My Horse Ranch/Breeding Program

[samoht04]

hi
I'm new to playing Sims and I was wondering if anyone could give tips on building a good ranch?

You need to have lots of space around entrances to stables, otherwise your Horses will make a massive fuss.  For a Horse Ranch it is slightly more for practicality than beauty. The only time I've made something that looked really nice and it wasn't very practical, Lol! It had a meadow like 'fun' field and then it had the training field. There was posh flooring styles near the stables, they had overhanging roofs and fancy torches. Big fences and gates everywhere. Looked like you walked into a posh estate!  The Horses hated it though, would not move around in it... Now all this talk makes me want to try Horses again. I like how Horses are less in your face than Dogs and Cats, they get under your Sims feet. Not only is that physically impossible for Horses but they can be more solitary and kept at bay than the other pets.

Welcome to the forum by the way! 

[marystar]

Thanks for the tips

[Korva]

Correction of my previous post: the biggest haystack does not seem to run out as the smaller ones do? Curious, but I'm not complaining.

I started a 3-horse (2 mares, 1 stallion) project with two Sims, one of whom is the gardener, cook and backup horse caretaker. Wow, horses are time-consuming! Just like the real ones. There is basically no time for a social life unless I take a day off any horse-related activities. Of course, it doesn't help that my starting plot is quite far away from the equestrian center and training grounds, and that the competition times clash with most other Sims' free time. I don't know if I will stick with that game or restart with a slightly different approach, but I'm kind of attached to the horses now. Hrmf.

[EquineSim]

The bigger hay stacks do run out, they just last longer.

I find that buying the 64x64 lot is very good in the long run, its near the Equestrain Center and its very big, enough for me to have two six-stall stable blocks, two exersize paddocks, plus two grazing, or turnout paddocks. As well, there is room for a nice sized house, plus garage and vegetable garden. I will post a picture soon.

**If you don't mind cheating a little and need to train a horse quickly: enable the testingcheatsenabled true cheat, shift click the sims' letter box
and select make needs static. Have your sim saddle and mount the horse you need to quick-train, and set them riding around yout course of jumps. They'll
keep going until you tell them otherwise, and it normally takes me under twenty four sim hours to max the horse in jumping, a little longer in racing. Hope this helps.
If anyone wants to know about building ranches please mail me :-)
Happy simming

[Telsey]

Warr I love your little house. I like to start out gradually too when I play a long term game and do it without cheats. The smaller house is more practical anyway for starting out because training takes so much time that you aren't inside much anyway.  I do like to play with the fancy houses though sometimes too but not so much with sonething like this. I find the game is less fun or challenging when you just cheat to accomplish things. 

[SimsLover101]

 
The Star Gazer Ranch

The Star Gazer Ranch is a Breeding Ranch.
It is Completely Dedicated to the Breeding and Training of Pure Bred Gypsy Vanner and Clydesdale Horses.
The Hoses are all Well-Trained and Well Behaved.
I started out with 2 Breeding Pairs.

2 Pure White
2 Pure Black

All Skill Levels Maxed out in both pairs.

Why I Started A Gypsy Vanner Ranch


I have always loved the Gypsy Vanner Breed.
The Breed is fascinating, gentle, powerful and beautiful.
The Gypsy Vanner Has A very 'Striking' Appearance!

Plans

I do Plan on Mixing the Pairs up.
1.
Male
Traits
Friendly
Fast
Brave
Obedient
2.
Female
Traits
Friendly
Fast
Brave
Obedient

3.
Male
Traits
Friendly
Fast
Brave
Obedient
4.
Female
Traits
Friendly
Fast
Brave
Obedient

Colors: 1. White
2. White
3.  Black
4. Black

I have a Huge ranch for the horses.
6 stalls
Big House
Small pop off of the house for clients.

Will Have Pics up asap
(WILL TAKE A LONG LONG TIME)

[MaryMarsh]

Since starting this thread I've built several additional horse ranches. Most recently I was doing gardening and nectaring and, having filled my cellar with nectar, decided to have my sim learn the riding skill, which led to yet another ranch -- and possibly my favorite one. Below is an overhead view of the entire operation.



This one is located in Twinbrook -- I used Edit Town to move some properties around so I could locate the ranch (at left) on a bluff overlooking the ocean (nice moodlet there). Then I moved the JRA Equestrian Center next door (at bottom), the Pony Equestrian Center across the square (at right), and the Training Grounds in the middle of the square. It's a very efficient operation as everything is located close by, I have an option of venues for competitions, and with the Training Center directly across the street I do not have to clutter my own property with racing/jumping obstacles. So far, I have only one horse (a stallion named Robinhood). He's won 15 advanced crosscountry competitions and one international crosscountry. Have just begun the advanced racing competions. As I said, I really like this layout, mostly because it's so much easier to get my horse to/from the competions, which I do daily. Another benefit of having everything so close is my sim owns the three equestrian venues so picking up weekly earnings is a very brief task.

As a side note, the pond (bottom left) was created adjacent to steep, terraced cliffs where my sim can stand and fish. It's a most pleasant location, and again close to home.  Though not shown here, the ocean is a short walk to the south, so she has access to both freshwater and saltwater fish.

[Korva]

Could you post a close-up of the actual ranch lot? I'm always looking for inspiration. I too will definitely go with having the racing and jumping practice on another lot once I can afford it, else it does get too cluttered.

[MaryMarsh]

Compared to some of my other ranches, this sim lives rather simply. I've been playing this character for a couple weeks, she's achieved her LTW in nectarmaking and has maxed all her gardening skills; moreover, she's grown every plant possible to the perfect level. Currently, the nectar cellar, beneath the barn (left) has 62 nectar racks -- all full -- with values ranging from 89K to 59K per rack. I'm letting them age until the lowest priced rack is over 100K. I'm especially interested in experimenting with more banana-related nectar recipes; some done already with mixed result.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I really started this sim to do nothing but gardening and nectaring, but I wanted to do something with her while the nectar aged, so I had her learn the riding skill.

The house (right) is a remodeled schoolhouse, with covered porch and a large deck in the rear. It has a den, living room, 1 br, kitchen, and 1 bathroom. Should I decide to do so, the bedroom can be removed to make way for a staircase, whereupon I can easily add a second story with 3 bedrooms and a 2nd bathroom.

The barn has four nectarmaking machines on the ground floor, with a balcony style 2nd floor where I've installed a bathroom, inventor's workbench, and a pool table. As I said, the basement is used for nectar storage.

The two rows of light-colored squares are the garden. Each square is 5x5 (perfect fit for the sprinkler). At it's nexus the garden was fully planted, with one row packed with garlic plants for fertilizer. If planned carefully, with staggered planting times, and taking note of the growth rate of different plants, it's reasonably easy for a single sim to care for a garden this size. I still have over 1000 perfect garlic, 500 perfect life plants, 492 perfect flame fruit, and over 25 each of every other plant, so it will be easy to ramp the garden back up should I decide to do so (I'm contemplating adding a 2nd sim to the household who will have the Five-star Chef LTW, with Cooking and Gardening Skills) . I also have a nice supply of omni fruit plant seeds and moneytree seeds tucked away. In Twinbrook moneytree seeds can be collected near the cemetary and I routinely ride one of my horses over there to collect.

[EquineSim]

How do you get bananas in Sims three? Also I'm curious if marymarsh has all the expansion packs?

[Twinmum]

How do you get bananas in Sims three?

Banana trees come with Showtime.

[MaryMarsh]

Yup ... have all the EPs.

[Korva]

Cheers and thanks. I'm actually planning to start with gardening and nectar making too, and adding the horse breeding later, so it's helpful to see a similar setup.

[MaryMarsh]

Good luck! Much of the enjoyment I get from this game is planning; I often spend several days thinking and planning my strategies before I even begin playing. We travel quite a lot and I spend much of the time away scheming garden plans and ways to make my sims more efficient. When I build houses and other structures I always have a theme in mind and try to create floorplans that leave room for potential expansion (stairways, additional bedrooms, etc) at lowest cost for remodeling. I usually start sim households that will be around for a long time, so it's important to think about future space requirements for things like martial arts dummies, inventor's benches, pianos, and all the other goodies necessary when our sims launch into new hobbies or careers.

I must admit, after having built several ranches in Appaloosa Plains doing one in Twinbrook and completing the Riding challenges has been something of a test; namely, the Mustang Master component. Wild horse locations are not so predictable -- I finally found them in the junkyard and at the science center. Manzanita Horse (Unicorn) did appear adjacent to the larger of the lakes (close to the military base) and, oddly, on my game at least, she did not have an aurora above her (and yes I had the time running). I spotted her next at the science center with aurora, and was able to invite her into my home without watching her -- I went straight to an affection skill, she blessed me, and I took that as a cue to invite her, which she immediately accepted. Quite different from my past experiences with Unicorns.

I now have four mares and a stallion; all but Manzanita have maxed their racing/jumping challenges, and all the mares have dropped at least one foal apiece. Manzanita gave birth to a Unicorn, which I released back to the wild; the other foals have all sold at prices ranging from 18K to 21K. My real goal with Manzanita is to see how many International wins I can rack up. Coincidentally, all of my horses except the stallion originated as wild horses.

With sale of horses, prize money from competitions, and funds from my three pieces of real estate I've got a nice weekly income, and all that nectar aging in my cellar will make a terric retirement nest egg 

[EquineSim]

Ohh lucky, I want more ep and sp! :O    I think next I'd like to get Generations, followed by Master Suite, then maybe Showtime, but I don't know.

Okay thanks, I was wondering because my Sim wanted to harvest a banana.