Stat gain: Schooling Vs. Showing

Since I'm back on the game I noticed that horses seem to gain more stats when showing.

Now I'm a bit old fashioned and I have always chosen to show my horses from the age of 3. Low stats, high stats, foundation, lined...
Regardless of cost efficiency.

Now with stat gain from riding school, higher stat gain from showing winning horses, and the option to feed hay cubes & then converting specialties I think I need a new strategy, certainly for my foundies.

So I'm thinking feeding foundations hay cubes & schooling them until they reach a certain age or amount of stats.

So now is my question: When would you start showing your horses instead of schooling them?
Or would it be more beneficial not to show foundation or lower stat horses at all and just let them gain stats from schooling?

Well, because of different competition levels based on stats, Foundations always have a chance at winning. My foundation Chincos turned 3 yesterday, and I showed them, and at least 4 of them got multiple first places.
But I got my Chincos at age 0 and just fed them breed specific treats only. I only school my horses if there aren't enough competitions up at the time... Or I need the EVD.

I think it depends on how much non-specialty stats each horse has. If my horse has more than 40 non-specialty stats I usually school them a lot and only show them right when they are at the end of their level (example 690 or 340).

If they have less than 40 dead weight stats then I show them. I keep track of who wins each time and if a horse goes 3 days without winning, I school them for a bit before I show them again.

I don't have many horses so my method works for me, but I'm guessing if your activity feed is big and you have many horses it might be hard/time consuming to keep track whose winning.

my current method is to using hay cubes and riding school for all foundations, as well as any multigens that have more than 50 non-speciality stats. This ensures that the horses i have showing are super competitive, since i also use the strategy of not showing unless there in the top 10% of their grade.

I think i might convert and show my foundies at 15 but i've honestly not decided yet!

Theoretically the best option for optimal stat gain would be to start in a suboptimal specialty, treat with peppermints and other specialty treats until they're fully trained(for optimal luck quotient) and 5 stats below the next level for your horse, then swap to the optimal discipline based on base stats and hand show your horse until they bump up a level in shows with more than 5 entires. Then rinse and repeat riding school and showing with regular treats.

Personally I'm way to lazy for that and I want points so I show all my regular horses and Riding school retired ponies, some experiments and a bunch of geldings when I have a chance for the exp and money mostly. Showing gives more stats overall and is more beneficial than riding schools only and I'm a girl of routine so showing it is! I do watch for horses close to the level jump and enter those into highest entries shows for more money. I also watch for Stat boosts from training, as those offer big boosts that can really boost performance in that night's shows.

Tack is another important thing to have for shows that doesn't matter for training so if one were just starting out, riding school until you have all level 5 tack would also be a smart move. Since tack has unlimited uses and only needs to be repaired after using, you could theoretically swap the tack from horse to horse if you only have one or a few showing at a time.

All that said I don't know exactly what the most optimal stat gain formula is, but my horses, even the foundations seem to do well enough with only shows, training and regular treats, and 5/5 tack of course.

Thanks for the input!

I decided to try out several different approaches for my foundies and just keep track of their stat gain until they are 15 years old. This should help determine the best method for raising foundations.

I tend to take any of my foundations and lined horses, put them into the wrong discipline (such as a driving horse into endurance or dressage for example), and feed them Hay Cubes until they're 3 or older (depending on my mood when I want to convert them). However, when I first buy or breed them, I check their base stats (which is an AWESOME new feature), see if they can be shown at all, which is less than 60 non-specialty stats, and if they can; convert them at a certain period of time to my preferred discipline. However, if they DO have over 60 non-specialty stats, then the horse stays in the wrong discipline until they're 15 or older, fed the Hay Cubes, and schooled.

I show the horses that have less than 60 non-specialty stats when they're at the top of their grade. Example: 750 stats = R2 = Show horse with a good chance of earning stats if entered into shows with 5+ entries.

The horses that have the * in front of their names are my show horses. The ones who do not, are not able to be shown and are schooled daily.

I currently have an experiment going on with a store Gypsy pair. The stallion can be shown in Driving, as he has 57? non-specialty stats and being fed Turnips/Red Apples, while his mate cannot, so she is in Dressage, being fed Hay Cubes, and schooled until they are 20 years old ages tomorrow. When I will convert Gypsy to Driving and compare stats to see whether Hay Cubes + Schooling or Specialty stats + Showing earns more stats. It's just for fun. :)

-Feather

Feather I would love to see the results of that experiment when it is finished.