I love horses, I always have. I've been blessed in my life to have three wonderful horses of my own and to train several others. I especially love Arabs, but any and all horses are special to me. As some of you know, I have a large collection of "plastic ponies" from Breyer, Stone, Schleich and other manufacturers. I have a few more expensive resin horses, but most of mine are plastic. I have in excess of 1000 counting every size from Stablemate (1:12) to traditional (1:9, I think). I have most of them packed away because I simply have NO WHERE to show them off. At one point, on the Mountain, I had them all displayed on a multitude of shelves around my mobile home...Deanna says those little black eyes give her the creeps even remembering them. The only room growing up that wasn't full of shelves and horses was her bedroom and bathroom.
Anyway, what is a horse lover to do when they want a hobby involving horses, but has no room, or in my case, no more room? She finds SIMULATED ALL BREED HORSE RACING. Yes it is what it sounds like....I have paper ponies, everything from US Arabs, to Polish Arabs, to Appaloosa, Paint and of course Quarter Horses. I've been in this hobby for longer than I care to put a number too (though 2001 is the start I think), but I have breaks, some as long as a few years. I always find my way back, however and I always love it, even when I have no time for a life, let alone a hobby.
How does it work, you ask? Well, if you're really interested you can go check out the website at www.theexpress.itgo.com. Basically, all our paper ponies trace back to real horses; horses that, usually, raced in real life. We "breed" them, which is not nearly as weird as it sounds (ok, maybe it is), by finding a stud and mare and creating a pseudo foal. Gender is random, colors, pattern, etc are decided by DNA. Trust me when I tell you, those in the simulated racing are better at DNA than many real breeders. There is another group, that I used to be apart of, International Pedigree and Bloodlines Research Associations (www.ipabra.org) that "breeds" all breeds, from SHetland Pomies to Shire Draft horses. But I digress.
ONce you have created your "Foal" you name it and register it with the group. The one realistic lacking thing many do is decide on the breeding, name, color etc in one sitting. So if I want to start r acing my horse, I'll make him born in 2015. That's 3 years old and ready to start racing. And yes, folks, we have a database thanks to a VERY wonderful and knowledgeable member, which as every horse ever registered in the express.
So now I have a (filly) born in 2015 from two real race horses or one or more simulated horses. Say "My Horse" is it's name. Now what do I do with her? That's where the fun really begins.
Some members of the hobby hold the race meets. Bless them, without the stewards there would be no hobby. They post the types of races (Maiden, Allowance, distance, etc) and open them up for entries. Distances are, once again, based on real races. Most stock horses run in yards (220-870), except Appaloosas which can run in yards, but many stewards use furlongs (1 Furlong is 220y). Arabs, domestic or other race in meters on turf (T) or dirt. . You find the race you think your horse would fit. Say it's her first race, so enter her in a Maiden race. If her sire won at 870y and her dam at 550y you can try one of those distances, or if their not offered a different distance completely. Say I decide to enter My Horse in a maiden 550y race because that's where her dam won. Most stewards use "fake money" in their meets, which help when you look at how successful (or not) the horses are.
So, now you've selected your race, it's time to create the "race card". That basically includes all the info a steward uses to run the simulated races. See, these are not "draw the winner from a hat"; this is a comparison of horses in the race based on certain criteria which is specific to each steward, but often includes past races, his sire and dam and any full or half siblings records and other other deicions such as luck rolls. Usually the stewards does the scoring without looking at which horse owners or breeder to remove any idea of favoritism.
ONce the Steward has scored EACH AND EVERY HORSE ENTERED in each race (there are sometimes 20 horse entered in Race 1, which means splitting the pack up into R1A and R1b, etc. And there are usually between 6 and 10 different races with different criteria. Yeah, you see why I say bless stewards? Running a meet is a LOT of work. Then you compare the horses score. Say My Horse has a 4 in parents background and Their HOrse has a 5, at the first turn, their horse is ahead of mine. Each criteria is compared with all horses and the total s are the end result. So My Horse ends up with 14 points and Their horses ends up with 12. My horse got to the wire first, usually by 1 or 2 lengths. (horse body lengths). So I have a winner. Next time My Horse races, it will be in an allowance, around the same distance and if she's racing a non winner, she'll have an extra point.
And that's how Simulated Horse Racing works. It sounds complicated, but despite everything, when you have a horse that won by 4 lengths with a wire to wire leading of the pack to victory, it's a shot of joy and energy. Horses can race as long as they are sound in real life, of course our horses can always be found. BUT most people retire their horses about 5-8 for mares and stallions and a bit longer for gelding. Why, you ask? Realism, once again, is paramount. For some that means rolling each meet or year or whatever to see if the horses stay sound.
What happens to your newly retired My Horse who has won 6 out of 7 races including a couple of high paying, impressive "Stakes" races. So you have a mare, 5 years old, 7 races, 6 wins and a second with a winnings in excess of a $100,000.7(6-1-0-0) MGMSW $250000.) You breed her, of course. Find a real stallion or someone in the hobbymates paper stallion you think would work well with My Horse, ask the owner of the paper stallion for a "breeding" and create that foal as you did My Horse. Random gender, color and markings based on their genetics...come up with a name...(Your Stallion X My HOrse) Colt Studly McStud)and the entire process starts over.
SO...that's my hobby. It sounds complicated and confusing, but it's really fun and enjoyable. Questions? Hit my comments or drop me a line.
No comments:
Post a Comment