Soundness, Improve..

[Abby Brooks]

So, its been a few seasons since soundness, improvement, etc have been visible to us.

What have you guys found out that's subtle? Certain pedigrees that are almost always late bloomers, timid, etc? I wonder if any of our SC winners this past year won purely because of their heart number. I have questions

How does it all work, I assume its genetic. Maybe this has been answered. I have been sort of AFK and been assistant ran for a few seasons.

[Kelly Haggerty]

My barn sire gets a BUNCH of improvers and sheds. The sheds are so common that I am surprised when he gets a colt that doesn't have that comment. So I think these things do run in families.

I think the game tries to imitate life. I had a RL filly that could have been really good, except that she had a breathing problem and a short stride. I owned part of a RL graded stakes horse that was very good, but not great, because he bent his knees slightly too much, lifting his hoof higher than needed off of the racetrack. The great ones have the good stuff and mitigate their weaknesses in RL, and I think they tried to do that here, too. Little, subtle things come into play because the difference between the best and the worst can still be so small.

[Nicole Marie]

Soundness is definitely genetic.

Re: heart, I don't think that makes a difference except in a photo finish situation. I've had some brave horses win by a neck though and I have wondered what the heart on the 2nd place horse was and if there's any way that made the difference.

[Tammy Stawicki]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe when soundness was first announced we were told a horse would always get the soundness rating of one of its 2 parents. I just checked a few of mine where I knew both parents soundness and that did indeed appear to be the case.

[Autumn Blackmill]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe when soundness was first announced we were told a horse would always get the soundness rating of one of its 2 parents. I just checked a few of mine where I knew both parents soundness and that did indeed appear to be the case.

That's about right, it's a range of the parents. If both are sound then the foal will be sound, etc. Sound bred to Very Sound can give either of those two. Somewhat Unsound to Very Sound can give any of a range between (Somewhat unsound, Sound, or Very Sound), and Very Unsound bred to Very Sound can give anything.

From the help center:
"Breeding for Soundness
When foals are born, it can inherit the trait of either parent. Thus, if you breed a mare that was very sound to a very unsound stallion, you can get anything on the spectrum. But if your very sound mare goes to a very sound stallion, your foal can only be very sound."

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