Understanding Types of Injuries

Original article written by Regina Moore posted 9 years 1 week ago

If you watch the News Feed tab on your home page, you'll see a lot of references to injuries. Just what are all these injuries and how do they happen?

INJURIES THAT AREN'T REALLY INJURES
The SIM throws the word "injury" rather loosely. When a horse dies, the computer calls the horse "Injured", even when adding the detail that the horse died of natural causes; ie, old age.

Any mare 12yo or older is at risk of dying from foaling, so that's technically an injury, though it's an inevitable one. It's a way of keeping the SIM horse population somewhat in check. However, one is warned that the mare could die upon foaling ahead of time, and the owner has the option of paying $20,000 to save the mare from death. She'll no longer be able to have foals, but she can live out her natural life as a pensioner. There's another fee that an owner can pay to keep an old mare fertile and producing foals, but that fee starts at a million dollars, and increases geometrically each year thereafter.


RANDOM INJURIES
Random injuries are those that the player has no control over; ie, the fact that the horse was injured isn't because the player did anything wrong. Instead, the computer chooses the horse at random to be injured. There are two types of random injuries:

1. Bucked Shins -- On the first day of each new game year, the computer chooses a certain number of two year olds to get bucked shins. This costs a vet fee of $5,000 and the horse is laid up for a few weeks. Once recovered from the bucked shins, the horse can race and train normally.

2. Permanent Injury -- When you see on the News Feed a reference to "permanently injured in a stall accident", that's a horse that has been randomly chosen by the computer to be permanently injured. The computer chooses up to 200 horses per game year to receive a permanent injury. If the permanent injury happens to a youngster or horse of racing age, the horse is retired. Colts and fillies can then be used for breeding, if the owner desires (though the colt must have won at least one race to stand stud). If the permanent injury happens to a breeding horse, then that horse is pensioned and can no longer be used for breeding.

Each player can have a maximum of two permanent injuries per game year. However, horses owned by new players are excluded from receiving permanent injuries.

Permanent injuries cost the player $5,000.


TRAINER ERROR INJURIES
When horses are raced or exercised when fatigued, they can get injured. These injuries can sometimes be so minor that they cost nothing, but still lay the horse up for a few weeks. Most, however, cost between $1,000 and $20,000, with the latter being a bowed tendon that forces retirement.

While I've never known a horse to get injured from shipping, a lot of shipping in a short period of time can fatigue the horse to such a degree that it can then be injured the next time it receives any exercise.

The best way to avoid an injury due to trainer error is to never race or exercise your horse unless it is fully rested. The SIM's veterinarian, Dr. Hacklu, is your tool for knowing how rested or tried your horse is at any point in time.


INSURANCE
Insurance won't protect a horse from injuries due to trainer error, but it will protect a horse from random injuries. (It also has the added benefit of preventing mares and stallions from being randomly chosen to be sterile for a game year.)

The cost for insurance ranges from $15,000 to $75,000, depending on the age and breed of the horse at the time it is insured. Once a horse is insured, it is protected from random injuries throughout its life.

Insurance in SIM is different from real life. Rather than being reimbursed for a injury happening to a horse, the insurance instead prevents the injury from happening at all. If the computer chooses an insured horse for a permanent injury, the owner will receive an in-game message congratulating them on wisely buying insurance, because insurance prevented the injury from taking place.


RELATED FAQS
Insurance: http://www.simhorseracing.com/simforum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=19212
Injuries/Pensioning/Death: http://www.simhorseracing.com/simforum/viewtopic.php?t=11277
Veterinarian: http://www.simhorseracing.com/simforum/viewtopic.php?t=11275
Training: http://www.simhorseracing.com/simforum/viewtopic.php?t=11274

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