How to Start a Breeding Group

How to start and run your own breeding group

Official Howrse Teams
Now on Howrse for the first time ever there is the option to create your own breeding grouped that are officially ranked and accepted by Howrse, and allow much more efficient Breeding Groups!

NOTE - Breeding groups can only be created by Players who pay three passes a month for the Premier Account! (Any players can be invited though)

Advantages include:

Each team has a public page that can be customized, as well as special forums restricted to team members.
Group messages can be sent to all members of the team.
You can book coverings from another team mate easily without having to type their log-in name.
The founder can assign roles to each team member, such as the right to manage the public page, recruiting or team forum moderation.
You can use an affix that is shared across all your team mates for all horses belonging to the breed that you all collaborate on together.
Team affixes are reviewed for rating on the first day of each month
You can compare your team with others thanks to various rankings:

the number of horses born with the team's affix throughout the month
the number of rosettes won by horses wearing the team's affix throughout the month
the number of times when horses wearing the team's affix have been ranked first in genetic potential rankings throughout the month
the number of times when horses wearing the team's affix have been ranked in the Top 1000 in Grand Prix competitions throughout the month
the team prestige, which is the result of the 4 previous rankings

How to start a breeding group (Step by Step)

Decide on your breed!
Think of a name. Make sure the name has the horse breed you are planning to breed in it so people know what you breed!
Outline your aims for your breeding group (eg, high gp, High Skills, x-breeding, low gp)
Set yourself a goal to reach and a time limit to do it. (Eg, reach 1100 gp before Christmas)
Outline conditions for new members. But remember, Dont make them too harsh, new members are hard to find. For example, dont say al members must be pass buyers if you don't buy passes yourself!
Create a sign up form. Include things like does the player pass buy, what is their best horse, how often are they on the game. Get to know your players.
Decide on a base for your breeding group. Preferably a in-game base like someones EC. Make different topics for different things like coverings, sign ups, progress reports, general chat and advertising.
Advertise! Go round all your friends forums and announce your breeding group. Make sure you have asked their permission first. Many players have specific topics to do this in. Particularly chrissyh!
Once you have some members, try and get everyone up to the same level of horses. Like try and make sure everyone has at least one mare of the highest GP possible. Share your horses around! You could easily get stuck if one member isn't online and he/she has the key mare/stud or the foals. This could slow down your GP progress and delay other members from BLUPing.
Ensure every member knows how to do foal games, skill and BLUP a horse. If not - Teach them! I have topics about each of these which is worth a look for beginners. Also, BLUPing should be taken seriously.
Find a trusted and skilled Graphics maker. Someone who will make lots of graphics for a small fee and get them to make banners and layouts so you can advertise your breeding group better.
Have a discussion with you team. You all need an affix but they have to all be different but linked. For example my affix for my breeding group is "of rtb Holsteiners" where as another member has "rtbh" and another "Of rtb Holsties" Try and put some cool letters in your affix to make it more appealing. You can find these in a symbol topic in my forum. However if you are an official team on howrse, you can all use the same affix!
Start organising coverings between everyone in your group. Make sure you use the best stallion.
Sell your lower standard foals but share the higher standard ones between you. Remember, it will be quicker for you to reach your goal if you work together! Try and keep your lower standard foal sales to a high price if you don't need the equus because people will buy them, it just takes time. You dont want to be giving away gp to rival groups
Make yourself and other members aware of rival groups. They are likely to be watching your progress too, If they start getting ahead, work harder. Make sure you dont get complacent if they fall behind.
Advertise more in the form of barn sales, competitions and games. You need as much support as possible. The more people who know about your group, the more people who will want horses from you and the more potential members you get. Keep in mind though, Advertising isn't everything, so don't put it first in mind. You must be a hard worker, and dedicated, not to mention you must be surrounded by a strong team.
If you get people wanting to be in your group, but you don't have any spaces at that time or don't want them, keep a list of these people and keep track of them, you may want to reconsider or a space may come up in your group.
It is always helpful to have an admin player or a sales director in your group. They don't have to breed (they can if they want) but they keep lists of members, gp progress, horses, foals and advertise sales and search for horses.
Find a trainer or a member who will train and blup the less abled members horses for a small fee - that will benefit the whole group, You wont be held back by low blup horses and slow players, which will speed up your progress.
Set out rules for members. Make a topic which they have to sign if they agree with it. You should have made sure all your members were trustworthy before accepting them so they should stick to their word.
If you have a leader, The leader must be negotiable and mature enough to handle situations, from group dramas to sales GP, skiller releasing and pricing. Over releasing can cause unfairness to members because their foals or BLUPs don't sell. If you have a vote this can be the fairest way. Usually the founder(s) are automatically leaders or assign the leaders based on merit.

Tips to improve your group and keep it working smoothly.

Don't have too many members. Keep the numbers low so you dont have to offer hundreds of coverings yet you still have enough members to share coverings with. If everyone is a beginner, start at around 5 but if you reach an elite position then try and increase your numbers so you cn completly dominate the rankings. The more members you have, the more horses you have, the more high rankings you have.
If a player leaves the group, be nice to them. They will have a simaler standard of horses to you and you dont want them selling their horses cheaply alowing other groups to catch up or joining another group. Ask them if they are willing to sell their higher standard horses to members of the group. This will keep them out of rivals hands. Offer reasonable prices!
(if you are a high gp group) Do not breed a horse unless it has positive blup! This is the key to breeding groups. Once a foal has been born, right from the start you must keep trying to increase its blup everyday. Make sure all members understand this.
Learn how to create good friendships with the 'right' people.
Good friendships are key in a breeding group, everyone has to get along. Outline to your members that any problems should be reported to you and you must find a way to make both parties happy.
Its not bad to ask for coverings from outside players who are not in your group. Just make sure non of your players are offering coverings to players who are not in your group!
Keep any breeding/performance Bmis you are not using because you may need them in the future or other players in the group may need them. Only trade them or sell them as a last resort! Bmis are bought with passes and especially if you dont buy passes, you dont want to not be able to find a Bmi when you need it! Sell off or trade off BMI that you won't ever really need, and get BMIs that help you like MAs, Tears, and ZLBs instead.
Don't sell any Tack or store items because every new horse needs tack and share these Items around! If you have lots and one player has none, it isnt fair and also that players breeding being hampered will slow the whole groups progress down!
Have fun! Its supposed to be a game!
Try and pick players that have a trustworthy topic in their forum of who have references from other players. You need to be able to trust your team. You will be sharing BMI, Horses, Equus and everything else. You don't want them stealing things.