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Introduction |
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Retiring and pensioning can both be done from a horse's Manage page. Retiring a horse will remove a horse from your racing barn and place them into your bloodstock barn. The horse will still take up a stall. It will still need to be cared for (fed and exercised). Once a horse is retired, it can never race again. This change is permanent. Pensioning a horse will remove them from your bloodstock barn and place them in your pensioned pasture - where they will no longer take up a stall, require feeding, or need to be trained. Pensioned horses can never race, breed, or be used as buddies again. This change is also permanent. The only exception is if you use a Robin's Nest (on mares) or Victor's Blade (on studs)-in addition to adding a set number of foal slots, they unpension a retired horse. |
Retirement | Retirement Eligibility |
To be eligible for retirement, horse must be at least 3 years old and meet one of the following requirements: •Less than 6 races remaining on Longevity •Achieved a Performance Merit (100 racing points) •Early Retire after serious racing injuries •Early Retire for a cash fee The fees for early retirement are $500,000 for horses aged 6 or 7 years and $250,000 for horses aged 8 years or older. | When To Retire |
A general rule of thumb is to watch for the 'Retire' button to become available. Once the button is available, you should make plans to either transition or retire the horse at the beginning of the next game year. Retiring a horse mid-year is not suggested. This is because whether it is a stallion or a mare, it will be sitting in your breeding barn for several months serving very little purpose (eating food but earning no money). Geldings are an exception to this, as they can be used as buddies year-round. Just because a horse is showing a retirement button doesn’t mean you should automatically retire it. It is strongly suggested to get at least 100 points (or 250 if possible) on stallions to improve the potential of their foals. Additionally, you do not earn Foal Slots for stallions that have less than 50 racing or color points. If you wish to breed a stallion that has less than 50 points you need to apply a Bachelor's Party to them after they retire. Stallions and mares with any amount of racing points up to 100 now have a chance to provide bonuses to their foals' stats, with a guaranteed bonus for those who have a Performance Merit (100 points). Performance Distinctions (250 points) from either parent still provide an additional bonus to foal stats. | Geldings |
Retired geldings have incredible value if they are used as Buddies. Geldings can be used as a workout buddy until they turn 16 years old, and their workout scores will be cut in half when they turn 12 years old. Geldings under 20 years old can be transitioned to serve as yearling buddies. Yearling buddies provide a different set of benefits than workout buddies. |
Pensioning |
Once a mare or stallion has reached their lifetime foal limit, it is time to pension them. If you decide you do not wish to breed your stallion to his limit (such as if he's producing poorly), he may be pensioned at any time, regardless of his foal limit. If you have pensioned a stallion before reaching his foal limit and would like to have him back in your barn, you can use a Victor's Blade to return him to retired status. This also adds foal slots. If you have Breeding Skill 6, you can also pay to pension mares early if you do not wish to breed them to their foal limit. Early Pension costs $500,000 for mares 15-19 years old, and $250,000 for mares 20 years and older. If you would like to bring a mare back into breeding you can use a Robin's Nest if the mare is under 20 and hasn't reached her foal limit. Mares turning 25 will auto-pension at the start of the year. If she is in-foal when auto-pensioned she will still have the foal in your barn (pending no stillborn). |
Special Feeds & Items | |
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None of the feeds or items listed below are necessary for caring for and managing horses under normal circumstances. However, sometimes you may find that you encounter a situation where a horse is struggling with retirement. | |
Bachelor's Party | The Bachelor's Party is an item you can occasionally find in the Pro Shop. You can use this to give any stallion a 'fake' 50 points. This will allow a stud to be bred (as well as stand publicly) even if he didn't actually earn 50 points while racing. There are some niche situations where this may be especially useful, such as if a strong stud prospect is injured in a race and forced to retire early. This is only necessary in select situations like the one outlined above - if a stallion is not performing well in races, he should be considered for gelding. |