Training

Training brings a horse closer to its genetic potential. Each horse has a weekly plan of 3 sessions, and you run each one when you choose. Every workout is a trade-off: what it builds, how tired it leaves the horse, what it costs, and whether it risks a knock.

#The weekly plan

1. 1
   Open a horse’s Training tab. The plan has 3 slots a week (4 with a Trainer). Saving the plan is free.
2. 2
   Read the trade-off board: what the next session would do for each workout, before you spend anything.
3. 3
   Pick a workout for the slot and run it. Its credit cost is charged when the session runs.
4. 4
   A new week starts on Monday (UTC) with fresh sessions. Unused sessions don’t carry over, and nothing runs or costs anything while you are away.

Hard work (speed work, stamina gallops, race prep) tires a horse most, but it also sets up the freshness peak three to five days later. See Care & condition.

#Realisation: how training shows

Each stat has a realisation, shown as a percentage. A new horse starts at 60%. Realisation governs the top 20% of the stat, so an untrained horse still shows 92% of its grown-up potential and a fully trained one shows all of it. Training can never take a stat past the horse’s potential.

Gains shrink as realisation rises: the closer to 100%, the less each session adds. For speed work on the speed stat, starting from 60%:

Racing counts too: every start realises a little of every stat, adaptability and temperament most (Speed 0.6%, Stamina 0.6%, Burst 0.6%, Durability 0.5%, Adaptability 1.2%, Temperament 1.0% at the start of a career). Good daily care adds a little on top: Care & condition.

#The trade-off board

The board on the Training tab shows, for each workout, exactly what the next session would do. It is worked out by the same code that runs the session. Here it is for a real starter, fresh and then tired:

#Overwork

• Above 60% fatigue a horse is overworked: hard work gains only half.
• Above 50% fatigue, hard work carries a chance of a training knock, rising to about 6% for an exhausted, average horse. Durable horses are at less risk, fragile ones at more.
• A training knock is always a minor injury: a few days off, never career-ending and never fatal.
• Light work (gate practice, swimming) and rest never risk a knock. Rest takes fatigue down.

#Who can train, and how well

A Trainer facility adds a weekly slot and makes every workout 10% more effective per level, up to 2 levels. See Facilities.

A simple routine