Rulebook

• You must be at least 16 years old to play Counter Canter.
• Usernames should be realistic names without symbols.
• Please keep your email up-to-date. If you've been inactive for more than a month, we're likely to email you to make sure you're still playing. If we don't hear back, your account may be locked and your horses surrendered to The Orion House.
• Self care is mandatory. Be kind to yourself and extend that courtesy to others. We are all here to unwind.
• Your Admin is Ethne.
• We exist on an accelerated timeline. 1 real life year = 2 in game years, referred to as seasons 1 (Jan 1 - Jun 30) and 2 (Jul 1 - Dec 31). This is often formatted along with the year, such as: 2024 Season 1, 2024 S1, or 24.1.
• Players start with $100,000 and 10 creation credits. You may buy or sell credits in the bank.
• You may create up to 5 brands. These brands can be co-owned with one other member at a time. You may apply any brand you own or co-own to horses you have bred (in the case of a bred horse) or created (in the case of a create horse).

• Players may own up to 100 horses.
• It costs 1 creation credit to breed or create a horse.
• You can alter any horse you've bred (in the case of a bred horse) and/or currently own or lease by visiting their page.
  • Update
    • Small edits can be changed at any time by the current owner: genetics, stable, sale status, category, and notes.
    • Competition information such as current discipline, level, handler, and status (active or retired) can be adjusted by owner and leaser.
  • Modify
    • Only the breeder (in the case of a bred horse) or creator (in the case of a created horse) may change core features of a horse, including their brand, name, color, age, and height. Each change costs a fee, however.
    • If you bred or created a horse and want to delete it, the closest we have is a mulligan. Mulliganing an unbred and unshown horse will grant you 1 credit.
• Active horses require 1 acre, regular veterinary and farrier care as well as feed and tack.
  • Horses must see the vet and farrier once per season (twice a year per our timeline).
  • Either the owner or boarding barn should supply feed.
  • Horses should have at least a saddle and bridle or carriage and harness.
• You may lease horses to other players.
  • Leased horses will remain in the owner's name but will be visible on both the owner's and leaser's home page.
  • Owners must provide the mandatory acre as the horse still counts towards their limit.
  • Experience and winnings earned by leased horses will be awarded to those leasing the horse, not the owner.
  • Either party may update the horse's health records.
• Optional personality traits can only be chosen once, and must all be set at the same time. Choose wisely!
• Do not name your horses after real famous horses, farms (ie. "Z" for Zangersheide), or brands.
• Horses age automatically at the start of each season (on January 1 and July 1).
• Horses may be retired at any time for a monetary reward (listed in the title table below). If they are 20 or older, they will automatically be retired. If they are under 20, they may become active again for a fee. Retired horses may not compete but are able to be bred.

• Horses may compete in...
  • 1 discipline at a time.
  • 1 event per day.
  • 3 classes/phases/tests/divisions/rounds/splits/etc per event.
• With the exception of some disciplines: horses must earn at least 10 placings (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) to advance to the next level.
• Placings do not reset. Horses that retrain to a discipline they've previously shown in may compete at any level they've shown at.
• Advancement is not required unless specified by the event's host in division descriptions (ie. hunters in their first year).
• Flat racers and steeplechasers should not show in halter classes until being retrained for a non-racing career.
• Classes or races with at least 4 entries receive points:

Place	Points
1st	30 points
2nd	27 points
3rd	24 points
4th	21 points
5th	18 points
6th	15 points

Condition	Bonus Points
Gelding	+3 points
Association events	+6 points
12+ class entries	+3 points

Minimum Points	Title	Prefix	Award
2,500 points	Champion	Ch.	$5,000
5,000 points	Grand Champion	GCh.	$10,000
7,500 points	National Champion	NCh.	$15,000
10,000 points	Continental Champion	CCh.	$20,000
15,000 points	World Champion	WCh.	$30,000
20,000 points	Elite Champion	Elite	$40,000
30,000 points	Legendary Champion	Legendary	$60,000

• Implemented January 21, 2023.
• Players earn 1 experience for each 1 point their competing horses earn at events.
  In the event that a horse is being leased, the leaser and not the owner will recieve the experience.
• Players earn 100 experience for each of the following tasks they complete:
  • Adopt a horse.
  • Age a horse.
  • Breed a foal.
  • Change a horse's level.
  • Create a brand.
  • Geld a horse.
  • Genotype a horse.
  • Host a show.
  • Join an association.
  • Lease a horse.
  • Mulligan a horse.
  • Provide a mare for brood.
  • Provide a stallion for stud.
  • Retire a horse.
  • Transfer a horse.
  • Use someone else's brood.
  • Use someone else's stud.
• Experience may be exchanged via a players dashboard for cash at the following rates:

  Points Claimed	1 - 100k	101k - 200k	201k - 300k	301 - 400k	401k+
  Payout Rate	$3 per exp	$2.5 per exp	$2 per exp	$1.5 per exp	$1 per exp

• Players may adopt or surrender horses to The Orion House (for a fee) at any time.
• If a member leaves or quits, their horses are sent to The Orion House; we try to check buybacks when possible.

• After surviving 30 days of active membership, you may open any number of any type of establishments that you would like and can maintain.
• Story Mode activities do not hinder or limit business or stable creation.
  • You do not need to be a certain profession to open a certain business.
  • You do not need to purchase facilities to open an establishment.
• You may co-own establishments with up to 3 other players.
• Establishments need an online presence. They can live on a spreadsheet, a website, forum of its own.
  • Associations will be provided a page on-site.
• We highly, highly recommend including a disclaimer somewhere on your site.
• Only associations and businesses may have bank accounts.
  • Business owners are permitted to take a salary but ideally also put money back into the game other ways (sponsoring events, hosting raffles, etc).

• Any member with an arena may host an event.
  • Players need 1 arena per discipline per day to host an event.
  • You must personally own the arenas you are hosting the event for. You cannot share arenas.
  • Arenas are purchased at the bank.
• Please do not overlap your show on the same day as another of the same discipline.
• Plan to post your show 14 days before the run date but not further out than 60 days.
• If you cannot run your results within 1 week and cannot find anyone else to run them for you, your event will be considered late and be run by someone else.
• If prize money is not listed in your prize list, $500 will be paid to each class/split.
• If you do not specify awards, they will be included: CH/BC at $250 and RCH/T at $100.
• If you do not specify if fees will be deducted automatically, none will be deducted.
• Regularly running shows late will result in a fine and being asked to take a break from hosting.
• Late shows with manual entries will be canceled.
• Results must be run using the Counter Canter randomizer.
• Show hosts are expected to check entries for disqualifications (ie. horse showing too young or at the wrong level).

Interested in playing with us? Give us a chance and sign up! We'd love to get to know you.