The Ranch of Rivershine – Beginners Tips

Early Game Advice

Training Your Horses

Managing how your horses are trained is one of the keys to getting ahead in competitions.

• Endurance: Controls your stamina regeneration.
• Speed: Controls how fast your horse is at all gaits.
• Jump: The higher your horse’s jump stat, the larger the green area for your jump will be.
• Flexibility: It’s supposed to make turning easier, but I think me using WASD instead of the mouse to turn messes with that. It never seems to factor in for me.

Buy For Stats – If you’re looking for a good competitor, look at their base stats and their potential. It can be best to buy a horse with high base stats for its category, and high potential if you can afford it.

Plan Your Training – When you have a horse with potential, always keep the stat training in mind. Plan out what you want to train them in that day, and ride accordingly.

Use Grain – Once you can afford to, buy or grow stat grains in order to train more quickly. They can be pricey early game, but the cost can easily be off set with profit from show winnings.

Statue Stat Upgrades – Winning a given number of times in a specific area’s contests will eventually fill up the “glow” on the various statues. You will gain either 5% in their given stat, or +10 potential for Sprout.

Use Treats – Treats will give your horse an energy boost, so use them midway through training to get some extra progress.

Stat Priority – In early game, your highest priority should be speed and endurance. Most wild horses from the auction won’t train high enough to perform will in intermediate, so plan for beginner competitions with them. I generally trained my beginner horses to

• Speed & Endurance – 25 – 30
• Jump – 20-25
• Flexibility – 10-15 (Disclaimer – I use WASD and flexibility seems to barely matter in my gameplay atm.)

Jump, Speed & Flexibility – I usually train this first, as it’s impossible to avoid training flexibility. Use the jumping course at a canter to train both stats at once. This will also train flexibility to an extent. If you only want to train jump, do your jumping course at a trot.

Endurance & Flexibility – Go for a gallop around areas of the map. This is also a good way to find grains, straw and treats for free. Downgrade to a trot between gallops.

Speed & Flexibility – Go for a canter around the overworld, same as the gallop training without having to downgrade to the trot. Great for item gathering.

How To Avoid Flexibility – Find an open empty stretch, and gallop or canter your horse. Stop completely without turning, and then turn while stopped. This is tedious, but if you only have a few points left to train, it can be a good way to avoid putting that progress into an unwanted state.

Generally once I’ve planned out what I want to train, and how high, I’ll do my training in this order. I generally don’t prioritize flexibility unless it’s really low, and it will train naturally during steps 1 and 2.

1. Jumping, Speed & Flexibility
2. Endurance, Speed and Flexibility
3. Finish up with Endurance or Speed

Competitions

Competitions are your bread and butter for making money, and progressing through the game. Ultimately competitions are a management game, as you need to go as fast as you can, while taking moments to regenerate your stamina.

1. Cut Corners – Take the most direct route to the jump that you can get away with. You don’t have to follow any paths or roads. Leap down hills. Turn mid air. Anything to shave off seconds without putting in extra effort. If you can efficiently shave off a second, do it. Once you know the course, aim for the area ahead of the jump when covering stretches. Follow that arrow, and if you can, plan to end your gallop just ahead of where you need to prepare for the jump.
2. Slowdown – Don’t gallop through the entire course. Once you know the course, plan out where you can canter your horse to regenerate your stamina. Use gallop to cover large amounts of ground, and to sprint to the finish line. Canter when dealing with combinations or tight turns. You’ll ultimately save time slowing down for a second, instead of colliding with the jump and respawning when it’s not needed.
3. Don’t Gallop Over Jumps: Even if you have a lot of stamina, and your next jump is far away, downgrade to a canter when going over a jump. You will still lose stamina from being in a gallop when in the air. If your horse is in canter, you will regain stamina over the jump instead of losing it. Even if you start the jump in gallop, you can still downgrade to canter mid jump.
4. Snorting – When your horse starts snorting, they are running low on stamina. Don’t let your horse run out of stamina, as there is a cool down timer before it regens. If you still have stamina left, it will regenerate automatically. If your horse runs out of stamina entirely, it’s sometimes more efficient to collide with a jump, as they’ll respawn with more stamina.
5. WASD Controls: I never use my mouse to steer the horse, I always use the WASD controls instead, and my mouse to control the camera. My horses always turn sharper, and it’s easier to aim for the next jump.

Early Game Money

Here is how I make money in early game/ some of my general tips.

1. Buy a Second Horse – As soon as you have the cash, buy a second horse of the opposite gender to your starter horse. This horse can be sold eventually for much better money. You can generally compete with the same horse twice per day, so having two can double your money output. I bought my second horse on day 3.
2. Horse Flipping – Buy horses cheap. Train them. Show them. Repeat. Horses will gain value as their stats grow higher, and they win more competitions. A horse can always gain value if you are placing first with them.
3. Don’t compete in the same beginner contest all day – You get a bonus for every separate contest you place 1st in. You will make more money placing first in two different contests, over the same one with higher prize money.
4. Don’t Compete Over Your Level – If the horse you’re working with can’t reliably place first in a certain competition, don’t compete in that one. It’s better to compete for lower prize money where you can almost always make 1st, and get the bonus.
5. Get the Barn Upgrade – Prioritize getting that first barn upgrade. This will allow you to flip horses more easily, and always have one or two in training.
6. Sell Manure and Orchard Grass – Orchard grass is pretty low quality, and should be replaced with timothy as soon as you can. I always sell all gathered orchard grass and manure.
7. Use Timothy – For competition and training, get a hold of some timothy hay asap. Horses lose 50% energy every day, and it will fill them right back up. It will prevent you from using money on oats to supplement, or having to rest them in the pasture when you need them for shows.
8. Use the pasture – Keep horses you want to show or train the next day inside. All other horses go outside. Pregnant mares & Horses you aren’t using won’t use any valuable hay or straw while in the pasture. You can got out and brush them in the morning for trust if you want to gain that/ to keep them cared for.
9. Get your farm plots – The farm plots will save you a lot of money in the long run. You can grow better quality hay, and training grains. I wouldn’t prioritize growing carrots for awhile other than for the quest, as they’re the only crop you can grow over winter.

My horse flipping strategy.

Two Show Horses & A Trainer – Taking the first barn upgrade into account, always keep two horses to show, and at least one to train. You can show around 4 times in the same day, so two fully trained horses can make your show money, while you train your other flippers in the evening. It will always make you more money in the long run to show a horse for a few more days, as they will keep gaining value if they place well.

I purchased my second horse for around 2,500, bred him to my starter mare once, and sold him for 15,886. All of the extra value is because he won so many competitions while I owned him.

Generally for flipping horses, you want to sell off your most experienced flipper horse once the newest trainee is ready to compete. I keep my starter, so I don’t have two horses in the pipeline there, but only sell your flipper horse once you have a replacement. If one of your show horses is a mare, then don’t sell your flipper until she’s had her foal.