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#205159 Posted on 2019-06-21 17:31:21
This guide is part of the Sab's Guides Series see our masterpost here
Sab’s Guide to
Successful Showing
How to show to win on Equiverse.
This is a primer on showing to make money, increase your horse’s stat base, gain maximum experience and improve your points rankings provided by Sabriel #84. This is in no way a comprehensive guide or the only way to show your horses. I just hoped to share my insights with you in order to improve your game experience if you chose to show and hopefully give you a leg up in the competition.
Breaking out the Costs and Benefits
Shows are always a gamble. There are times when even I don’t make back what I spent the night before, but that’s a risk you take when showing. We’re going to break down the costs and benefits here for you, if you’d like to do a more in-depth analysis, my EV Tools and Information Spreadsheet has a Cost Calculator with more customizable options.
Horse Cost
On a daily basis your horse only costs you a little bit of money, easily made back by using any of the game features that don’t involve horses. As you do more things with your horse the cost gets higher and the rewards can get better. But let’s break it down a moment so you can see exactly where your money goes.
Care: In order to remain alive in the game every horse needs to have three basic things that cost you money, Feed, Vet Checkups and Farrier Visits. Feed is a daily cost, while the farrier and vet happens once a week.
Feed: $1 per day, Vet and Farrier: $200 per week ($29 a day)
Total: $30 per day / $207 per week
Treats: In addition to that most people use some sort of Treat on their horse daily to increase their stats, basic treats can be found for free in Leisure Riding, the Fountain, the Junkyard and through riding schools, while bundles of any treat can be found in the General Store.
Store Treat Cost: $40 per day
Running total: $70 per day / $487 per week
Boarding: In order to train and show your horse it must be in a stable, which will be a weekly cost of board if you are not a deluxe player. As there are many available stable spots at the lowest price we will use that.
Boarding Cost: $10 per week ($2 per day)
Running Total : $72 per day / $497 per week
Training: Another daily cost that increases stats is training, which varies in cost based on your horse’s grade and the cost of the arena you are using. If you are a deluxe player you can use your own arenas and it will give you the same benefits without the cost. Since many arenas are at the lowest cost per grade (mine included) we will use the lowest cost available.
Training Cost: $20 per day (add $20 for each additional grade past novice)
Running Total: $92 per day / $637 per week
Showing: Lastly this brings us to showing. Your horse can enter up to 10 shows per day. Show entry fees can also vary though there is usually at least one or two people creating shows at the lowest price of $20 The highest price is $100. To make things simple we will use the lowest cost and assume you enter all 10 shows every day.
Showing cost: $200 per day
Running Total: $292 per day / $2037 per week*
I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right that’s a lot of money for one horse, but let’s move on to how much you can make.
(*I am not including tack in this cost analysis for two reasons, one the degradation of tack does not appear to be standard and daily repair cost is minimal, two buying and upgrading tack is a one time cost per horse, and as your horse retires you can remove tack and continue using it on subsequent horses. Also I’ve included an entire section on tack below.)
The Benefits
Here’s where we get down and dirty and give you two ways out of your horsey debt. One, the easy way, is Riding Schools where you get a standard rate of money and experience along with a chance at items and stats for your horse for no additional cost. Two, the risky way, is Showing where you get experience and points and a chance at additional experience and points, along with money and stats for a cost.
As you can see, both methods will cover basic horse care easily Riding Schools will give you a guaranteed small portion of extra money per day while shows will give you a chance at loads more money or to lose a lot, which is why a lot of people have chosen to only use riding schools. However I believe that with a bit more planning and some strategy anyone can learn to show their horses successfully. (or you can break the mold and be just as successful using both methods interchangeably or together)
The Mechanics of Shows
Shows run on a complex formula that no one really knows because there’s a random Luck factor that makes it impossible to tell exactly how horses are placed based on visible statistics. There’s a few things that can really help your horses do better in shows, but it mostly boils down to, the more specialty stats the better. Any game mechanic that can improve your horse’s stats is something you want to do to have a successful horse. However there are ways to tailor your horse’s entering process to best emphasize their strengths in order to gain the maximum rewards.
Show Rewards
Show earnings and rewards are awarded to the top three placing horses based on the amount of horses in the class. A smaller bit of points and experience is scaled to the rest of the placings. A show must have 5 or more entries in order to have a chance to give out stats. The more entries a show has the higher the prize money and other rewards become for the top placings.
Entering Shows
There are two ways to enter shows. The first is the basic available method known to most as “Hand Entering” because the user can hand pick each show the horse enters. The second method is autoshowing which costs credits to gain access to but is used by many members with large herds because of its ability to enter a horse in 10 shows with just one click. There are of course pros and cons to each way of entering. With autoshowing you are provided a much faster method for entering shows with some options as to how you want your shows prioritized; while with hand entering you are able to pick and choose exactly which classes you enter.
Methods for Autoshowing
All autoshowing chooses a random selection that prioritizes your choice method. Many people dislike using autoshowing for fear of all of their horses competing against each other. The most like options producing that outcome would be soonest and highest entries, unless there are only 10 cheap or expensive shows, or 10 shows period. If you have a lot of horses at the same grade and discipline there is always a risk of them competing against each other simply because there’s not enough shows. Which is why to be successful you should have some variation in your herd, whether it’s grades or specialties, to broaden your chances.
Cheapest: Use to do a least cost entering, rewards will not be as high
Most Expensive: Use to gain money at a higher rate, also higher risk
Lowest Entries: Use to enter shows with less competition and a higher chance to win
Highest Entries: Use to enter shows with lots of competition for the best rewards
Soonest: Use to get your results quicker
Random: Enters a random selection of shows with no selectable criteria
I personally like to use a mix of cheapest and highest entries for the most part if I’m using autoshowing. For hand entering I tend to try for classes with 4-6 entries first for guaranteed stats, but a lot of the time I’m much too lazy to bother beyond checking for grade bumps while performing daily care actions after training.
The Right Horse
Sometimes horses just aren’t cut out for the show world, and that’s okay. It happens in real life too. There’s always the Riding School for those horses that never do well in shows but still need to earn their keep. Here’s some pointers for choosing the right horses to start showing.
Choosing A Specialty
From creation horses are generally geared toward a certain specialty with one to three stats pushing up higher than the others. It’s important to look at those stats to decide which discipline to put your horse in to try for the maximum number of specialty stats possible. Base stats that the horse is created with cannot be changed by converting training so your horse will always carry those stats no matter the discipline you place it in. Sometimes it’s better to get another horse if you want to keep your specialty to one type, or if the horse is a foundation you can raise it and then convert its specialty before breeding. Base stats are not the same as Birth stats, so any lined foal might be able to be converted if it shares a common trait with the discipline you’re converting to. See this post for a more indepth discussion on Base Stats vs. Birth Stats.
Specialty Stats vs. Non-specialty Stats
You’ll often hear people talking about specialty stats versus non-specialty stats and how non-specialty stats aren’t important or don’t affect shows and while this is somewhat true they do still matter. Overall stats affect the grade of your horse, and having lower specialty stats in a higher grade can greatly decrease your chances of winning in shows. Most people give the number 60 for the total non-specialty stat allowance for their show horses. This is because foundation horses generally have about 20 stats in each area when they are created to add up to 100 stats. A horse with more stats than that will do no better than a foundation horse if they are of matching stat totals. Selective breeding will allow your specialty stats to decrease as your generations progress.
(note: breeding to 0 is no longer an option as stats follow a new formula, however is it possible to keep stats to foundation or lower status with selective breeding)
Swapping Specialties
In the Training Center in the Town there is an option to Convert Training, which takes all of the horse’s earned stats and places them into the two specialty stats of the discipline selected. If a horse you have has base stats best for Driving but is a Dressage horse converting its training could get you a much better showing horse. Be careful though while the first conversion only costs $10,000, any additional conversions will cost 2EVC. Sometimes it’s better to get a different horse than to put money into converting training.
Many people recommend placing a horse in a nonoptimal specialty until you’re ready to show so that you can use treats like Hay cubes and Peppermints which are not geared toward a certain area. Then once you are ready to show you can change your specialty and all of the extra earned stats can go into the specialty categories. You can gain extra stats for your horse this way, but it also will not do well in shows until you convert its training.
Specialty Treats
Treats can be fed daily to increase stats by 1-2 stat points for regular treats in their specialty. Special treats that give random stats, like Hay Cubes and Peppermints, are not recommended for horses entering shows. Treating is usually something people include in daily care either as you visit your horse’s page or when using autocare. While it’s unknown if daily care factors into the formula, care actions must be completed daily for your horse to remain happy and healthy.
Tack Benefits
Tack boosts the stat points your horse has as a baseline in shows to give it an edge over its competition. The Saddles and Bridles are specialized to each discipline while Tail Guards and Splint Boots operate the same for every discipline. Tack works on a level system which each level providing additional stats to your horse.
Tack Levels and Cost
The Total Cost from buying tack to full upgrade is $6790, or $6740 if you buy bundles of tack instead of individual pieces the downfall to buying multiple bundles is that each bundle must be opened individually. A full set of Level 5 tack adds 222 stats total to your horse’s specialty traits.
Upgrading Tack
Tack can be upgraded in the Town at the Tack Workshop. In order to upgrade your tack you must be level 6 or higher. It takes 111069 total member experience to get to level 6. You can get 100-270 exp per day per horse in riding schools and can only have a max of five horses until level 3. You can also gain experience if you train your horse. See more about ways to gain experience in my onsite guide to Leveling Up.
If you are a deluxe player you have the option to bulk upgrade items. This is a useful feature, but costs 7% more than upgrading each piece by hand. If you have only a small amount of tack to upgrade I recommend not using the bulk upgrade. See the Tack Upgrade Costs Tool if you want to compare prices yourself.
Buying from the Item Market (or Forums)
Many users dump extra Tack items of varying levels into the Item market at varying prices sometimes much cheaper than you can upgrade for yourself. There are usually a lot of items on there and currently there is no method for sorting tack by grade so you will have to do some digging to find higher grade tack on your own. The forums can also be a good place to buy, whether it be from someone else’s topic, or you making your own topic. It is also important to note tack can be found in the Fountain, Junk Yard and on Leisure Rides for free.
Repairing Tack
Tack loses durability upon entering shows and requires repairing. Repairing tack costs $2 for each percent on saddles and $1 for each percent on everything else. It degrades at a seemingly random amount between 1 and 10%. As a Deluxe player you can repair all your tack with a single click. Repairing tack can be quite a chore as a basic player, as each piece has to be done individually, but it does not have to be done every day. Tack needs to be repaired before it goes to 0% durability. You will get a warning when your tack is at 30% to repair it. Repairing tack should be able to be done once a week and you can get away without losing pieces.
Training
Training does two things for your horse, increases it’s luck factor in shows and gives it the opportunity to gain additional stats every 10 trainings. Training cost starts at a minimum price of $20 per novice horse and increases by $20 minimum price each grade above Novice. You must use an arena of your horse's’ level or above in order to be able to train them, but it does not have to be the correct discipline. You can gain member experience from training your horses in the proper grade and discipline, but stat boost points and training level will increase regardless of which type of arena you use.
Training Levels - The Luck Factor
As your horse’s training progresses it will level up in training. The training levels go from 1-5 and take an increasing number of trainings to reach. Each level decreases to the random luck factor that affects placing giving the horses a higher more stable baseline for showing.The higher the level the better your chances of placing first. A horse that starts training right at three and never misses a training should be Level 5 by the age of 13.
Stat Boost Points
Each time you train your horse in any arena it gains one Stat boost point which is indicated by the red ovals in your horse’s Specialty Information. Once you reach 10 stat boost points you can apply them to your horse to increase its stats by 11 as a Novice horse, and +2 additional stats for every grade above novice. These stats are randomly distributed between a horse’s two specialty stats.
Foal Training
Foal training will not affect your horse’s showing potential directly, however, it does allow you to gain additional stats if you complete a full training regimen with all the varying options before selecting a specialty for your horse. A reminder that Selecting a Specialty will not change the stats earned like converting training. You still have to convert training if you used the Random stat treats and want to align those with your horse’s desired discipline.
Why Not Both?
Each day your horse is granted 10 total shows or hours in a riding school. You can totally do both! Maybe 5 shows and 5 hours, or 7 hours and 3 shows, it’s all up to you how you want to spend those 10 shows/hours. You can also switch it up and do shows one day and riding school the next or shows for a week and then riding school for two weeks. There’s always options when it comes to how you’re going to handle your horses.
Theoretical Method for Highest Stats
In theory the way to get the most stats possible would involve a combination of Riding School and Showing along with some fancy treat work and specialty conversion. Starting with a foal treat with Peppermints, Hay Cubes or other specialty treats training in all the various categories until the age of three. Select a discipline that is not your end goal when you complete training. Here you can decide whether to convert now if you don’t want to continue treating with special treats, or continue the special treats and use the riding school until you convert. Continue training, treating and using the riding school until your horse has a couple training levels and is close to a grade bump. Convert training, make sure your horses is tacked and Show your horse until it bumps into the next grade. Go back to using the riding school until your horse is close to its next grade bump and then Show again. Rinse and repeat, but keep an eye on the shows at all times. Once you get into the higher grades it might be possible for your horse to win at shows with a larger margin before the next grade bump.
Other Tips and Tricks
From the players of EV
In Conclusion
Eventually you’ll work out methods that work best for you and make you satisfied with your game. If you have Questions, Comments or Concerns please feel free to pm me at Account #84 and I’ll do my best to sort you out.
Last edited on 2019-06-21 at 17:34:30 by Sabriel
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 Sabriel
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