaning your horse won't be able to forever gain skills competing. Make sure you gain all that is possible to gain in your horse's three best skills.

*Some horses happen to be less lucky and getting even a few wins might seem impossible, but if this is the case, I suggest you to finish rides first and then try competing again, because skills is usually what the non-winners lack.

Simultaneously, when there is some energy left after entering competitions, you should take the horse for rides. Each ride increases three different skills. Take your horse on rides where it's three best skills are increased. Often you have to complete both forest and mountain rides, but there are breeds which require only one ride. You have to complete rides, which means you have to perform this activity until there are no skills left to be gained from it.

This horse has no skills left to be gained from rides.

This horse has skills that can still be gained from rides.

If you have finished all these three steps, your horse's three best skills should now be bolded (see picture below) and you horse fully blupped! You can complete this in a different order, but it is a great idea to train and ride your horse before entering competitions, so it will have bigger chances to win.

This horse's three best skills are bolded, which means the horse

has gained all the possible bonuses in these skills in addition

to training.

Seems easy? Yes it is, once you get the hang of it. Blupping only affects breeding, but what about the skills? It is an important aspect, if your aim is to compete and get good results with your horse. But this will be discussed in a future post!

See you around!

BHF

Hunting the GA trophies!

Hello

Summer is upon us and so are finals...I don't think I need to elaborate here :P Anyways, I have been running around Howrse too and have gone Golden Apple crazy! The fact that I have achieved the 50 coats trophy pretty much is the result...

Well who doesn't love to give their bland and basic looking horses some life and colour! I managed to snatch up a good little lot consisting of eight GA horses, plus I've been exchanging and participating in events to get the items needed. Just a few minutes before writing this post I managed to score the one GA coat for every species trophy.

This inspired me to share some tips with you! Whether you are just a casual get-a-GA-once-in-a-while or aspiring to have the biggest collection on the game, I hope here is something for everyone!

• If you have a lot of Black Market items lying around that you don't use, you can trade some for Golden Apples or even Harmony packs! For example, 2x Poseidon's packs or Bonus packs will definitely give you a Harmony pack or a GA. You have to look around the market and see which exchanges are most likely to be get accepted. If you have enough funds, you can also trade with equus, but this is the more expensive option. If you want to give it a go, you can check out my guide on how to make equus for tips!
• Participate in events! I am guessing most of you are doing this anyways, but if you are not a very dedicated "eventer" or usually don't participate, I very much encourage you to do so! In recent years, Howrse is giving out bigger and better prizes more easily and these include customization items. If you want to get a free GA or even a Harmony pack, then just actively participate in events! You don't even need to pay passes to get that far! A big chance is that at some point, you will snatch up that desired item! You will also get other items on the way that you can put up for exchange!
• Facebook groups! I have mentioned them before, but they really are very useful for finding the best deals! The lot that I mentioned above I got thanks to an ad on Facebook.
• If you are a true hoarder, you can use up every chance to get more customization items. You can have a pass farm to get free passes (if you are wondering what it is, read my older posts!), use any Hermes staffs, Themis scales you get. I don't really recommend this option if hoarding coats is not your only purpose on this game...
• Don't forget about the horses! GAs alone won't get you trophies, you need horses to put them on to! I have often run into this problem in the past, but now have worked out a system. It is wise to stack horses that need a coat so you'll always have one should you get a GA. You can use horses that don't sell, horses from AP and pass farms. If you happen to get more valuable horses, such as those with pets, it's also a good idea to give them coats to increase their value.

I don't think I invented anything new here, but if at least one beginner found something useful here, then this post's mission is complete!

Happy hoarding!

BHF

Looking back at the Memory Game

Hello!

Phew! This semester in uni has been extra crazy! I've been wanting to write a blog post for a long time, but literally every free minute is spent on stuDYING -.-

A new event started today, but let's take a look at the previous event, the Memory Game. I used to do Yay or Nays about events, this is something similar, but gives a broader overview and also has pictures!

Please note that all the pictures in this post have been taken by me!

The Memory Game was just as you'd expect it to be - a memory game! There were 26 levels altogether and every one of them granted you a prize. You could also get some smaller items for matching tiles with the item's picture it gave out, but these were simpler ones, like APs, tack, fortunes etc.

With a little help in the form of a paper and pencil, this game could be made fairly easy! I just wrote down all the tiles and progressed pretty fast! I made it to level 21, which is so close to 22 where I could have gotten a Falabella divine! As always, there was a divine at the end of the board, but for non-pass-using players those are always out of reach, tough I have to admit, this time it was closer!

There was something new with the jokers that I liked - every day one of them was offered for free for one use! One of them revealed some unturned tiles for a few seconds and the other ones indicated tiles from the same family for a few seconds also. The former was very useful, the second I found great when the board was down to fewer tiles.

You couldn't go on forever, there were lives, that you received every day when logging in. It was great that they stacked as I was some days only able to log in for a sec to collect them.

On the second picture I have the level I managed to get to. I forgot to log on in the last morning, which I regret, because I was really hoping for that Harmony pack, but there will be another chance for sure...

The new event, Icelandic hike has proved to be promising also. It has a new and interesting platform. Iceland is also a very interesting place, I would really like to travel there one day, so it's kind of a win-win.

That's all for this time! Have a nice day and good luck, the purge starts in just five days...

BHF

What's the deal with stomping

Hello!

I am changing the focus of my blog a bit. I won't be writing so much about my personal game, I will post more game tips and discussions and my own opinions. This is the perfect way to practice writing essays which is very useful for an university student like me!

Today I managed to find some time to add a new page to this blog! You can find the "Useful" page on the top bar under the logo. I will gather there all the useful information that my brain can't or doesn't want to memorise lol. There might be something useful for you too, so go and check it out! Anything specific you want to see? If you comment, I can add it!

In this post I want to dive into a controversial topic: stomping. Let's make an example: a team is blupping their horse(s) and, as we all know, they need to have 20 wins in order to complete that. So to make sure that the wins stay in the team, they take up several competitions and fill all the spots with their horses. But suddenly, a player outside team takes up a spot on the competition and wins, meaning the team gets no gain. This is where the opposition forms. When someone stomps repeatedly, it can be very frustrating for the team, wastes their time and the horse's lifespan, if it is not immortal. On the other hand, the player stomping might have no idea they are doing so, plus they have every right to enter any competition they want to enter into.

Teams have the right to be frustrated, because stomping can greatly affect their progress, but there are no rules against stomping and it is all fair play, unless it's a rival team doing it on purpose (unfortunately, Howrse doesn't have any rules against this either). On Facebook drama groups I've seen the pettiest ones sending an angry message to the stomper, who didn't even know they were doing it. Why waste your energy doing so? Focus it on blupping for the team instead, don't let the inevitable get to your head. I think teams should just be patient and keep trying, eventually, the stomping, be it intentional or not, will come to an end.

Now, on to the stompers. Majority of them have no idea they are doing it. They are just entering competitions to do the same as teams do - blup their horse(s). They all are aiming for the same goal and in such situations a little (or alot!) of competition is inescapable. Also, it is possible that the computer is basically stomping: if the stomper has VIP and auto comp, then the system is entering horses in competitions itself and it can't do anything about stomping - the computer just enters, it doesn't choose.

To conclude, stomping is inevitable. There are no rules written down about it and there is really no way out of it. I suggest teams and other bluppers to just keep a cool mind and just move on and keep trying and if you are not an intentional stomper and just are blupping your horse, just keep doing so and do not worry about anything. If a petty and rude user unexpectedly pops up in your inbox, you have every right to report them.

Keep calm and Howrse on!

BHF

New year, new Howrse

Happy new year!

I know it is late, but I've had no chance to tell you guys this, exams have kept me busy. New year, new mes are popular right now, but let me turn it around a bit - new year, new Howrse! I have given a thought about the state of my breeding farms and in conclusion, I've decided to clean them up a bit. Many of my horses have been around for years and inside this time, Howrse has also made several changes to the game. For example, the new blupping system has turned my system upside down and it was in need of some rearrangements. Here's what's going on in my breeding farm right now:

• I have finished breeding Arabians. Nearly all of them are up for sale. The new blupping system kind of ruined it for me and I am just too lazy to sort things out xD Currently, everything in the "Arabian horses" tab is for sale. All of them are purebred and have whips, also some rare coats are included! Go and check them out and drop a mail with an offer if you are interested!
• The Arabs will be gone...what's next? Well, I have an idea that has been going around my mind for some time now. Project Super Horse?! Got to think of a better name for this lol, but the thing is, I want to try and mix horses who have different weaker and stronger skills, meaning, if they merge, their offspring's skills are all great. This could be a nice outcome and would really help me to aim a bit higher on the game. I just first have to sell horses I don't need and then see which two breeds I am going to use.
• I am also planning to do a "spring cleaning" in my beloved Trakehners stable. Most of the horses there are still the offsprings of the foundation mare Ebony, they are low skilled and because of the new blupping system, it is hard for them to win comps (which reminds me I should change their specialty...). Yet, I don't feel like selling them. A good solution would be to move them to AP farm, where they could all be useful and produce me passes. But I still got to give it a thought, let's just see what comes...

In other news, I have some Eye Candy c:

I found a mouse gray Arab with a goat companion in the sales for 50,000 equus and I just had to snatch him up, because I am eyeing that companions throphy. He got a 5th element and a nice look, go and see Ghaith.

More Vintage Apple coats, because Howrse keeps hoarding them as easy-to-get prizes in events:  Emoji, Excel.

A beautiful GA: Gabriel

A Wanderers' Spirit, gonna sell him in the future: A Man After Midnight

That's it for this time! See you!

BHF