OMG I love this idea! Donkeys are my favorite and zorses are adorable!!

Honestly i think it is a good idea.

I don't know about Zebras but they are hard to tame as far i know. So If they are added i think they should be pretty rare and hard to catch.

About Mules and Donkeys breeding i think it should depend on how it is in real life. If donkeys can mass breed then we can breed them normally like horses, If they cannot because some issue or they are in almost extinct, they could be like Marwaris. Just breed in x times in their lifes. I think a real life search could be great.

I have been around many horse games and many players says no to these ideas, but in here HF, i think its should be possible. A new way to play the game.

Support to donkeys and mules ❤️

I know of Howrse donkey can only be bred three times. I dont believe it's like that in person, but I dont own donkeys. I'd have to double check.

Mules cant be bred as they tend to be sterile (though there are a few rare occasions of them breeding but like I said, rare)

And yeah. Zebras being harder to tame would be nice, and make a lot of sense. I think it would be a cool way to add some more patterns not gonna lie haha. 

I was thinking on this for quite some time (granted the original post recent, but since the post).

I agree, I like this idea. But I don't know about adding it now. We don't have a lot of actual horse breeds in the game itself. But I'm also torn. If such wild cousins were added to the game, it would likely add a lot of interest to crossbreed campaigns which would increase actual real monies for the game too.

But if I put that to the side. I'd like to see more mainstream breeds added first. Maybe many more mainstream breeds.

I also agree with these wild cousins having limited reproductive times. There are many options for it as well. Maybe it can be keyed to the seasons? Not real-life seasons, but in-game. For instance, link it to only certain days of the month... since our horses age a year every seven days, we can have them breedable only on the 1st, the 8th, the 15th, and the 22nd (the final week comes close to the 1st again, so skipping it I think is appropriate). Don't know about coding that though. And then, if all the coverings are failed breedings, then just no foal for that 'year'.

Overall, I think limiting them to an X amount of successful coverings would be most appropriate. I'm also (after thinking about it) prone to wanting these wild cousins to be unable to compete or gain stats like our regular breed horses can. Though, even after this time, I'm not sure how to work around that? Maybe, instead of training them like normal horses, we 'tame' them and gain tamer stat bonuses that increase the foals statuses when being crossed to regular horses. For instance, have four stats - Friendliness, Workability, Calmness and Willingness. And instead of levels, it's simply a 'Tame' level. Then these four stats influence the foals either directly (if keeping them pure) or influence relatable skills in our regular horses. Like: Friendliness directly affects Intelligence and Flexibility. Workability would be Power and Agility. Calmness would be only Speed and Willingness would be only Endurance.

But the how??? Hmm... I think they should be minimally effective. For every point of the four stats, Friendliness = 2, it would affect the foal's stats by only 2% so that the foals actual gains would be significantly lower and one would need a powerhouse to get foals anywhere, or... well... these are only thoughts that have been playing in my mind. Anyway... for that example, a parent horse that pops a foal with a Flexibility of... 100, the gain on the wild side would only add 2 points, so it would be 102.

As for the tame level... similarly to the TB we have now. Except how we earn it would be through daily activity instead of competitions. After all, if we don't interact with a wild every day, they stay wild... even lose some of their tame. Although, I really have little idea of how to make the math work. Should be a long, drawn out process. And, could even be used to limit hybred foals. If the wild isn't at least of a tame level of 25, it will only allow itself near other wild of the same species... or something.

As far as hybrid horses, I like having the idea that it's exceedingly rare to have a viable one. I'm also partial to the idea of not finding out if it's viable or not, until it actually reaches breedable age. I'm also prone to thinking that it should also have a lower success rate as well. All of these things will certainly make them much harder to manage and keep, but might offer quite a different way to play the game, making the hunt to get somewhere in this game either easier or harder. For those that want a real challenge, it might be quite beneficial. Meanwhile, those that want an easier walk, would simply stay away from that part.

Eh... I don't think my thoughts are well fleshed out for sure. But that's what's been cycling through them since I read this post.

*shrugs*😅

@Oaken Fields

Of course, this idea will come by time, it don't need to be worked right away. Like you said, there's others horse breeds that have not been added.

I liked the idea of they having speciff time to breed. Like a season. About the amounts of times we really must to see If Donkeys and Zebras have a hard time on breeding. Marwari are limited because they are almost extinct and it is rare in RL. So i think Zebras and Donkeys should have a special case in each of them.

About they not be able to compete i not agree. I mean, these years i have noticed that Donkeys are very used to working with cattle, meanwhile Mules are great at equine education. (Equine animals for begginers to learn to ride). So i have these ideas:

Donkeys and Mules : are limited to only train at Driving and Western disciplines, because they are more used as working animals. I never see for exemple a jumping Mule or a Dressage Donkey. They can also have a career, because they are great at being educative animals.

Zebras: i think they are the only ones that fit your idea of "tame level". The only discipline i see Zebras inside are Racing. But i don't know if this is a humane discipline; 100% moral or ethical. I don't want this game supporting a abusive thing so i think they only fit this idea.

I agree with a lot of what's in Oaken Fields' post. "Mainstream" breeds should be the focus for now. There are so many missing from HF.

I'd like to see donkeys added at some point in the (far) future. If mules (and hinnies) were added with them, I think they should get a slight boost to shows/careers, since they're sterile. Something slightly better than the gelding/sterilized mare boost, maybe? Donkeys and mules are both well known as pack animals (new career choice?), and mules are commonly used for trail rides. Larger mules are often used for pulling. Mules are also used for dressage and jumping, though it's not that common and it doesn't help that many people don't think mules can even do anything "sporty".

However, I'd rather not have zebras in the game, since there isn't really a use for them. They're a wild animal and we have tried to domesticate them multiple times. They don't work out the same as horses or donkeys. If there were to be a "wild" equine, maybe just have them be semi-wild breeds? Mongolian horse is the first to come to mind.

Yeah. Of course with how big of an update this *could* be, it doesnt need to end up happening for a while, and like Oak said, some more mainstream breeds would be awesome to add first, since it's probably easier to add that than have to code the different species like the donkey and mules.

And Zebras was really just a fun add on to my first post LOL, so if they weren't added, I wouldnt be too upset. I was mostly hoping to eventually have Donkeys, Mules.. Hinnies, but that's because I own a hinny and I love her to death LOL

To be clear. I was only suggesting that the wild horses (zebras) would be restricted from showing. I was also considering donkeys because they are wild as well. Crosses like mules and hinnies wouldn't be restricted from the disciplines at all, because these crosses can and do, in real life, make great riding horses and competition horses.

I could get onboard with having them as career-only usables. I actually like that and I didn't even consider it. But, like I said, it wasn't very well fleshed out! 😅

And there are a few wild horses and horse cousins in the world. So although they will always be limited (maybe 5 total species worldwide? depending on what a person quantifies as 'wild horse species' or 'wild horse-cousin species'), some of them offer some very unique and interesting detours into histories and discussions as well as theories.

One of the ones I had been included in, on another site is the fact that the Przewalski's horse has 66 chromosomes while our domesticated horse has 64... it's the same span then a horse and a donkey, for instance where the donkey has 62. But the prze x horse crosses (at 65 chromosomes) are regularly fertile.

So... a lot of additional information and topics of discussion can come out of these wild inclusions, notwithstanding how our admin may want to include these in-game.

And the reason I was suggesting limiting disciplines is because this is a horse game primarily, not a wilds game. Any wild-species inclusion, in my opinion, should be something a person can embark on as a side-quest and not the mainstay. Maybe a sort of money-sink of a sort? A form of prestige without any real use. 😃That sort of thing.

But, those are all my opinions. 😊

I'm a little wary about adding in Donkys and Mules/Hinnies even though i'd love to see more various animals on here. I do agree that they're wonderful animals. 

Mostly since i care greatly for my breeding projects on well built, healthy animals that are Fertile. I always pass up animals that aren't fertile as they're worthless to my breeding programs. 

I wouldn't mind the breeding limit like with Mawaris but an Infertile hybrid animal is a no go for me. These aren't real animals (They're pictures with code) so i believe Some liberties can be had here esp for the Mules/Hinnies. 

On other games i play (Looks to LD) where it used to be realsim all the way, yeah, not everyone really wants 100% real as it can be boring on some aspects esp with such a restricting hybrid like the mule. If i like an animal's line i want to be able to continue it wthout worry even if they'd have limited breedings (Hopefully more than 3 at least). 

Real life stuff, It is appreicated but having some freedom in certain cases is worthwhile. So for now, No support