HGG Community Forums

I'll try give you a "quick" summary of how my spreadsheet for keeping track of my horses works:
I have one spreadsheet file. There are multiple tabs/sheets within the file.

Tab 1: Project organization.
I have a list of each line/project I am working on and the requirements I have for the breeding stock of each line/project. For example: My fantasy line has the name of the line, and that the horses must be Black or Pearl Tobianos with some sort of fantasy gene.
I keep a list of my culling parameters for show ponies. For example: Anything below a 10.0 PT I don't keep. They also have to have 500 or more lifetime points by age 10. etc.
I also have a list of random notes/reminders for myself. For example: I have promised an egg from a particular mare to a particular player next month.

Tab 2: Stallions
I have my owned stallions organized by line/project, Era and paper level. I also use colored cells to denote how a stallion comparison tests to stallions in the same paper level. Example: B papered stallions with a dark red cell color comparison tested higher than stallions with a light red cell color.
I also have a section for new stallions (age 2 and under), and a note for which stallion they will be replacing in my lines/projects.
Lastly I have a list of my current straw inventory organized by line/project, Era and paper level. Straws that I've promised to use for futurity are highlighted a certain color.

Tabs 3+: Mare Herds
I have one tab for each project/line. Then within that tab I have mares sorted either by paper level or era. I also use colored cells here to keep track of paper level. Red mares have red cells, yellow mares have yellow cells. etc.
I will also make note of which stallion I am planning to breed the mare to if I have planned a breeding ahead of time.

Using the spreadsheet and keeping it up to date my key to staying organized. I am also known to completely rearrange data, add new columns/rows, add different cell colors, etc. if I think of a better/simpler way to organize or track the data that concerns me the most.

Here's a rough example of how I might use my spreadsheet during the course of a day on the game:
-Logged in and checked the forums. Abhean asked for straws/eggs from maxed ability, even bred horses between Eras 4-6. I check my stallions tab and Era based mare herd tab. My maxed stallions and mares are noted with a * after their name. I quickly go through all of my * noted stallions and mares in Eras 4-6 and compile a list of the ones with even breeding to post to the forum for Abhean to review.
-Today I'm also breeding my Era 5 mare herd. I'll check my era based mare herd tab and do any pre-planned breedings that I have specially noted there. Then I'll go to my stallions tab and look through my Era 5+ stallions and straws to select matches for the remaining mares.
-After breeding I will go through and do testing on all of the Era 5 foals. I check my organization tab and remind myself that I don't keep any show foals with a PT lower than 10. So I'll go through all of my geldings/spayed mares and auction anything with a PT of 9.9 or lower. Then I'll check my stallion tab. My current Era 5 stallions are Blue papered. So any stallions that are red papered or lower will be auctioned or gelded. Then I'll check my mare tab. I have 30 stalls available for my Era 5 mares, and they are all full. My lowest Era 5 mares are red papered. So any mares that are yellow papered or lower will be auctioned or spayed.
-Then I might look at my Era 5 stud foals that are left and comparison test them to my current Era 5 stallions to see if there is a superior stallion in the bunch. If I find one that I decide to keep I'll name him, then note him as an upcoming stallion, and which Era 5 stallion he will be replacing when he ages up. Remaining stud colts are auctioned or gelded.
-Then I'll look at my Era 5 mare foals that are left and compare them to my list of current Era 5 mares. I then have to decide what is my top 30 out of those two groups that will now fill my 30 available stalls. I have a few blue and gold mares. So those will stay for sure. Then out of the reds I look at color or average foal PT and pick my favorites to fill my remaining stalls. Those that didn't make the cut are auctioned or spayed. My spreadsheet is updated along the way to add/delete mares from the Era 5 group.

I use a double monitor on a desktop most of the time when I play. So I like to keep the spreadsheet open on one screen, and the website open on the other screen so that I can quickly reference/update the spreadsheet anytime as I play.

I will mention that if you are handy with barn organization and the search function you can accomplish all of this without the hassle of maintaining the spreadsheet. Because I have the luxury of a second monitor, I prefer using the spreadsheet because it is a quick way to have a lot of information handy in one place without running a new search all the time.

Barns are a lot easier for me. I try to keep smaller barns and fill the barn with horses of one type. If I run out of space, someone has to be auctioned to make room for the new.

Mare Barns: I have one barn for yellow papered fantasy mares, one for red papered fantasy mares, one for blue papered fantasy mares, etc. I also have one barn for Era 0 mares, one barn for Era 1 mares, etc.

Backwards Breeding Barns: One barn for foundation backwards breeding mares/stallions. One barn for 2nd gen backwards breeding mares/stallions.

Futurity Barns: One barn for futurity babies that will be 5 in December, one for babies that will be 5 in January, etc. This makes it easy to make sure I remember to keep the whole barn until at least age 5 and then auction after that point.
(Note: these barns are just for futurity babies that I normally would have auctioned right after birth, but hung onto specifically for futurity. I have lots of other futurity babies that are part of my normal show/mare herds.)

Show Barns: These barns tend to be bigger to fit as many show horses as possible.

Stallion Barn: Stallions only.

I mostly use my primary barn for breeding and sorting through foals. Also, holding horses that are going through auction. So it's often pretty empty. I went way overboard with Era 6 futurity foals this season, so it's also holding all of the futurity babies that didn't fit into my usual futurity barn for this age group.

I didn't read everything, but I'm thinking about a tattoo for each different line...

Tattoos are helpful to separate lines/projects as well. I have separate tattoos and breeds for each of my projects.

Personally I have a hard time keeping projects seperated because really love the unique genetic combinations that come from mixing lines. Plus my new goals for this year is to trying and reduce inbreeding so I'd rather not keep my breeds completely separate.

Instead my primary focus for organization is generations. I use naming conventions, barns and pastures to keep these separate.

Biggest price of advice is to *try* and pick one general thing (i.e. genetic projects, eras, generations) that is important to you and focus on organizing by that. This doesnt mean only having one project or focusing on only one era but rather just providing a general direction for where to start organizing! :)

Google Sheets works well.

I use google sheets for my spreadsheet. I can access it on mobile using the app or desktop via google drive quite easily. You do need a google account/gmail account, which is free.

I use my spreadsheet only for breeding horses.

Show horses are so easy to sort using the search when I need to get rid of some. I just run a quick search by age, PT, total points or whatever and can quickly pick out the “bottom” to auction. Plus when I have 100s of show horses it’s not worth the data entry time to get them into a spreadsheet. Especially if you are using mobile only which significantly increases data entry time.

What’s everyone’s standards or limitations when it comes to boosting a horse? When should I boost a horse, versus when it’s not really a good time too? What kind of horses are best to boost, along with how has boosting a horse increased straw sale?

Big questions I know, I’m thinking about this and the wiki doesn’t have much for me. My basic knowledge is that you can boost stallions and mares, boosting decreases the era by one but also helps produce the best of the best. That’s all I seem to remember besides the fact that you can have a 1% boost or a 5% breeding boost.

Am I missing anything that you’ve noticed also? It would much be appreciated to learn more.

Thanks for letting me know!

Kinda, Thanks Waly!

Okay Thanks! I think this should be good unless there anything missing lol :)

Alrighty, Thanks again!