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

[Devolare]

Believe it or not, I actually started with a bunch of Tarpans. In the beginning, I thought that maybe I could make a few pony breeds and that would be that. But after breeding them for a bit, I came to the conclusion that they weren't what I wanted. I then went to the breed wiki and found Polish Arabians. It would take a while to get it, which is what I wanted, I liked the look of them, and plus my boyfriend is very Polish so I thought it would be a good fit.

It did take a while tho. To get Polish Arabians, you need 15+ breeds (some of which hadn't been made yet or weren't active), and since my personal preference is low COI% (low inbreeding percentages, >15%), it took a lot of horses too. I think that's part of the fun tho. I get to know that all my hard work paid off as well as be able to look through the pedigrees to see all of the generations of horses I bred.

Honestly, I don't think doing a Tiger horse would be too bad. A lot of the breeds in their lines require the same ones in different combinations.
Let's see... For Tiger horses you need:
Tiger horse = [Galloway] x [Spanish Jennet]

I'd get a bunch of Przewalski Horses and Tarpans to start. That way you can breed Exmoors (for galloways), as well as Mongolians (for Sorraia). If you don't want to start from complete scratch (trying to breed every breed on your own, which would be very long and take a lot of horses), you could probably just find Friesian studs to breed to the Exmoors for your own Galloways. So that half will be done.

Galloway = [Exmoor Pony] x [Exmoor Pony x Friesian]
Exmoor Pony = [Przewalski Horse] x [Tarpan]


The Spanish Jennet needs Sorraia, Arabians, and North African Barbs. The Arabians and the North African Barbs are founder breeds so you can either get your own or just stud them out too if you don't want to many horses (there are plenty of them). All the horses used for Mongolians as well as the West African Barb, are also founder breeds. So once again, you could get them or stud them out. I'd suggest studding out the West African Barbs, seeing as you'll probably need Przewalski and Tarpan for the other line.*

Spanish Jennet = [Arabian x Sorraia] x [North African Barb]
Sorraia = [Tarpan x Mongolian] x [Tarpan x West African Barb]
Mongolians = [Przewalski Horse x Tarpan] x [Tarpan]
West African Barb = [Arabian x North African Barb] x [North African Barb x Forest Horse]*

Then you just need to cross the Galloways and the Spanish Jennets, and that's how you'd get Tiger horses.

If you want, I could also break down the Mangalarga Machador lines too. It's easier to get the breeds when you can see what you need and where to start. That's always the hardest part, in my opinion... finding the starting point. As long as you keep things organized, it shouldn't be bad at all.

[Electron]

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?

First of all, love your name. Second of all, my journey has been a bit convoluted when it comes to breeds.

Started off with the first two Arabians that I had bought from the adoption center, a stallion and a mare. Both were fairly good competition horses, but when bred together their foals were a little lackluster. So I ended up having two separate Arabian lines and my first goal was to eventually be able to breed them together (that goal was just recently accomplished after quite a few generations).

Second main goal was to breed quality Arabian endurance/racing/sprint racing/steeple chasing/whatever I felt like horses. To do that, I bred a line of Arabian x Forest horses and Arabian x Belgians to get the strength up. The unintended consequence of that was that now my main line usually consists of Arabians that grow to be 16-17+ hands tall.

Dabbled in draft horse breeding and Galloway breeding. Almost started up a Norman Cob program, but didn't have the time or Pony Tokens to really work on it like I wanted to. I chose Arabians because I like them in real life, and because I am a perfectionist and don't have the time to really get a multi-generational breed going. Because Arabians are ancient breeds, I can just buy one from the AC or get a cheapo one from the market to breed to whatever I need.

My goal now is to get the GP and BR aspects of my lines up, as I have never really solely focused on them before and have weighted competition performance over other stats. I also try and use outside studs as little as possible, because quite a few Arab breeders all seem to be using the same lines and I'd like to keep some diversity.

[Lithium]

Wow so many fantastic replies so far, thank you all!

I have really been enjoying breeding horses for stats and looks so far, so I am thinking about maybe focusing in Caspians - they're adorable pretty little horses with not as much love here as the other founding breeds. And starting with a foundation breed will also allow me to cross breed and get back to pure easily, too.

I still have my eyes on those complex breeds - I've even charged out MM's! - but I think if I'm going to breed them from scratch, it will need to be down the line when I have more space on my farm. Until then, maybe I'll just work on those kinds of breeds in my show horse's line!

[gator vocals]

I've gone through a few breed changes throughout my time here. Originally I wanted to start going after a bashkir curly project, but then I realized I wanted to go for something different so I started looking into real life crosses and what caught my eye.

Warlanders and their breed name in particular was something I went for a while, I mean warlanders sounded like a pretty great group to focus on, right! Then for a super short time I focused on warlander x walkaloosas intending to go for a unique breed but that definitely didn't work. Would've taken more than a number of months.

Then later on tennessee walkers was what I ventured for since my aunt has an old mare and she was the first horse i really got to know. This was when I started thinking about any personal interest in breeds, since before I was interested in their looks and breed names. Which was fun but could never stick!

And during that time I moved away from breed focus and then started color breeding, since I love pearl coats that's what I bred for. I still want to breed them but now I've been breeding up to chincoteague ponies and I'm almost there! I decided on chincoteagues because of the book Misty of Chincoteague which is a book I can remember just reading and rereading again and again. I've never grown up with horses or ponies but that book made me feel as if I were right there with the characters. One year I'd love to be there to watch the pony swim

[MMStable]

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.

I'm Finnish so I started breeding Finnish Drafts at first and then went on to universals on my other account. I tried to breed Oldenburgs on this account but got bored with it fast and then I started breeding French Trotters. Now I'm trying to get as many Standardbreds as possible, while keeping the French breeding alive and keeping a few Thoroughbreds on the side.

[Kintara]

Well my main real life breed is the Gypsy Cobs, so I couldn't resist them LOL. But I do like any of the smaller heavy breeds. I went off on quite a few tangents on the way to Gypsies, included many of the breeds to gypsies such as Shire/Clydesdale/Friesian etc but love the challenge of creating new breeds so was also one of the first breeders of welsh mountains, miniatures, comtois etc. I was going through turns too fast to make showing really worthwhile but maybe once white patterns come into the game I'll start the gypsies from scratch again and show my favourites

[Alaina]

My choice of breed (as well as farm name and logo) is entirely New Zealand themed. I lived in New Zealand for five years and while I lived there I found my confidence, my husband, had my son and overall just lived the best years of my life. As a way of staying connected to the beautiful country I called home I decided to have a New Zealand themed herd.

[QueenB]

I was set on the Marwaris the second I knew they were an ingame option. I adore the breed and the odds of me ever owning one are slim to none (IRL I am an Arab person without question), so I am living vicariously here, lol.

I actually got my strains set up within a week or two of the game, but the breed is not terrible complex to breed (Kaithawari x [Arab x Turk] cross). Right now I'm focusing on improving the over all average of my breeding reports, fielding out what disciplines they excel in and eventually adding in color AND BREEDING IN THOSE WITTLE EARS !!

I will be busy for a while, lol. Once I'm completely set up and satisfied with my Marwaris I may venture out into another breed, but I have a feeling they will be keeping me occupied for quite some time. I really, really want to get a handle on their genetics and produce the best ones in the game.

[lessthanfish]

My breeding project right now is Deliboz, because currently there are none in game, and because I have a pretty big fascination with horses from the Arabian pennisula and Southwest Asia.
But I'm also fairly new to this site (Like 5 days), so I'm also learning the best way to navigate and breeding techniques as I go. Also
As it turns out, Deliboz are VERY HARD to get to. A lot of incredibly difficult breeds to breed in game lead up to eventually creating a Deliboz (including Karabair, Kabarda, Karabakh, Tersk and Russian Don, to name some of the harder ones). I sometimes wonder if perhaps I have bitten off more than I can chew, but I've yet to let it deter me.

[Nate]

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?

Lithium,

I have succeeded in breeding Marchadors and I have several that don't meet my personal requirements for sale for 3,700 or less. Go pick some up if you have the space or inclination! Though I totally get it if you want to make them from your own lines. I wanted that, too.