I want to do a project horse pretty soon, maybe 3rd, 4th, even 5th generation of my Finnhorses. I was wondering if you guys could help me estimate how much I'd have to save. How many private show spots (or whole shows) per week did you use to get to the goal? How many ticket sets? I want to achieve a minimum of 3 million points on this future project.

Well you'd need to buy the extra shows for sure. No idea on how many tickets... couple hundred at least. I'd say save about 2 to 3 billion to be safe. 

3 million points is VERY doable with just private shows. :) 
I would say 40-50 private shows a week to be safe. I am not 100% how much private shows cost since recently I've been used an elaborate trading and bartering system with dog shows and graphics to pay for my shows XD.
But according to the advertising rooms, they seem to be going for 3.5mill each per show all to yourself, or around 500k a slot.
So if you want 100% private, it is going to be (for 50 shows a week) 175mill a week for 18 weeks (3-20) it will cost 3.15 billion dollars.
Cheaper if you just do slots in private shows, like 1mill a show (2 slots if you want the project pony to have a high pointed mate) so then about 1bill.
I always multiply what I think I need by 1.5 in order to be safe, because things always end up costing more than you think.
Hope this helps!! :D

For a min of 3 to 4 mil you could do just regular private shows and even if they just got 80 full privates that should have them hitting that bottom line for you! Espeically if they're lined so they're starting out with points!

If you want to get higher, invest in the extra energy from the cash shop, get that 100 energy and make sure you have 100 privates weekly. 

Once you've figured out how much you're going to spending a week in private shows then make sure that money is set aside & figure out if you want to ticket it as well.

I'm lucky I have 22 of my own privates & have awesome friends where we trade out spots and so on. 

But if you want to see what a store horse looks like with 0 tickets and only 100 privates check out this guy of mine - Born A Hero

10 with 2mil, so we should absolutely hit 3mil and have a good shot at 4 off nothing but private shows.

Theoretically doing private shows (especially when you can furnish a chunk of them yourself) will be cheaper in the long run than trying to match that benefit with tickets weekly.

Edit: Overture & I posted at the same time lol

90 private shows(max 10 entries)will get you 5million points with out the use of any tickets

what aza said.. and if you have good points on the foal at birth you can get close to 6mil. =D ziggie stardust hit 6mil at retirement with no tickets.

 Thanks, everyone!