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Might make some people happy to know I am explicitly NOT starting any era 6 projects. :))

My era 4 line will reach cap in another generation so my plan is to start replacing my era 0 bootstrap horses with those lines. It's going to be a big pivot and take a while but I am excited to fill my show barns up with entirely homebred stock. Will end up mostly era 2s in the end, which works out well since that is a very small era. I did a huge cull down of my era 0 horses this year and only kept those that passed SBA, so it is going to take a few seasons to get my show broodmare numbers back up to snuff.

Era 5 was my first foray into the Eras and I’ve been contemplating what “flavor” to do for Era 6. :D Era 5 launched at the same time as all of the new Herd Helpers so I was like a kid in a candy store. This time I will probably stick with 1 main stallion for simplicity and to limit how many freakin projects I have. :))

I have a color based line and a fantasy color based line that I will be continuing.

I have non-fantasy Black Rabicanos with W20 and KP2. Because that exact color combo is a little hard to find, the line is pretty much all in-house and will end up fairly inbred. But I really like the color, and thought it would look nice to have lined horses with full pedigrees of similar looking ancestors. I am up to Blue/A papers with that line right now. I started from C/Yellow perfect foundations.

The fantasy line is focused mostly on Tobianos with Jewel Box or Shatterglass and I like a little nacre or inkspot mixed in there too. Recently I've gotten even more selective in keeping only black or pearl for their base color, and I've added in platinum to one of my foundation stallions. So that line will keep trucking along. I have a more established Blue papered mare herd for that line, so I'm starting to get a few *gold mares each season which is exciting.

My main project is Era based. I have a separate mare herd and set of stallions for each Era 0 through 5, and I'm working on increasing the overall quality of each mare herd/stallion group. My idea here is to eventually be competitive across multiple eras for leaderboard ribbons. I have put a little more focus into Era 5 vs. the other eras as far as chasing the leaderboard harder and maxing out a lot of the breeding stock in Era 5. I will be putting together an Era 6 herd as well, but likely will be more laid back for that Era so that I am not straining my financial resources.

My first ever horse, who I owned from a weanling to age 23, was euthanized this fall due to her health. So I have plans to create a special foundation mare during December that matches her color as a remembrance of her.

Abhean - Replacing all your era 0 bootstraps sounds like a HUGE undertaking! Good luck & I hope it goes smoothly!

SummerMonarch - I have a "no-inbreeding" group I'm doing with June's era on Forest, and that's ended up with me basically using all futurity studs! I have one foundation stud for that era on that account, but I don't know if I have a single foal of his - but I do have some of his grandfoals, since I'd put him up for futurity breeding, and some of the other folks put resulting boys up for futurity breeding... I got most of my mares from foundation rescue, since that guarantees that they're "perfect" quality & just got whichever ones struck my fancy. It's chaotic, and I don't have any real "goals," but I'm having a lot of fun with it!

Khisanth - I definitely get the "kid in a candy store" feeling - if I didn't have multiple accounts, I don't know how I'd get all the projects I want going, much less organize them...

OTTB1 - I have a soft spot for black appies. I like the darker base colors to begin with, and then the high contrast of the appaloosa markings... but a 60 stall barn does not sound like enough space!

RamshornSportHorses - I'm sorry for your loss - it's hard losing our furred family. I hope that you can make a memorial mare that is a good match for her (and feel free to look through my barns at any point for a base - I don't use most of what I have!)
Having a group for each Era would absolutely destroy my sanity - I mostly keep to one project per account, although a few have two (and one has three!) at this point. But no way could I keep more than three straight!

MergeThis - I sent you a little bit to help with barn-buying! You're welcome to look through my barns for a handful of show horses as well!

The 60 stall barn is just the start. I want to breed some mares to a couple futurity studs, but I want this barn to last at least 2 generations before I add another era 6 project barn.

I always think I’m done collecting foundations but then a slew of RS is planned haha and I noticed some new ones in there!