Customizable horses/Horse QoL

I’ve got some suggestions to completely elevate the horse trainer experience. Currently it seems as though horse trainers are kinda pointless? The horses come fully trained and they don’t age. So once someone gets the horse they want they never need to talk to a trainer again. Sure they have exclusive breeds but that means very little. Horses are a major cornerstone of rp that is extremely under-utilized in this server.

First I’d like to suggest Training, beeding, horse interactions and needs. It seems from checking out other suggestions that something like this might be on the way? So I won’t get into detail.

Second I’d like to suggest horse aging and dying. I know some may not enjoy this but it is far more fun then it seems. It adds multiple layers onto horse role-play and encourages players to explore new options or have a trainer breed a line from their horse so they always have one.

Most importantly horse customization. Not just colors and patterns but body shapes as well. I’ve played with a script that allows trainers to adjust on a slider ever aspect of a horses body shape, from height to width to ears to hooves. This allows for completely custom breeds from each trainer and can allow the server to have additional horse breeds without having to impliment actual new breeds. The only limit would be imagination(and unrealistic colors/shapes)

I’ve been in a county where all of this was an option. It elevated the experience a thousand fold. Stables were popular spots for rp. Horse trainers were necessary. Each business had a specialty that set them apart from the rest and gave people a reason to choose one over others. It brought people across the map and brought life to wherever there was a stable.

The opportunities for rp that this would bring would be limitless. Think of the pedigree breeding lines from creative trainers, the possibility for cross stable trading of prized stock, the possible horse shows or even auctions!

Absolute no no for horse ageing. Some nice suggestions in here, but there are hard problems with horse ageing. If you like that, find a server that does it, dont try and bring it here to the only place with good horse ideas. Currently, horse ageing destroys TRUE realistic RP and immersion, while forcing designed obsolecence. An RP character can live for months or years IRL. A persons horse is their partner, all the cowboy movies and real life cowboys will tell you this. Horses are not some transient commodity. But horse ageing turns them into just that.

Currently, horses die if they get injured too many times. That is a perfect balance between longeavity and finality. There is lots of room for development though, id recommend reading the roadmap to see the plans they have for horses.

Others have suggested ideas having to do with bonding, making horse care have meaning on more levels. Vet services will also elevate horse RP. Horses having needs, health, and the possibility of dying from poor care and abuse, that will also elevate horse rp, and the business side of things. Lots of good solutions and ideas we can entertain, without falling into the shallow rut of transient, unrealistic, and unimersive comodifying.