How did you choose a breed (or breeds) to focus on?

[Lithium]

Hey guys! I'm new around here and still finding my place in the HWO world, but I wanted to hear more about you veterans and what I'm really interested in is this:

How did you end up choosing a breed (or your first breed) to focus on?

There are so many breeds and things I can do, it's astounding and I love it - but I keep changing my mind. The breeds I feel like I might be most interested in are clearly too complex for me to breed from my own stock (at least currently - I'd need heaps of space and founders and whatnot to make it work), like the Tiger Horse and Mangalarga Machador, unless I inbreed majorly. But then I get fussy over not wanting to breed something TOO common, either.

So how did you choose or settle early on?

[ToiletWater13]

Well, when I first joined HWO I didn't know very much about breeds or breeding projects; I just went to the Market and searched for any horse I could get within a certain price bracket, and the one I purchased was an Arabian. I bred a few Arabians, then found out about what breeds they could create and settled on Plateau Persians because they seemed easy enough to breed but also pretty rare.

I've wanted to get involved in breeding Halflingers because they're my girlfriend's favorite breed and I've been working on Groningens (it's also a name of a city in the Netherlands where I intend to live for a while) and Forest Horses (it's so hard to find Forest Horses with green stats and I want to try to fix this), but the Halflinger lines ended up being really really complicated...I'd have to go back and breed virtually everything over from scratch, which isn't something I have the mental stamina to do when you consider that even the "easy" breeds are a pain in the behind to get all five traits perfectly aligned and THEN you have to worry about the coloring. I applaud the person who originally got started breeding them because they are RIDICULOUS.

I have trouble focusing on just one thing at a time, you might blame my ADHD. Maybe, if you don't have a particular project in mind right now, you could go to the Sale Ads forum and find out what kinds of horses seem to be the most wanted/valuable and breed them to sell or stud. You might also see about projects others are working on, and if something is of particular interest to you, ask if they would allow you to get involved.

[KayaineII]

I breed Arabians, and although they're a pretty common breed, I chose to breed specialty arabs. For me that is pretty much whatever I think is interesting. I have app Arabs and tiny Arabs (under 2 feet tall). I also plan to breed tall arabs, feathered arabs, and whatever else I feel like. I chose arabs because, although there are many, very few of them are strong, and one of the requirements I have for all of my arab lines is that they have avg to great strength for all of the finished horses in that line.

I will say, as you start out, it might be good to choose a reasonably common breed until you get to the point where you can have quite a few horses. Otherwise, it can be pretty hard to breed a new line.

Just do what you like, and don't worry about the rest!

[Woodstock]

Well I took an easy breed the Exmoor pony and then I set a harder goal that would use my Exmoor's which was the Dartmoor and that is my goal right now. I also have a little side project of Belgians and American cream draft x Belgian going on which might become my full time project. I believe that I also bred Arabians at one point in my game time.

[BlanketMonster]

For any horse site I'm on I always look for my favourite breed : Canadian Horse. When I first joined HWO on Halloween there weren't any Canadians, let alone half of the breeds required to create it so I set Canadians as my goal. I managed to reach it by December.

Canadians are my favourite breed because there are my ideal body shape, temperament, skill set (everything lol) and are breed to have my preferred colours (bay/black/chestnut. I'm a simple low-key horse person) and because they are the national horse of Canada, where I'm born and raised.

It's mostly about preference for a particular breed that makes a person decide to start breeding for it I find. It's also /what/ you are breeding that breed for. Is it for competitions? To set HWO records? Make the naturally chunkiest of all drafts? Smallest and leanest of all ponies?

[aschaab]

I started off with Arabians because Arabs are pretty awesome in general. I've been through so many different breeding programs from Arabs and Morgans to Gypsy Vanners and Friesians, to like Quarter Horses and stuff. It's pretty fun, actually. I have about like 20 Morgans as of right now. If anyone is looking for a Morgan.

[Corvus]

My favorite horse breed is the Finnish Universal, so that's what I'll eventually end up with. Of course, I also like several breeds along the way such as the Norwegian Fjord and Icelandic so as I slowly work towards my Finnish horses, I'm breeding those as well. I also have Aztecas because it's a Mexican breed and my family is Mexican so it made sense to me.

[Scythian]

Looking at your farm, I noticed some very interesting and talented horses -- I think you are doing very well for someone who has been at this game for less than a week. BTW, thanks for breeding Ginger Snap to Solar Power; I hope the foal turns out well. We're all at the mercy of the computer's programming plus a little random electron flow here and there.

The other players have given some really fascinating backgrounds on their choices. Personally I'm interested in several breeds, so I have kind of a catch-(well, mostly buy)-as-I-can approach. This is combined with breeding to stallions who are either very carefully chosen with a specific goal in mind (which the computer then messes with), or chosen because, wow, he is so gorgeous ... some of those matings have worked out well.

I'm doing what I do to challenge myself, stretch my skills and knowledge, and enjoy the experience; I don't have the speed or statistical skills of the high-level players like sableantelope or Argent. My major problem is finding enough RW time to play. Another recent development is the upgrade and its attendant training and feeding bugs -- these have been frustrating but I'm too interested in the game to quit. So I grumble, and larissar puts up with me and does excellent work for all of us. Given that she's programming for HWO in spare time, beyond family and RW career, we're all pretty lucky.

So welcome to our strange sandbox, and have fun. Best wishes.

[Qim]

The breeds I feel like I might be most interested in are clearly too complex for me to breed from my own stock ...

Don't ever be discouraged!
I went for the Orlov trotter with the same initial attitude, started with breeding the Boulonnais, and now I got the entire Orlov population. I'd suggest you start by breeding the beginning breeds of Tigers and Machadors (Mongolians, WABs, Exmoors, etc) to get a feel for how it works; looking at the breed evaluation stats and choosing parent horses accordingly is going to save you lots of trouble, and space .. and sanity.
Most of all, though, don't give up!

[Weaving]

I started with a Belgian from the adoption centre (cause I do love a proper chunk!) I worked and worked on that line until I'd got as far competitively as its possible to get (level 10 record holders imo). Then I diversified into breeding some horses from the France TRAIT, Trait du Nord, Norman Cob, Auxois, Percheron, maybe some others I can't remember. Anyway that TRAIT project didn't last super long, but I got some really competitive beasties out of it and learnt TONS about crossbreeding.

Next I moved onto the Selle Francais project, which was pretty tricky, cause it involved getting a couple of new breeds before reaching the end goal. So I bred the first limousins, (the second! navarrins) and finally the first Selle Francais. I bred a couple of level 10 record holders out of them, have just sold them on and now I'm working on a new project.

I figured I'd done warmbloods and drafts, so I'd have a go with ponies. I've achieved my first goal of breeding exmoors, and from them I have bred the first Eriskay ponies! I'm now working on Landais and Kerry Bog Ponies. For me the cross breeding part is now super fun and I like knowing I bred the first of certain breeds. Also I can afford to do the crossbreeding because of my earlier competition success; I really need to get back in to that!

Mostly pick a horse you really love the look of and don't get discouraged!