My Horse Ranch/Breeding Program

[simfulicious]

This thread is so awesome that it has inspired me to create my own ranch, as well.  I tried to do it yesterday without using any money cheats, but it was taking a really long time to get enough money coming in to build a house.  So I decided to start from scratch today, and using just shy of $100,000 have come up with this:



I will be raising Appaloosa's (we are in Appaloosa Plains after all) and have created Apache as the stallion and two mares:  Apricot and Silver.

The barn is attached to the house, hopefully this will make things go a little faster.

Does anyone have any pointers on breeding?  My horses were taking forever to get in their stalls to "try for a foal", and I don't think it's because of the space, but because the second horse is following behind the first a little closely, thus getting in the way of the door opening for the first horse.  Eventually they either work it out, or the interaction stops and I have to start over.

[VampirePlasma]

I may just have to try this...

[MaryMarsh]

simfulicious ... I really like your layout with the attached barn. My parents had a friend who did much the same thing -- house above and barn below. I always liked the concept.

Far as getting horses into stalls for breeding, it's simply hit or miss. Mine do the same thing and I've yet to figure a way around it. Seems to work best when you start your animals about 4 horse lengths away from the stall, which kind of gives them space to work out the traffic pattern. I've kind of accepted the problem and chock it up to being more like real life. During breeding on our real farm I used to hold the mares while my dad brought the stallion for servicing. Things didn't always go smoothly there either. Some mares were kickers and needed to have their rear legs hobbled. Others needed a bit of foreplay --socializing-- before they'd accept a stallion (truly!). Just gotta be patient.

[Lesleyxxx]

The first pair to mate took about 6 tries with me repeatedly clicking 'try for a foal' before they successfully entered the stall.   Then the whole stall is blocked out, straw scatters in all directions, heart shaped red and pink confete rains on them, then the baby music and it's done. Next day your sim gets the warning about the mare being pregnant and to prepare for a foal.

The second pair [same stallion with the other mare] did it all on their own with no help from me.  I saw them grooming and just observed.. and it went like clockwork.  So I'm awaiting the patter of the 2nd lot of tiny hooves now.

As for your ranch, it's lovely!  

I have a question on the track in the right corner. You've put several sets of posts.  Is that how it should be? I've no horse knowledge so wondering now if I should have done something like that?

[MaryMarsh]

I have a question on the track in the right corner. You've put several sets of posts.  Is that how it should be?

Yup, you need four pairs of posts to force your horses to run a circuit.

[simfulicious]

@lesley:  Do mean the red posts?  Those are the racing posts...you should have 4 like that so that the horse will run around in a circle, like they would be doing at the track.

[Deme]

But you can still train fine with just one -- I've done it to save space, and it works out well enough, though it's far less cool-looking.

[MaryMarsh]

I think MetropolitanMan mentioned it in his guide, but it's worth repeating; you don't actually need the racing posts at all. So long as you're training over the advanced jumps (where horses gallop) they will also improve their racing skill. It may be just a wee bit slower than running a flat track, but where space is an issue it's an effective alternative.

[samoht04]

Do Horses have Romantic Interactions? I'm just wondering because I made my Horses in CAS and it says they are Litter Mates or whatever the name is. So I'm wondering if that is a problem or not? At the moment I am training my Horses. I have a Brother and Sister running the Ranch. It ended up quite posh and I made a recreation field with loads of those heathery type plants (The Yellow, Pink and Blue ones) Yellow was base, Pink was LN and Blue was Pets, low lying. So it looks like a meadow. I have a big area for training but they were all standing there so I couldn't add that stuff. The Brother is level 7 currently, his Sister is Level 4. So far the Stallion is the best trained.

[Lesleyxxx]

Ok so more would work better for racing. At the moment the horses just race randomly around in any direction. If I wanted them to run a circuit would I just need start and end poles or would they be needed for each bend also?

I definatly have space for it so I just give it a go.

Latest picture of Mare & foal, Ginger and Flame [his dad is Blaze]

[MaryMarsh]

samoht04 ... Being littler mates is no hindrance to breeding. I created Scenic and Sabrina in CAS and they've had no reluctance in breeding.

Lesley ... I've tried it with two and four pairs of posts. With two pairs the horses simply run up and back. I settled on four pairs because I had the space and it seemed more efficient to have the horses run a longer distance. And, as Deme said, it simply looks cooler.

[Lizzy]

Pfff it's really hard to sell my unicorns, i have 3 crossbreeds now, all female... Time to sell one 

[simfulicious]

I have just started a blog about my farm.  There is not much there besides framework at this point, but if you want to see it, it can be found here.

Once it is a little more set up on the blog (which means I actually have to play my farm), I think I will start a thread on the project story board.

[MaryMarsh]

simfulicious ... Nicely done! I especially like that you enumerated your goals. I wasn't so put together when I started.

[simfulicious]

Thank you, Mary.  I am only more organized because you shared what you were doing with all of us, and that led to my inspiration.