General Rules

No bashing, flaming, discriminated or abusing other players in any way, shape or form WILL NOT BE TOLERATED this will get you expelled from the game.

Absolutely, positively no soliciting; you cannot tell people that they should give you real money.

If you have a problem with another member, Try to resolve it between yourselves peacefully. If that option ha yealded no positive results, than contact the PC and we will try to help you resolve the issue.

Do not give out the password to the Members site to anyone.

Do not advertise or link (hotlinking or otherwise) to other sim games on your H!L pages.

Do not send chain letters, mass-mail, or chain-IMs to H!L players.

Profanity is not allowed, and abuse of other players will be dealt with harshly.
Do not violate copyrights by using text or images which belong to others without their permission.

Playing under multiple identities is not allowed. We have zero tolerance for this and it will result in suspension and possible expulsion/banning from the game.

You absolutely must be at least thirteen to play HL. We can not let younger players join for legal reasons that exist for your safety. Please come back when you are older, we will still be around, we promise!

Usage Of Images

Before taking a picture off some site, make sure it isn't subject to copyright, and please ask the owner for permission to use the picture.

NEVER hot-link pictures! Instead, we suggest uploading them to your website host, or a photo site, such as photobucket.com.

H!L is not responsible for any copyright infringements its members could get themselves into. At the very least include a copyright statement and link under the photo.

Web Hosting

No stables, businesses or associations on message boards!

Some good hosts: angelfire, geocities, brinkster, freepags, freewebs

Inspections

Regular inspections are done up to twice a year, plenty of time is given for these to take place and inspection forms and requests to be filled out and returned to the PC. If you have further questions please check out the inspections section on the forum for further details.

MEMBERSHIP

Boarders
When you first join, you are a boarder. That is, you must rent out stalls for each of your horses at a Boarding Barn. You begin with $200,000 in your bank account, which you must manage yourself (see Finances for help with this!) You get to create five (5) horses, and you may own twenty (20) altogether. You must board all your horses, and you must make sure you pay your board on time. Some boarding packages will provide your horses with feed. If they do not, you will have to buy your horses feed every month, have your horses vetted and shod, and you need to buy tack.
Once we have gotten your joining form, we will add you to the Members Database. Within two weeks, you must report back to us with which barn you are boarding at, and have gotten all your horses vetted and shod. You must also introduce yourself on the Message Forums. If you do not, you will be considered inactive and you will no longer be a member.

Mini-Barn Owners
After you have been in the game for two (2) months, you may apply for a Mini-Barn. There is no official form for this, instead you must ask the owner of the barn you board at if you may use the land. You can create five (5) additional horses for a total of ten (10) created horses, and you can own up to forty (40) horses in total. Some barn owners will still buy feed for your horses, but if this is not the case, you will need to buy feed for your horses every month. You are still responsible for getting your horses vetted and shod.

Barn Owners
After you have been in the game for six (6) months, you may apply for barn ownership. In order to become a Barn Owner, you need to have hosted at least 2 show, and you must have three (3) recommendations from other barns owners saying that you will make a good barn owner. After you become a Barn Owner you may create ten (10) additional horses for a total of twenty (20) created horses, and you can own up to one-hundred (100) horses in total. You are now fully responsible for buying feed for your horses each month, and you must still buy their tack, as well as keep them up-to-date on their veterinary and farrier work.

Staying Active
If you do not stay active and keep your membership updated you will lose your member status. If this happens and you want to come back, you will have to start all over again. We change the password to the Members Only area every other month, and email it out to all the active Barn Owners, who will then pass it on to all the boarders and mini-barn owners who have paid their boarding fees. If we find that you are neglecting your horses by not feeding them or not giving them health care, there will be consequences.
In order to stay active, follow these steps:
Step 1. Pay your board/mini-barn fee every month.
Step 2. Buy your horses feed every month, if your barn does not provide it for you.
Step 3. Take your horses to the veterinarian for a check-up every six months.
Step 4. Take your horses to the Farrier every three months.
Step 5. Make five (5) posts on the message board each month.

If you are active, you also receive a salary of $2,000 per month. But you must be active!

Leave of Absence
You may take a leave of absence if you need to, but your horses need to be cared for. Preferably, you will remain active enough to fulfill the active requirements yourself. If you can not, have someone else do it for you. If you have boarders or you own a business or association, you need to find a way to take care of that, too. If you are gone longer than three months, it will be considered quitting and previous owners of your horses are permitted to reclaim their horses.

Quitting
If you wish to quit, please email the Player's Council. You do not need an excuse, but remember that if you quit and decide later you want to come back, you will need to start over from scratch. If you wish, you can take any created or bred horses with you. But you are not allowed to export horses that you did not create or breed yourself. All other horses should be given away or sold, or previous owners should reclaim them.

Acquiring Sim Horses
Sim Horses do not exist unless they are registered in the Equine Registry.

We realize that there are many older still showing horses here and we believe that the owners have the best understanding of there own horses to be able to make the decission to retire them at there given time.

New Members/Boarders are allowed to create a total of 5 horses.
Mini-Barn Owners are allowed to create a total of 10 horses.
Barn Owners are allowed to create a total of 20 horses.
Barn Owners can ask the Players Council for special permission to create more horses in certain circumstances.

Created (or imported) horses start from scratch, even if you decided to bring them over from another game. You choose their name, sex, breed, color, height, sire, dam everything! To officially create a horse, you need to go to the Equine Registry and register it. All horses start out with no points.

Creating of horses and immediately selling them is not allowed.

If you cannot keep a horse, and you honestly cannot sell it, you may consider exporting it. This equates to the death of the horse. You may not export horses that you did not create or breed yourself.

If you create a horse that is famous in real life this is not allowed! you need to do research on him or her and make sure that you keep the stats the same. For example, you cannot have Khemosabi, Secretariat or Voltaire, as they have both passed away. And you cannot have WC Night of Roses be pinto. It is allowed to have still living, properly aged famous sires or dams be either the sire or dam to your created horse but that is all.

EXAMPLE: Visions Of Gold, Sire: Praire Gold (4 time APHA World Halter Champion, DAM: Visions Afterglow (created).

We have decided to create a Horse Encyclopedia just for this game. In it, you will find information on many different breeds, including what colors they are allowed to be (and what is genetically possible) and what disciplines they excel at or are bred for. You will also find information on the many different colors and patterns that horses can be.

All other horses must be bought (see Finances for how to write a check) or bred (see below for information on breeding).

All horses age at one year per real year. Horses should turn one year older on January 1st.

The owners have the best understanding of there own horses to be able to make the decission to retire them at there given time.

BREEDING & MANAGEMENT

Horses (stallions & Mares) must be three years old in order to be breed.

We are creating our breeding program which will allow privileges to certain players.

STALLIONS

MARES

PLUGGING - Question from Alex

RESPONSE: from Amy - Players Council Chair

IN-FOAL TIME PERIOD
Mares must be in foal for at least six weeks.

We allow speed aging. However, you cannot make a horse older than its parents, and you cannot violate the rule that says that horses must be three years old in order to be bred. If you violate this rule it is an automatic fine of $1,000.

There is no embryo transfer allowed, whats so ever!

TWINNING (TWINS)
We do not encourage twining.
The uterus has a hard time supporting twins so the incidence of late gestational abortion runs as high as 70%. When aborption does not occur, foals are often born dead or weak and dystocia common. Others complications include retained placenta, delayed recovery of the uterus, decreased rate of settling for the next 2 years, and potentially permanant damage to the mares reproductive tract.

A contract is be made between the breeding parties to make the breeding official. If you want to breed to someone else stallion or borrow someone else mare, you will have to ask and probably pay a fee.

You do not need anyones permission to use your own stallions with your own mares, It is also up to you to determine the statistics of the foal, gender, color, etc. You can use the Breed & Color Library to see what colors are possible. After the foal is born, do not forget to register it in the Equine Registry.

All horses age at one year per real year. Horses should turn one year older on January 1st.

Remember that horses need to be fed every month (many feed websites have keys for how much roughage and grain/pelleted food you need to buy for a horse), needs to see the vet twice a year, needs to see the farrier every three months, and must have tack.

We realize that there are many older still showing horses in H!L and we believe that the owners have the best understanding of there own horses to be able to make the decission to retire them at there given time.

Finances
Every member begins game play with $200,000. You must subtract money from your total when ever you pay someone, and you must add money to your total when ever you receive money.
Every month (if you are active remember to post at least five times!) you receive a salary from the game of $2,000.
In order to exchange money, you must write a check and send it over email (this is not real money). Below is the standard check form.
Date: MM/DD/YY
To: Recipient
From: Who ever wrote the check
Amount: $0
Memo: what ever the check is for

It is easiest to keep track of your finances by setting up a table in Excel, but you must do it some way that is organized and keeps track of all the above information.

The Players Council may request to see your financial records so keep them updated!

Beginning January 1st 2007 players that are licensed to practice veterinary medicine and do farrier work, need to write down in their financials the day horses were seen and donate a certain amount, $500, for the entire herd to their business/practice account. If you own above 70 horses the amout goes up to $1,000.

COMPETITION

Horses must rest at least one day between shows. If you are scheduled to enter a 1 day show and then the next day you are scheduled to enter a 5 day show, you must miss the first day of the 5 day show in order to let your horse rest.

If your horse has been entered into a multi day show they must rest a minimum of 2 days before the next show, again this is to prevent overshowing of the horse.

The members of the PC enter these shows as well, and have the right to see copies of all entries before the results are done. this is to also prevent overshowing.

If we see a horse has been entered in a lot of classes - The PC will contact the show holder and they in turn will contact the owner of the horse and have them reduce the number of classes because this constitutes over showning.

What is over showing exactly? Here are a few examples of over showing

Riding a four year old horse in anything but the lowest levels of competition is very bad. Many disciplines have special classes and divisions just for young horses, so make sure you enter your horse in those instead.

Showing a horse in multiple disciplines at once is very unrealistic. A horse might be able to manage showing in lower level Dressage and lower level Showjumping at the same time. However most disciplines take a lot of specialized training, which means that training for two disciplines is hard. Horses should at least stick to the same group of disciplines. Some horses can pull off competing in a few different kinds of western riding classes, for example.

If you enter your horse in too many classes at one show, this is over showing. Over showing is abuse of your horses and not taken lightly, please be aware the PC does have the ability to confiscate your horses if they suspect them of being overshown!

There are many disciplines that HL supports. If you want to learn more about them, feel free to browse the Encyclopedia of Disciplines. You may want to specialize in one discipline when you join, which is perfectly fine. In that case, you will also want to read the Encyclopedia of Breeds to see what breeds of horses are best suited to the discipline you want to pursue.

When you enter shows, the show-holder will usually list extra rules beyond these, so make sure you follow those, too. But these are the rules that the game has for all horses.

Make sure to keep a record of the shows and classes that you entered your horse in, and update them with how your horse placed when you get the results.

You cannot ride or handle all your horses in a show (especially if you have more than one in a class), so you are encourage to make up virtual riders.They are just fake people, you can pick their names out of a phonebook if you wish.

A horse cannot be in two places at once, so one show per day. If you want to enter your some of your horses in one show, and some other horses in a different show, you have to make sure you have enough virtual riders to go around.
Horses cannot race and show at the same point in their lives. Similarly, it is very unrealistic for a horse to be a Regular Working Hunter and a Prix St. Georges Dressage horse at the same time, or a Grand Prix Showjumper and a cutter at the same time. It's silly, don't do it!

Over showing is a big problem and a serious offense.

Hosting Shows
In order to host a show, you must have the facilities to do so. If you do not own your own barn, or your barn doesn't have the right facilities, ask the other Barn Owners if you can use their facilities for your show. Usually they ask for free entries or a fee.

You must have your show all set up and ready for entries at least two weeks before entries close in order to allow players time to enter. Also make sure to set the closing date far enough in advance so that you have time to do the results. To do results, most people use Randomizer.org or the Sim Directory Show Randomizer (http://simdirectory.com/results.php). If you need help figuring out how to get Randomizer to do your results, feel free to ask another player.

If you need to cancel your show or close entries early, please make sure to let people know over the message board, and make sure you send refunds to the entrants if you cancel all or part of a show.

Shows with over fifty classes should have a veterinarian present, and if your show has something like three-hundred classes, be sure to spread it out over a few days.
Make sure to provide some rules that prevent people from 'cross entering' where it is not appropriate to do so.
You should charge reasonable fees for people to enter your shows. Sometimes you can use these funds (or get sponsors) so that you can give out prizes. It's a great idea to check out class lists and rules that other players have used for ideas, and don't forget about our database of classlists. Many associations and registries would love it if you would volunteer to hold their monthly show.

Results are due, neatly and well organized in a text (.txt) file, Word Pad (.wpd) or a Rich Text File (.rtf) by the date of the show.
If you cancel your show after the date it was supposed to be held, you must pay a $1,000 fine.
If your results are one day late, you will be fined $500, and $250 per day after that. If you turn in late results three times, you may lose your showing privileges.

If in the case that the show host unexpectedly quits or disappears and results are not out two weeks following the date of the show, all entrants may make the necessary refunds to their own accounts and that show is assumed to be cancelled.

Points & Titles
For placing in a show or race, horses earn ERP (Equine Recognition Points)
Points for shows are as follows:
1st place - 7 points
2nd place - 6 points
3rd place - 5 points
4th place - 4 points
5th place - 3 points
6th place - 1 point

Points for races are as follows:
1st place 20 points
2nd place 15 points
3rd place 10 points
4th place 5 points
5th place 3 points
6th place 1 point

As a horse gains points through showing or racing, it receives titles of recognition, which are added in front of its name. As the horse reaches a new title, the old title is replaced. So EEq. Fluffy becomes SEq. Fluffy. The following is a table for how many points it requires to attain each title, and the abbreviation for it.

Points
200 EEq. Excellent Equine
300 SEq. Superb Equine
450 CEq. Champion Equine
600 RCp. Regional Champion
800 SCp. State Champion
1,000 NCp. National Champion
1,250 CCp. Continental Champion
1,500 UCp. Universal Champion
2,000 HFEq. Hall of Fame Inductee

Be sure to keep track of your horses points!

BUSINESSES

In order to be a business owner you must have been in the game for at least six (6) months.

To ensure that a player does not take on more than one can handle, we have applied a cap to buissness & association ownership. You are allowed to own no more than 4 total. Any combination of business & association or 4 businesses or 4 associations is acceptable. Barns (boarding or breeding) count as one business, due to the fact that it is a income producer.

Owners pay 50% of the costs for their tack. If you are having trouble figuring out what 50% off your total bill is-- get your total and divide it by 2!

EXAMPLE: Say that I own a tack shop. I acquire 3 new riders who need their own saddles and supplies. The total of their equipment is $2900. MH (barn) is expected to pay for their tack and supplies just like all other players. I would deduct from MH's financials $1450 (50%). In my tack shops financials, I would ADD $1450 because MH paid for their tack.

This way it proves to the Inspection committee/players council that you are deducting for services/tack you owe for. I hope that helps you to understand it better.

Barns
You must have hosted at least (6) six shows, and you must have three (3) recommendations from other barn owners, or business associates testifying to the fact that you will make a good barn owner, and why this is so.

You need to make a website for your barn. This website needs to be neat and well-ordered. If you cannot or do not feel comfortable making a website, you can advertise on the Message Board requesting help or a design. We suggest that you use one of the free website providers like Geocities, Freewebs, Brinkster or Ripway.

On this website you should include, as a bare minimum the facilities that you own, the horses that you own, and a means of contacting you.

If the website is lacking we will ask you to work on it more before approving it.

You are welcome to use the other barns for inspiration (but not direct copying!)

After approval, your barn remains a Barn in Training for 6 weeks. At the end of this trial period, you may choose whether you would like your barn to be a Private Barn or a Boarding Barn.

The PC will re-review your facility, and make note of any changes for improvement that we see need to be made.

See the Barn Owner section under Member Levels for more information.

Veterinary & Farrier Practices
In order to practice as a veterinarian or farrier, either on your own horses or anyone else, you must pass the Vet Test or Farrier Test. Then you will be able to join the Veterinary Practice or the Farrier Practice. If you wish to open a separate practice, you must create your own website and get ten yes votes from the game members. New practices must offer something that the current one does not in order to be approved.

Supplies & Training Services
You do not need to pass a test in order to open a supply business or offer training services. Training services do not need a website; it can be represented by a link on your barns website. If you decide to train horses, you should make sure that you are well-versed in the discipline, and send weekly reports to the owner of the horse. Businesses that offer supplies (like tack, feed, show supplies, or what have you) must have a website that is organized, neat and easy to use. It must have information on everything you offer, as well.

In order to begin a business, usually you make a website or propose your idea in detail. Then you must get ten yes votes from the game members. After that, you can submit your new business to be approved.

Inactive businesses will be closed.

Beginning January 1st 2007 players that are licensed to practice veterinary medicine and do farrier work, need to write down in their financials the day horses were seen and donate a certain amount, $500, for the entire herd to their business/practice account. If you own above 70 horses the amout goes up to $1,000.

Registries & Associations
If you would like to start a registry or association, first you must propose your idea to the other members. It helps to do your homework first, though! If you want to start a Freisian Registry and there are only three Freisians in the game, there is not much point.
If you think there is a place for your registry or association, do some research about the real-life aspects of what ever you are dealing with. For instance, in real life, the Arabian Horse Association gives merit awards, and in real life, Freisians undergo breeding stock inspections before their foals can be registered. Create a website for your registry or association, and then post it on the message board. You must get five yes votes from the game members, and after that you can submit the registry or association to be approved. If you register horses, you will need to reply to the applicant within two weeks with the number, or update the website in that time. Associations and registries must host a show at least every other month, or else they will be considered inactive.