Hello everyone! Prepare yourself for a wild two days of updates that includes 5 new tack items, new breed, an event, and more!

We hope you all enjoy what we have in store for the next few days. We are very excited to finally be able to push live these new features that we have been planning in the background for the past few months. It’s been a labor of love with lots of learning on our part to create a finished product we think you all will thoroughly enjoy. In just two months, Bedouin and I have managed to create all that you will see in the next two updates. We couldn’t have done it alone and we want to give a huge thank you to our staff team who have helped make such a feat a reality. To give a bit of perspective, there are hundreds of hours of work and over 8,000+ new image layers that came together in such a short time. We like to think our team works fast and adds as many player requests as possible and with this update, we believe this is evident. While you enjoy the new features know that we are taking notes and already have a few ideas of our own up our sleeves!

With such large new features Bedouin will be on stand-by the next few days to quickly fix bugs, site problems, and anything else that arises. Please utilize the Bug Box for anything you see so moderators can streamline bugs to her. I, Curly, will be in person at BreyerFest wearing some new HoFa merch (👀) and giving out a few goodies (👀  👀) to those who see me.

Now, on to the really exciting stuff!

Down from the mountain, a new breed has galloped into Horse Fable. Aren was keeping quiet as best she could but some peeks here and there managed to get out! The Hanoverian breed has joined the HoFa family and is now available via breed coins, bought at the general store, and magic and spectral tokens. Breed coins help fund the next new breed art and give benefits like a slightly higher performance stat option and better breed standards. On Thursday, July 21st at 6 PM EST/game time, the herds are expected to be large enough to open up sales to gold and platinum players. On Saturday the 23rd at 12 PM EST/ game time, they will be available for all! Since these lovelies seem like they will be so in-demand and sought after, Aren decided to keep their price at the usual 2,000 bits per.

The land before us stands wide and vast, covered in tall grasses seemingly hiding a world of adventure. Today marks the first day we may begin to explore beyond the town! Exploration is officially a go in HoFa!

We are calling this release of the explore system version 1 because we have so many other plans for it. Version 1 focuses on the mechanics behind events within explore. By launching these separate from future mechanics, we can make sure that all bugs are squashed before moving to the next version. In version 2 expect to do quite a bit more moving! 👀  

As you browse the site, you may see random events that prompt you to do an action. There are a few different event types:

• Wild horse encounters are rare but boast many benefits.
• Items useful in other parts of the game such as lassos and items to make treats.
• More to come in tomorrow's update!!!

Wild Horse Capturing

Wild horses are better than horses found in the Foundation Store in a few ways. Not only do they have notably higher PS than foundation horses, they are also mostly 4 or 5 stars and have a TB ranging between 1 and 5. 

In the near future, we will be shifting around which genes are available through the Foundation Store, the Design Lab, and through explore. This means that some genes may become explore only. We’ll also be releasing explore-only variations and white markings in the future. 

Wild horse capturing is interactive with you being able to see how your actions (lassoing, whistling, treat giving, and petting) affect the horse's bond with you and overall temperament. Wild horses have “wild essence” which indicates how wild they truly are! This is a good indication of how hard they will be to catch. Once a horse gets to 100% bond with will gallop into your transport for you to care for.

Discoverable Items

Explore has an hefty list of new discoverable items, some you see above and a few you may stumble upon that will be useful for tomorrows update! These items above are all used in wild horse capturing and cooking! To effectively capture a wild horse using a combination of treats, whistling, petting, and lassoing you can increase their bond and eventually attempt to capture them. Wild horses with 75%+ bond will have the option to be able to be caught. All other values and possibilities when using action and items is up for you to discover!

Crafting System - Cooking

With all of these new items you will be discovering you may be wondering what they’re used for. It seems like there would be more crafting options, right? You are correct! There is now the ability to “cook” treats to offer to wild horses. Some treats are more enjoyed by certain wild horses than others, but we won't spoil that for you, you must discover it!

Treats can be cooked by mixing together a flavor and base item. Flavors are currently apple, carrot, and clover with bases of oats or alfalfa. When combined together these make a “regular treat”. Now, bland regular treats are no fun. To spice it up a bit you can take any crafted regular treat, add molasses to it, and make a sweet treat! Mmm mmm, horses love those sweet treats. All treat items can only be found through exploring so get out there and find those goodies!

We hope you enjoy what is new today! Prepare for a second large update tomorrow and remember to report any bugs to the Bug Box so we can streamline fixes!

Cheers,

Bedouin & Curly