FAQ

Copyright © 2012-2020: Flying For Home & Red Zephyr Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Statement | Staff & Credits | Terms Of Service
Use of this site signifies your understanding of and agreement to the Terms of Service.

FAQ

General Questions
How much does it cost to play FFH?
FFH is completely free to play for as long as you would like. However, there are some items and perks on FFH that are only available for purchase with Pro Coins, a currency purchased with USD. Pro Coins and other paid perks are never necessary to play and are only meant to enhance your gameplay - not give unfair advantages. Pro Coins are very easy to earn for free, so even if you cannot spend real money, a little patience will eventually reward you with most of the perks anyway! Most special items can also be obtained for free if you actively participate in events on the game.
How many accounts can I have?
As outlined in the Terms of Service (ToS), each user is strictly limited to one account. Running multiple accounts is the #1 reason people are banned (usually without warning) from FFH, so it is in your best interest to avoid any suspicion that you are doing so. If your spouse, sibling, or roommate (or anyone who may be on the same IP address or in the same household) would also like to play FFH, you must obtain permission before or immediately after they register. If you plan to have two (or more) people playing from one IP address, simply send a private message to Issa (#1) from one of the accounts. Be sure to include the ID# for the other person's account as well as a brief explanation of who they are. Ex: "My sister has joined FFH and her account is #111111." Obtaining permission allows FFH staff to place a special flag on your accounts to note that they may sometimes be playing from the same IP address. This will ensure that you are not automatically banned during periodic IP address checks. However, this does not give you an excuse to break the rules and ToS. If there is evidence that one person is using multiple accounts solely for the benefit of one primary account, even with permission, all accounts involved will be banned. This means you should keep transfers of money, items, and horses to a minimum.
How does time work on FFH?
One year on FFH is approximately 13 weeks in real life. One month in-game is equivalent to 1 week in real-life, with the exception of January which is 2 weeks. The main racing season runs between March and October (in-game months) and has 2 meets per month ('A' meet and 'B' meet). Off season runs between November and February (in-game months). Off season months only have 1 meet, however off season months are still a week long which gives you more time to focus on retirement, breeding, getting 2-year-olds started in training, and other organizational matters within your stable.
How do I get help with something I don't understand?
Have you used the search feature in the Handbook, read help guides on any relevant pages, and checked the ToS? If you have exhausted all of these resources and still can't find a clear answer, your next best bet is to go look in the news as it might be a recent change. If that doesn't answer your question, you have a few options. First, you can post on the forum - most likely in the Help section. You can also PM a staff member directly with your question. However, Flying for Home's Discord server is usually the fastest way to get help! Staff and other experienced players are available virtually 24/7 and can provide as much help as you need.
How much time do I need to devote to FFH?
FFH is a game that is very adaptable to your own preferences. You can manage a stable of 5-10 horses in as little as 10-20 minutes a week. If you want to become a mega-stable with 500+ horses, it's going to take quite a bit more time. You can be just as successful with a small barn as with a large one, though many players have found owning approximately 50-200 racers is a 'sweet spot'. In terms of difficulty, you can opt to try to learn every detail of the game to develop the best strategies for winning races, awards, and breeding legends. Or, you can play just for fun and not worry too much about all the finer points of the game. In any case, there is a certain learning curve to FFH, due to its complex strategy, and people rarely have instant success. You'll need to take some time to acclimate yourself with the features of the FFH and learn at least the basic concepts of racing and breeding.
Horse Care Questions
How often should I feed and train my horses?
You should feed and train all horses every month! Feeding any type of grain (not supplements) will always provide a minor boost to a horse's Morale and Condition. Horses who are not fed will suffer loss of Morale, Condition, and Energy. Some feeds also provide additional benefits, as listed in the item description. Horses also benefit in many ways from training including increased Condition, chances to improve Courage and Consistency, increased Morale, increased Experience, and other various benefits unique to some trainings. If you skip training, even if your horse's base stats are maxed, your horse will not perform as well in races, could be more apt to get hurt, and will face penalties like loss of Energy, Morale, and Condition. Missing training on mares in foal will also make them more likely to have high Pregnancy Risk and can contribute to them becoming barren.
Will I lose my horses if I take a break from the game?
In short, no. You will never lose your horses no matter how long you step away from the game. The only exceptions to this rule are leased horses, which will be eligible for their owner to reclaim once you've missed 2 months of feeding/training or 3 months of racing, or if you own a horse bred by someone else and the breeder has purchased a neglect contract on the horse (more information on that can be found on the Level & Skills page.) Though you will not lose your horses, they will suffer from neglect. Condition, Morale, Peak, and Prime will all decline while you are absent from your account. This can also lead to many of your mares becoming barren. The longer you are gone, the more difficult it will be to get your horses back in racing/breeding shape once you return. If you know you will be gone for an extended period of time you can utilize Vacation Pasture or Stable Hands. Which you choose will depend on your situation.
Should I geld my colt?
Deciding whether or not to geld a colt is an important decision. There are obvious benefits to keeping a colt intact: you will be able to stand him at stud when he retires, enabling you to breed your own mares to him and also make money from covering outside mares. There are also many benefits to gelding as well, including guaranteed boosts to Prime, Peak, and Longevity and possible boosts to Potential, maximum Courage, and maximum Consistency, and Athleticism. Although colts are typically gelded for having either extremely low stats or low genes, there are many reasons a colt may or may not be gelded. For in-depth explanation of reasons to geld and benefits of gelding, visit the Gelding page.
Why do my horses keep getting hurt?
The Injuries page details everything that contributes toward injuries. In brief, there are two main reasons a horse may be injured frequently. The first is you are racing the horse with notes, which usually means you are entering with low Energy, low Condition, on untrained surfaces, at untrained distances, etc. Secondly, the horse has high Risk, and is simply prone to injury. Random injuries can always happen, but if your horses are repeatedly facing injuries one of those two reasons is the culprit.
When can I start breeding my horses?
Breeding on FFH is complex and not something you want to rush into. Getting a firm grasp on racing will greatly improve your breeding experience. You can start breeding when you've unlocked Breeding skill 1 (which can be done after you’ve unlocked the third training skill) and have Breeding Passes. Breeding Passes can be earned from entering races and color shows, trading in apples at the Golden Apple Orchard, and entering the daily Breeding Pass Raffle. If you meet both of these requirements, you'll want to take some time to study up on the Breeding and Genetics sections of the Handbook to ensure you match match each mare to a suitable stallion. Horses can only be bred if they are retired from racing and it is breeding season (February-June). It is not in your best interest to simply breed whatever mare(s) you have to a random stallion as you would likely end up with very disappointing foals.
Why aren’t my horses showing the correct color/markings?
All horses need to have images reloaded at 2 years old to show their adult coat and markings. Greys need to have their images reloaded YEARLY. You can click the Glow Up button at the top of the horse's page to do this (please only press this button on horses you own). If the button does not appear, you can reload the horse's image by clicking on the Image Gallery button on their page.
Racing Questions
How many races can my horse enter?
Technically, there is no limit to the number of races your horse can enter in a meet besides the limit of tracks available (each horse can only enter one race per track). Most horses can safely enter 2 races per meet. However, when a horse races more than once in a meet their Performance Rating (PR) will suffer, so it is advised to only enter horses in one race per meet until you are familiar with how they perform.
Why is my horse unable to enter a race?
Yearlings, retired, and pensioned horses cannot race. In addition, horses who are injured (whether on stall rest or not) cannot race. If none of these are the case, your horse may not have a home track set and/or may not be saddle broke yet. To move a horse to a track, visit their Manage page, find the section on tracks, and assign them a primary track. To tell if your horse is saddle broke or not, simply look at their image. If they are not wearing a saddle, they have not yet completed saddle training. Also, be sure that you have horse race preferences set correctly if none of those work.
When do two year olds start racing?
Two year olds start racing in May. Races start at the minimum race distance for each breed (100yds for stock, 4F for TB, 1M for GB, and 7F for Standardbreds) and increase in distance each month. Some breeds, like GBs, might not have an increase in race distance according to this schedule. You can reference a chart of 2yo distances on the Calendar.
Can I just enter my horse in any available race?
In short - no! There are many factors that determine what type of race a horse can enter, which are explained in more detail in the Racing section. There aren't any strict grade restrictions for horses, but it is still best to find an appropriate grade for your horse (to the best of your ability). The Evaluating Talent page details ways to figure out the appropriate grade to start your horses in. In addition, it is always in your best interest to actually find a race your horse will like. This includes checking distance and surface (most importantly) as well as track/region and gender restrictions. If you simply pick any available race, not only will your horse likely perform poorly but their chance of injury is much higher.
When do races run and when are entries due?
During racing season, races run twice each RL week on Thursdays and Sundays at 1:00am FFH time. During off season, races run once each RL week on Sunday at 1:00am FFH time. If races will be running on alternate days, a warning will be posted in the news and/or in the Making Magic sidebar. Regular races can be entered up until the time rollover begins . Entries for series races, such as Trinities, Gems, Gold Cups, and World Championships close on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 12:00pm FFH time. If series races don't fill, you may still be able to enter after that deadline.
Where can I find out if my horse won their race?
You can see how your horse performed in races from a few different places. First, you can navigate to your Stable and view your Stable Results. This will show you a list of all of your horses that raced in the past meet along with information about how they placed. This is a great place to check for race notes. You can also view a horse's results from the Race History tab of their page. Grade 1 races are also highlighted on the Calendar page, which is the icon that looks like a calendar on your right sidebar. In addition, you can view results for an entire track by going to Racing and then clicking the Results link.
Help! Why is my horse not winning and/or running poorly?
There is not a simple answer for this - every horse is different, though in many cases poor performance is due to a combination of race notes, low Rest, low Morale, lack of Buddy Workouts, and/or low Peak or Prime. Reading the Handbook (especially Performance Ratings) can help you better understand the mechanics of the game and help isolate your horse's problem(s).

Handbook Search