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Training Your Horse

Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:19 pm
by The Steward
There are many ways to train your horses in the SIM.

Timed Workouts
Horses can be given a timed workout once per race day (so it can work Week 1 Monday, then Week 1 Wednesday, if you desire). Each breed has its own set of workouts (Thoroughbreds can work 2 furlongs - 7 furlongs, Quarter Horses 100 yard - 400 yards, etc). Working a horse out gives you a strong indicator of a horse's ability, however, it also tires the horse. Some horses will work slowly in the morning and be good racehorses, some will work quickly and be duds.

A timed workout will increase a horse's fitness and experience level, so if used in conjunction with a race, you will be able to give the horse a big boost going into the race. They can be also used to keep the fitness and experience high during a break from racing. You must give two - year - olds two workouts before they can race.

If you use equipment when giving your horse a workout, the equipment you use will have influence on the time the horse runs. You can feel pretty confident that the faster the workout, that's the equipment your horse needs.

Note: Exercising a horse before a workout, such as jogging or galloping, will impact a horse's workout time. If you want the best result from your workout, make sure the horse isn't a bit tired.
For Yearlings Giving a yearling a timed workout before Week-4 Day-6 comes with a high risk of injury. Yearlings from Week 1 - 4 are "baby horses" and should not be given timed workouts.

Galloping
Galloping can increase a horse's fitness and experience, but also tires the horse. Galloping can be done in conjunction with an upcoming race to leave the horse fit and happy, but shouldn't be done too close to a race or the horse will be too tired.

When a horse gallops, the trainer will give you a snapshot of how that horse is doing RIGHT NOW. She will say something along the lines of, "This horse is at X level!" which means the horse is currently fast enough to most likely compete at that level, whether it be allowance, stakes, or claiming races. Horses outrun their levels and underperform all the time, so use it as a guide to measure your horse's ability.

Note: When you gallop your horse, the trainer will sometimes give you a hint as to what equipment the horse should be wearing. The trainer will never tell you more than one piece of equipment, and the piece that is told will never the same as one you paid for.

Jogging
Jogging a horse can increase the horse's fitness and experience, but tires the horse a little bit. Jogging can be done in conjunction with an upcoming race but like all other exercises shouldn't be done on race day. When you jog your horse, the trainer will let you know how the horse is doing, fitness wise, such as if it is "Fully Fit," "Training Well," or the lowest level of fitness, "Needs Training."

Schooling in the Gate/Paddock
Schooling a horse can increase the horse's fitness and experience, especially experience when it comes to schooling. Sometimes a horse will act up, but that's okay, they still received the experience. Schooling can tire a horse as well.

Working on the Longe Line
This is a fitness exercise that benefits yearlings. It is tiring, but is a good precursor to timed workouts later in the year.

Walking the Shedrow
Walking the shedrow is the best exercise you can do for your horse. It is a relaxing exercise that increases fitness and experience.

Training to Jump
Training a horse to jump is a fantastic way to find out if it has any ability on the steeplechase course, however, it is tiring to a horse and should be done when the horse isn't racing.

Swimming
Swimming increases fitness and stamina, but like other training tools it also makes the horse a little tired!

Train With a Pony
Training with a pony increases fitness and experience, but it also makes the horse a little tired!

Injuries
ALL horses can be injured, no matter what age, if they exercise too much. Galloping, schooling, jogging, and breezing on any single day will result in a horse being injured.

Scheduling a Horse's Training
9/1/16 - SIMperior Members now have the option to schedule their horses' training in advance. Select a horse or horses to train, and under the exercise you want to do you can select a date up to 15 days in advance. At midnight Pacific of that day, you will be sent a report telling you how your horse did! To cancel a scheduled exercise, please visit your Undo an Action page to remove any scheduled training. You can schedule as many exercises per horse as you would like in that 15 day period as long as it does no more than 1 of each exercise per day.

Re: Training Your Horses

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 8:13 pm
by Eric Nalbone
The Steward wrote:Galloping, schooling, jogging, and breezing on any single day will result in a horse being injured.
I'd think that this is straightforward to all those of us who have been playing the SIM for more than a few weeks, but since the wording of this sentence is a little ambiguous, I'd assume I'm correct in clarifying that "Doing ALL of galloping, schooling, jogging, and breezing on any single day will result in a horse being injured." Doing one of those on a given day is presumably all right, though exactly how much spacing we need for each of these activities is presumably something left to each of us to discover.

If I'm wrong (Steward?) please correct me, but I think that this oughta make intuitive sense to everyone that knows the SIM and help those that might be new!

Re: Training Your Horse

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2016 7:38 pm
by The Steward
Scheduling a Horse's Training
9/1/16 - SIMperior Members now have the option to schedule their horses' training in advance. Select a horse or multiple horses to train, and underneath selecting the exercise you want to do, you can select a date up to 15 days in advance. At midnight Pacific of that day, you will be sent a report telling you how your horse did!

To cancel a scheduled exercise, please visit your Undo an Action page to remove any scheduled training.

You can schedule as many exercises per horse as you would like in that 15 day period as long as it does no more than 1 of each exercise per day.