I finally got myself set up to play Virtual Horse Ranch. Not sure what the hold-up was; I think when I first tried it, the game did not appear to respond to my registration… I pressed “submit” and nothing much happened. Regardless, I finally got back to it, got it to work, and am setting myself up in my usual way for a game whose mechanic focuses mainly on money: spending as much as I possibly can, and regretting it on subsequent turns. (Hey, the costs of bankruptcy in virtual worlds don’t usually include not eating or being thrown out on the street, so I figure why not live a little.)
VHR appears, according to perfunctory research, to be the best horse game the market has going. Which, sadly, does not say much: the game seems to play like a paper RPG, and has no graphics. I’m really, really not convinced this is the place to skimp when you’re developing a horse game, but then maybe they’re demonstrating they can build an audience before they go tilting at venture capital brass rings. May be the only way a person can get this funded.
Initially frustrated at the numbers-heavy interface and play, I’ve begun to warm to the game a little. First of all, you can link a picture from any website to represent your horse, rather cleverly mitigating the lack of graphics on the cheap. Of course, these images subsequently aren’t used in your interface, which would have made it easier for me to quickly choose which horse’s profile I’m clicking through to… boo.
But! The major thrill so far is the prodigious breed list. Far more detailed than Marguerite Henry’s sentimental Album of Horses, the bible of my elementary school years, or even the more complete book by Elwyn Hartley Edwards,, it includes the gilded Russian Akhal-Teke, the near-extinct Przewalski’s Horse, and a number of the oft-neglected Asian and African breeds, including the ban-ei, hequ, and Basotho.
As a kid, the breed names themselves — and the beautiful pictures accompanying them in books — were my playthings, bright and peculiar words formed in the mouths of horse people. Until fifth grade, even into junior high when I was reluctant to admit it, I kept a “stable” of imaginary horses. I summoned myself a few from each breed (except mustangs and Chincoteague ponies, which seemed inclined to spend time in groups, so I “kept” whole herds of them). I kept a little red spiral-bound notebook with their names and descriptions. I still have it. When my parents moved over the past few years and I found it again, I made sure to mail it to myself. It’s one of those powerful totems you just want to have on you.
Building Storm Bell Stables on VHR has evoked those same old pleasures, with the added intrigue of not understanding the stats yet, hence not understanding who it is I’m getting at bargain-basement prices. So far I have four young mares and a stallion. Permit an old woman to bask foolishly in their particulars:
Linda Vom Nordstern, 2.5 y.o. Knabstrup Mare, “holiday rare” spotted coat, Jumping specialty
by Sire: *Forbidden Concept* || Dam: *SSS* Forbidden Concept
(Knabstrup are a Danish spotted breed. There’s a picture of one at the Getty Museum which was my favorite work there, so this mare was my first purchase.)
Fluckras Crime, 1.2 y.o. American Warmblood Mare, minally-spotted leopard coat, Jumping specialty
by Sire: fluckra || Dam: Miz crime prime
(I don’t know much about the breed, but I love the name and like people throughout the ages and around the world, I love a spotted horse.)
Teska, 4.5 y.o. Tersk Mare, red dilute coat, Driving specialty
by Sire: 13763 || Dam: Slammed Safe
(How sad that her sire only had a number, no name. I’ve just bred her to a descendant of Man O’ War.)
Phanton Moon, 0.9 y.o. Kentucky Mountain Saddle Mare, roan coat, Racing specialty
by Sire: *SS* Phantom Fire || Dam: Leasury Moon
(She came to me overworked, and before I knew what I was doing I wore her into exhaustion with training. Filly needs time to recover.)
and the man of the house:
Sunny California Storm, 1 y.o. Standardbred Stallion, palomino with dorsal stripe, no specialty yet
by Sire: Wind~and~Flire || Dam: Hojmey
(Named in part for my favorite horse at the long-gone Eaton Canyon Stables. Standardbreds are harness-racing horses, but I used to ride a very gentle and responsive old SB mare named Kismo at Arroyo Seco Stables.)
I’ll keep you updated on their development. Somehow I already love them more than any of my WoW avatars, though I can’t even see them.
* * *
Ah, timely — while poking around for a reference I just came across NPR piece on the “science” of naming Thoroughbred racehorses.
* * *
UPDATE — Have also begun making perfunctory forays into NeoPets; here is the homepage for my first, a Xweetok named Alfopy. Apologies to Nick Adams-Wright for stealing the name he gave his first cat. It’s just such a cool name.
Comments 1