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

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

Going solo again

Hello!

Long time, no see! My life has taken a 180° turn. I started university that is not in the town I live in. I am mostly now living in a bigger city, renting an apartment with a classmate and am now experiencing life without parents for the first time. Also, the studies have gone much more harder, forget about the whining I had back when I was in upper secondary, this shit is now real :D I even don't have time to go on Howrse so often. I visit it few times a week. But I can't get my mind onto quitting, this game is still great.

Stuff has happened over there too. For example, today I got expelled from Austrian Beauty team(former Österreichische Schönheit) due to inactivity. I totally understand that. My activity ceased to merely one blup a month and that is not enough at all. May-be it's even better that way, I have one less task to do. I hereby want to thank everyone who recruited me, helped me to learn blupping and the ways of teams. It was an invaluable experience. I am pretty sure I will one day find the time to join a team again.

I finished Etrian game a long time ago and got Wikaila. So far he has given me one stone and is halfway of giving me a second one. Useful divine, but getting the stone takes a lot of time, unfortunately.

Another not so pleasant news, at least for me. Wilderness chose to visit me again, but at that day I was busy, visiting a big horsey event and I didn't log on Howrse. I missed a chance to snatch up rosettes, but oh well, he is going to visit me again some day, I hope.

I got a Nokota from a recent event and started breeding them for coats. Skills don't matter, my goal is just to complete the coats collection and get the trophy. I decided to give them names after the songs of my favourite band Imagine Dragons c:

For the finishing touch, eye candy c:
Chelan
Cassidy
Pontanelle
Mortimer
Wikaila

See you next time!
BHF

P.S! Don't forget to follow my Twitter @myhowrse to get notified as soon as I post!

Thoughts about teams

Hey there!

I promised you a commentary this time, but I have another topic I really want to share my thoughts about, I just have to make way for it!

I have been in Österreichische Schönheit for a month and a half now and being in a team has opened up a new side of Howrse for me. I have been a solitary player all these years and have worked everything out mostly by myself. I have kept a low profile and have actually talked to other players very few times.

In a team, however, communication between players is a must for everything to work out right. But a mixture of people with different views and values and the fact that the majority of Howrse players are female, can also open up dramas.

Ahh, dramas. As soon as I joined the team, I learned and am still learning about players famed for different things, both positive and negative. We also went through a major drama because of one of our ex team member, but these seem to be an every day business in teams.

The rivalry between teams is actually greater than I thought. Teams incorporate and split all the time. This either creates bigger alliances or breaks them. Competition for the no.1 spot in each individual breed and overall is tough.

I have learned to BLUP Haflingers and do it fast. I don't have the advantages of a VIP account, my blupping record is 10 minutes. I am now using this method on my own Haffies, it boosts BLUPs faster.

Also, any leftovers from blupping and breeding stay with me, so I have gathered a lot of Haflinger skillers. I am planning to sell some of them once the GP release allows me to. If you are interested in any of them, drop a mail! I will then reserve it for you once the GP release gets that high. But please be patient, this may take a long time.

I  never understood the importance of AP farms, but now I have started to build one of mine. Over the years I have collected a huge amount of aging points and right now I have no worries about it running out, but AP farms take time to build and I have to think ahead already.

This month and a half have been eventful and exciting. I have some really nice teammates and we have managed to snatch two stars and are now striving higher! I'll update you should something groundbreaking happen :)

I started playing Horse Adventures: Tale of Etria on my phone and within the first day I got the first divine: Etrian. You can see her at All others---> Divine and Wild

I collected enough passes and bought a pegasus account! I immediately made more breeding farms and now my horses are far better organised. Also, I currently have a Philotes' stroke ufo available on my page. So head over to my user page and see them all yourself! :)

And what is a post without some eye candy! Check out these new coats!
Carmine
Claret
Mercury
Amar

Thank you and see you next time!
BHF

Grand Prix prospect

Heya! It's been a while again and I have quite a bunch of stuff to tell you about!

I have made a decision: If I want to get better results, I shall breed better horses and better horses don't come from mares that have a BLUP below 0. So I decided, that I won't breed my mares if their BLUP is negative. I'll wait if it turns positive. I will try that and see if I get better foals outta my mares.

I got my Arabian coats trophy! Hooray!

Pinatas are back! Yay! I am already on my third pinata, how about you? And as always, click my pinata please! c: I will try and click everyone's pinatas I happen to spot at the friends section. Fell free to friend me for pinata clicks! :)

And the fourth one is the most exciting news! Well, at least for me. I have been entering Amarita and Blackbird in Grand Prix comps for several weeks and I am pleased with them: both have managed to stay at the top 1000 and 2000. But we can always go better, right? c: So I looked at some of the winners' stats and decided to buy myself a future champion! And I found just the right one from the sales: Fusion, a pretty cherry bay KWPN gelding, 5000+ GP and 400+ stars! He was just 8000 equus(honestly, I expected them to cost more!). This is my first 5000+ GP horse! So I put all my bonus packs, Poseidon's packs and other stuff on him, if you want the best, you have to give him the best! With just half an hour he was fully trained and straight away won his first competition. That's my champ! :D I trained him another few days and today I entered him to the GP! Thumbs up and let's hope he will make it to top 500! That's my first goal! Will keep you updated on Twitter! :)

That's all for today! See you at the pinata party! :)
BHF

Breeding farm updates

Good morning! Or good evening!

You are probably wondering how are my Haflingers, Shires and others. No? Well, I'll still inform you about it.

BLUPping is a slow thing. I am just basically training, training, training my Shires and Haflingers, checking the BLUP-o-meter or whatever it is and it goes. So. Slow. I think I just need patience :P I entered Sunshine in several comps but she came back with 2 bronze throphies and a bunch of 5th placings. So, not yet.

About Arabians: Seems like Blackbird's line is dying out. I have already begun selling mares whose at least 3 last offsprings I have been forced to sell because they are not good enough for me. These all happen to be from Balckbird's line. I haven't bred Blackbird herself anymore. Yes, her offsprings have very good inborn skills, but that is not enough for me. I need them also to have a high GP. But if you would like an Arabian foal from her, feel free to mail me. You may choose the stallion ;) Rest assured, I am not gonna sell her, cause she still brings home golden throphies from the competition tracks. Amarita's line, in the other hand, is doing really well. All her offsprings are mine and so are her offsprings' offsprings.

My Trakehners have suddeny soared to the 2000+ GP skies. Best ones have about 2200 GP right now. And that means I will be selling foals with a GP below it, which means get ready to buy these lovely folks c:

In today's Yay or Nay...

The Great Challenge: Legendary horses.

Cons:

• Bonuses for the next festivities!
• If you feel bored, you can read a story about a Legendary horse.
• Missions are moderately easy. While doing your everyday stuff, you may automatically have completed them.
• If you are stuck with a mission, you may ask help from the community.
• You can help the community with missions and in turn you receive lottery tickets.

Pros:

• Getting the Divine means spending passes(real money).
•  You have to pay a fair amount of equus if you want somebody to help you complete a mission.
• Only several missions have the help option.
• In order to get all the bonuses, you have to be online everyday and complete all the missions.

The verdict:

This event is quite easy and a great way to spend time. Though you may not get the Divine(unless you are a pass millionaire), you have a big chance to get other great items. This is a Win.


That's it for this time! See you!
BHF 

Colorful text! Yay!

Hey there! More weeks have passed by and I am now a year older and have a summer job...oh no, I have not forgotten Howrse and am happy to tell you what has happened this month :)

About Haflingers and Shires...I decided to start BLUPping them, so far I haven't kept track of it on any of my horses. I read some articles on the internet about how to do it and started trying. I couldn't resist the temptation and bred LM Sunshine twice...and got two colts. Daffy remains "untouched". I won't breed them before they reach 90 BLUP at least.

I decided to start a new series called Yay or Nay? So basically, it is me judging events on Howrse. I will bring out the best and the worst in each event and then summarize it, is this event worth playing or not. These are mostly my personal opinions and may differ from yours, so please respect it :)

In today's Yay or Nay...

The Water Balloon Fight  

Cons:

• Free gifts from your friends!
• Possible rewards!
• Even if you throw only a few balloons, you have almost a 100% chance of getting a small reward.

 Pros:

• You can only throw a ball when you catch an UFO and that doesn't happen so often.
• Getting the best rewards and Divines is almost impossible and may require hours of time spent online.
• There is always a chance that your friends may not throw any balloons at you.

The verdict:

It is almost impossible to get any impressive prizes easily, but if you love to receive small gifts and give them to your friends, then this is your game :) This is a Tie.


Yay, I love the colors! You can comment below what do you think of it :P

Anyways, see you around!
BHF