Question for Large Stables

[Lily Wilkins]

In the past week or so, I have more than doubled the size of my stable, and a TON of these dang horses still don't have equip set and half of them have been sitting on their * getting fat, so they are unfit on top of everything else.

My question is, how do large stables keep up with making sure their horses are getting equipment done in a timely manner? I have about 200 non-equipped horses right now and I honestly cannot figure out how to keep track of them, or make sure they get worked regularly enough for me to find their equipment. And I certainly do not have the cash (real life or SIM) to fund the Game Points necessary to check them all.

Should I just sort them out by breed and systematically set future timed workouts for them with each piece of equipment? I also have a large handful that HAVE done timed workouts with each of the pieces of equipment, but the times are all so similar that I cannot determine which ones were done with the correct piece.

I have gained new-found MAD respect for large stables. I don't know how the heck you guys do it! So please... Bring on the tips!!

[J.r. Lewis]

The only way to know for sure is to buy the first piece and then either gallop or ask the vet until you get the 2nd but that's costly, especially when you're a large barn so I work them to give me the best chance at figuring it out. Hopefully most of them are yearlings so you've got time to get them set but it's a strict schedule because there are just enough weeks to work them on all the pieces. First step is getting them fit. Here's the schedule I use for the first 4 weeks:

Wk 1 Gallop D1 / School in Gate D3 / School in Paddock D5
Wk 2 Gallop 3x (D1/3/5)
Wk 3 Gallop 3x (D1/3/5)
Wk 4 Gallop 1x D1

That should be more than enough. The one's I've checked after that last gallop have always been fit so I don't bother checking them anymore. Here's the schedule I've used the past few seasons and it works fine but I'm thinking of mixing it up a bit this year...maybe...but it gets the job done.

Starting Wk 5, I start working them on each piece of equipment every week on D1 which will take you thru Wk 14.

Wk 15 I work them without equipment

Wk 16 I work them with their top 2 pieces, not including No Equipment

At that point, you'll have a pretty good idea if it's the right equipment or not. If the top 2 is the fastest time I'll let them go with that into their 1st race. If it's not the top time, I'll go with 1 piece. The ones with 3 pieces at all the same top time, I just break down and pay the GP to check them.

The final step is checking with the jockey after every race until you've got it right. I think that's it...Good luck.

[Ali Hedgestone]

For yearlings:
Gallops every 3 days until Wk 5.
Schedule timed workouts every 6 days from Wk 5 on.
You can either ignore if you get equipment from gallops, or schedule them in groups based on equipment.

It's just a pain when you run in multiple divisions, because ideally you work each at the correct distance and surface. But it's not required. You will get 90% of your equipment and they will get/stay fit.

[Lily Wilkins]

Thank you both for taking the time to respond! You helped a lot

[Tammy Stawicki]

I don't have a big stable but can throw out my time-saving tips.

I would definitely schedule works in advance (one of the MANY AMAZING features added to the sim through the years). I schedule mine every weekend and then schedule out as far as I can. I'm more likely to remember to schedule if in the habit of doing it at a regular time and by scheduling out as far as I can I have a bit of a buffer if I forget one weekend.

Also horse type is your friend if you do want to work horses at appropriate surfaces/differences. I personally keep forgetting to do this but I would think the best time to set horse type would be when the foal's page comes up right after you breed it (you've got the page there and you should know what horse type you're dealing with). Then when working you can just go through the horse type options from the pulldown menu (again amazing change) and select all the horses of a given type to schedule a work.

[Dave Trainer]

I agree with Tammy. I always set the horse type when they're bred and use the filter for horse type when setting schedules for two weeks.

[Ryan Whitehead]

Honestly what I do to save time is workout by breed. For instance I gallop all my TB's at 3F Dirt no matter if they are Turf Routers or Dirt Milers. I use to do a different distance and surface for each individual category but it took forever to setup the gallops. I usually set the group up with 3 different workouts and then wait a couple of weeks and setup the next 3 workouts until I have used all the training pieces plus I normally gallop with no equipment at least once. Once all the gallops are done you still need to go thru and setup equipment individually and try with the equipment that is most likely correct.

[Laura Smith]

I've recently switched to timed works every 6 days, like Ali. Buys you some extra time at the end of the year to get it figured out, if you need to, and even the very unsounds are fine with it as long as you don't touch them otherwise.
Make sure you stick to the schedule (WAY easier now that we can schedule works in advance) and don't do anything else (shipping, gelding, etc etc.) My barn's not huge (I breed about 150-180 babies a year) but I've been doing it this way for a long time and I mostly get it figured out (with some notable exceptions, but... )

Do make sure they're all fit before you start. The fastest way is honestly probably the "every-exercise-two-days-in-a-row" thing but they can take up to two weeks to recover from that; still better than trying to whip them into shape with timed works, which can take weeks.

One last thing: in my experience, the shorter the work distance, the smaller the difference between the work times will be, and the harder it will be to discern the correct equips. I find 2f workouts pretty useless for equipment trials. As Ryan mentioned, if you're really strapped for time and you have a bunch of horses scattered across a bunch of divisions, you can always just train everything at the same distance/surface. Won't tell you much about their abilities but if all you want to know is equip, you'll figure it out that way. 3 or 4f would be reasonable; the longer works do take more out of them and I'd be worried to use the schedule that I do if they were all going 7f.

[Ali Hedgestone]

I do know of some that will do timed works every 4 days with shorter works.
I have no issues with injury of super unsound horses with 6 day works at 5f.

If you want you can always do the shorter works to get equipment and then do the appropriate works later once you've got it sorted out.
For fitness, I tried last year to do works on my TB routers as 2yos. Since you have 10 weeks until they start. But I fell off the bus of workouts, period. I'm going to try again this year.

[Jo Ferris]

For yearlings I gallop every 3 days, If I get equipment I set it and they do not get galloped again until they are 2 if ever. Once week 5 hits, I schedule works every 6-7 days, start with no equipment and work my way down the list. I do not separate out those who got the gallop equipment, they are all scheduled by the breed, they all get worked with every piece of equipment then when they turn 2 and I'm naming and entering I set their equipment based on works

[Lucas Davenport]

I had noted from his horses that Ryan uses the 3F dirt for all his Tb's; was thinking of doing the same at 4F AW just to get that little bit more of differentiation between the pieces. That said, what J.R. and Ryan and others have said is spot on, IMO. You have just got to do the work and set up the schedules. And I still end up ultimately buying "the equipment consult" on about 35% of mine. You will have to spend some game points. I think I will try the 6 day schedule this year; I find myself too pressed at the end of the year to do more than two "test" timed workouts.

[Susie Rydell]

My question is, how do large stables keep up with making sure their horses are getting equipment done in a timely manner?

Badly.

Wait. That might just be me. O:-)

[Lily Wilkins]

Wonderful! Thanks everyone I went through and set up some workout schedules. Those poor, fat little ponies won't know what hit them

[J.r. Lewis]

I had noted from his horses that Ryan uses the 3F dirt for all his Tb's; was thinking of doing the same at 4F AW just to get that little bit more of differentiation between the pieces. That said, what J.R. and Ryan and others have said is spot on, IMO. You have just got to do the work and set up the schedules. And I still end up ultimately buying "the equipment consult" on about 35% of mine. You will have to spend some game points. I think I will try the 6 day schedule this year; I find myself too pressed at the end of the year to do more than two "test" timed workouts.

I chose 7F AW this past season and I feel like it worked out pretty well. A lot less of those types having 3 pieces tied for the best time. The problem with it though is you just don't know how good your horses are so I'll be doing the same thing but on 6 days' rest this season instead of 7...