Your horse can usually learn at least Racing on its own. Many horses, especially those with the Fast trait, will usually run around on their own. Every moment they’re doing so, they’re gaining Racing skill. At level 2, they can start using the racing pylons found in the Pets sort of Buy Mode.Placing the pylons takes a bit of planning. You can arrange them basically however you want to, but the arrows of the object’s footprint indicates from what direction the horse will be running. You need to keep this mind when making your racing course. For example, you can make a simple oval with four pylons at the four “corners” of your path. However, all their arrows need to be turned the same way (say, clockwise relative to the oval). If they’re not, your horse will try to circle around a pylon the wrong way, turning the oval into a bizarre loop.
If you do make a mistake with your course design, it doesn’t really break anything; the horse will still run the course, and will still gain Racing as a result, but it will look a little sloppy and could send your horse running off in an odd direction (such as the next lot or the middle of the street).
Technically, you can make a course out of two pylons, and the horse will try to run from one to other. However, the Racing skill does not go up during a tight turn because the horse isn’t actually running at that point. This means, to make your course the most efficient, you want to have it take as few turns as possible, and the turns need to be relatively gentle. Ergo, it’s best to keep the pylons as far apart from each other as your course allows. If your horse can run the course without slowing down for a sharp turn, it will constantly gain Racing.
When a horse works on its Racing skill, it will quickly tire and gain thirst. Because of this, you should always keep a water trough close by to the course. You could simply leave the horse’s stall next to it, but if you’re in a rush, know that a horse entering the stall, drinking, and then exiting the stall requires several additional animations compared to just letting him drink from a water trough.
You can use the dropdown box under the training action icon to adjust the horse’s pace, similar to when you change the pace of a human Sim who is working out. You can increase the horse’s pace to gain skill faster, trading off that for an increase in the loss of energy and thirst.
When a horse is ridden, it’s pretty much always gaining its Racing skill, even when it’s only walking. Horses also gain Racing skill while participating in races, and when being trained in Jumping too, or when merely taking a Sim for a ride! If you work at it, especially if you’re ordering your horse manually, you can probably reach Level 10 in Racing in about a single week.
What Links Here
Top Wiki Contributors
Need assistance with editing this wiki? Check out these resources: