I guess I'm just wondering, in general, what strategies do people use for creating lines? And keeping out inbreeding?

And what strategy would you recommend to someone new to this whole thing? (I'm coming from Howrse, where I focus more on collecting and training than breeding)

Do you start with a bunch of store horses, breed up the generations until you can't do anymore without inbreeding, and then start up a "new" line of store horses to combine with it? Do you do a lot of breeding out to other lines?

I'm just confused by this whole thing and the numbers are making my brain hurt lol XD

Well inbreeding is stopped by the game for the first 4 gens I believe. And most people start with stores and add in other peoples lines and more stores as they go.

(I personally like to keep my line small-ish, so my opinions are based on that, just FYI!)

I started off with two horses, and then added two more a month later, so the ages are slightly staggered. Even now, I maintain two different age groups (I think they're 6 weeks/game years apart) because it helps me to focus on training goals. I usually have 4 horses per group, /- one pair. Also, the groups do not share any common ancestors, so they might be considered two separate lines by some players.. but since I only have three pairs at the moment, they're all one line to me. :} I add new Stores when I need to and outside lines when I can!

As for how many horses you train, that is up to you! I would say start small and add pairs when you get a feel for the time committment required. Also, the amount of outside breeding/lines will depend on which breed you choose, since some breeds have two breeders and others have many more than that!

Like Farewell said, the game will prevent you from inbreeding for several generations - I think it was mentioned in another thread that if you can't see it on the "View Pedigree" page, the game won't catch it either.

Hey there! I have quite a few different breeds, but I follow the same "strategy" for all of my lines!

Most of the time I will start by buying either 2, 4 or 8 animals (half male, half female).

I start by adding some #s in front of each name to help me keep the pairs organized (so 1 male and 1 female will both have the # 1 in front of their name, and then the next male and female will each have #2 in front of their name.) That way when it comes time to breed, I don't have to try to figure out who is to be bred to who (I also do the same thing with any offspring!)

So say I started with 4 animals. I would have.....
1. Female 1. Male
and then
2. Female 2. Male
If I got either 2 female offspring, or 2 male offspring, I would need to get 2 new animals to match up.
Normally I will start by searching for the specific breed and age that are for sale, and see if I can find anything. If I do, I will contact the owner and see if we can agree on a price. If I don't find anything, I head over to the store. 

I also only keep 1 offspring from each pair (each animal gets bred twice. the first offspring will either be sold, or deleted if not sold. the second offspring i will keep for myself, in order to allow my lines to continue). I found that only keeping 1 offspring really helps fight against inbreeding. However, if I do keep two from the same lines i will use HP's handy dandy 'Dividers' and that will allow me to have 1 section of animals #s 1-2 and then another section with animals #s 1-2 (but i know to NEVER breed any animals in divider 1 to divider 2. *if this is confusing, this account uses dividers and #s so you can see an example*)

I hope this helps you out! Let me know if you have any questions :D

I pair with stores and if i buy lines i just check back to be sure they aren't related. knowing your lines helps, but after so many generations it gets confusing when adding in other lines.

strategies depend on what you prefer...i prefer to keep my lines sorta private which means all the lines in my main line are all owned by me....everytime i get a foal i just add a store mate..but thats personal preference...i have 3 other lines that are from outside sources but theyre pretty short and well im aware of who is in what line!!!

I just keep either 2 or 4 pairs, and add in store mates to keep the numbers between 4 and 8 animals in training per account. That's it!

Link Tree

Thanks everyone, you all helped a lot! I think I've figured out a strategy that I can work with :)

-late- but I have a new strategy that I have been working on to kind of expand my lines.  I have my full privately trained pairs, and then I have 2 different lines with 6 pairs each (12 horses) that are completely enter all public train.  I plan on using the public trained ones to work into my private trained ones to avoid purchasing stores in the future.  Stores aren't necissarly bad, but it is nice to start with a foal that has at least 70k points, instead of zero!  ☺

*late also*

I buy 2 to 8 Stores to start lines. When I get the final pups and foals, I pair those that can be put together, and buy Stores for those that can't. I also number them to help with keeping track.

I think it depends on who.  

I add stores as needed.  Sometimes Ill add pairs to encourage a wider generation as it goes.

I try to average 4-8 per 'line' at any one time.