Joria ... thank you so very much!
1. My blog isn't informative concerning the game; it's nothing but a fanciful blog about a fictitious ranch -- the kind of thing I might do if I had a real horse ranch.
2. Thank you again. I'm afraid I have rambled more than a little.
3. I've been in love with horses -- all horses -- since I was a little snip.
4. With a preexisting family I don't know of a way you can go into CAS and create a new pet. It's possible to go into Edit Town and create a new family (with a pet), then merge that family with the other. In fact, I did that with my Sim's husband and his horse.
5. Not sure. I'd be guided by the animal's original name, if he had one.
6. You don't need anymore space than what is required for a box stall and enough additional room for the horse to move around to get in and out of the box stall. I should think a 5x5 area plus box stall would be sufficient for one horse.
7. See #6. You'll need that much for each horse/unicorn.
8. See # 6.
9. Horses will not enter through a pedestrian doorway -- they will only enter through the barn doors/passageways which require a second story.
10. I have built both open and enclosed barns (where stalls and stall doors are on the inside). I prefer the open style, where stalls are exposed on at least one side because the horses haven't as far to travel to be outside. Also, for woohoo'ing, horses need some maneuver room to get to the stall or they tend to block one another and the Try for Foal icon times out. Horses need exercise and they will gallop on their own if possible. A locked barn is probably too restrictive. The simplest solution is simply to put your stall outside, with no barn whatsoever.
11. I've built barns with and without foundations (see my example of a split-level barn in my first post in this thread). I prefer having my stalls at ground level, so it's easiest to not use foundations. Horses will not go up stairways. I'm currently designing a large veterinary facility that will have an area for small animals in the basement level, stalls and a surgical area on ground level for large animals, and an upstairs (2nd floor) for a laboratory and lounge space for the medical personnel. The lot will be designated as a hospital, where my current Sim's daughter will work.
12. I prefer terrain paint. In real life most stalls have dirt or composit flooring. Horse urine will rot wooden floors very quickly. Hard-surfaced substrates are iffy because horses can slip and fall in a confined surface and may not be able to get up. The reason horses seldom lie down to sleep is because their intestines twist easily and that spells death. Note that when they do get down to sleep, they're still in a somewhat upright position. There was a very famous Arabian stallion who got himself stuck on his back in a stall and he died overnight. Hard-surfaced stalls require a lot of bedding, usually wood shavings. Straw is NOT a good bedding material for horses because it is not as absorbant.
13. Yes, you need the twin pylons for racing. However, horses can max their racing skill while training on the advanced jump obstacles, it simply takes longer. As has been said previously, you can get away with one pair of pylons, or two, three, or four. An area with four pylons simply looks more natural when the horse is training.
14. Absolutely! I've tried to make my stallion, Scenic, like him. Instead of competing in advanced races for his Racehorse Champion component, I only entered him in international races. It took a bit longer, but I feel like he's a better horse for it (in my mind anyway
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Welcome to the fold, Joria. I am far and away having more fun with my Equestrian Sim than anything else I've ever done. Unlike all the others, my Sims and their ranch have taken on a life of their own ... and if you'll allow me to run full circle, that's part of what the blog is about.
