Rules

Players

You must be at least 16 years old to play Counter Canter.
Usernames should be realistic names without symbols.
Players start with $100,000 and 10 creation credits. You may buy or sell credits in the bank.
Keep your email up-to-date. If you've been inactive for more than a month, we'll 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.
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.
Your Curators are Ethne, Blair, and Merri.

Horses

Players may own up to 75 horses.
It costs 1 creation credit to create a horse. It costs 0 to "breed" a new horse from existing horses.
You are able to change and update your horse by visiting their page. If you own the horse, an edit button should be visible.
- 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 stall, 1 acre, regular veterinary and farrier care as well as feed and tack.
- It's silly to make you buy acres and stalls while you're boarding, but think of it as your stable is being built? Or it's a permit? 😅
- Horses must see the vet and farrier once per game year.
- 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 will retain their rights to edit the horse and must provice it's mandatory acre and stall as the horse counts towards their limit.
- Experience and winnings earned by leased horses will be awarded to those leasing the horse, not the owner.
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 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.

Competing

Horses may compete...
- in 1 discipline at a time.
- 1 event per day.
- in 3 classes/phases/tests/divisions/etc per event.
With the exception of some disciplines: horses must earn at least 5 placements - first, second or third - to advance to the next level.
Horses that retrain to a discipline they've previously shown in may compete at any level they've shown at. Placings do not reset.

Advancement is not required unless specified by the event's host in division descriptions (ie. hunters in their first year).

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
500 points	Champion	Ch.	$2,500
1,000 points	Grand Champion	GCh.	$5,000
2,000 points	National Champion	NCh.	$10,000
5,000 points	Continental Champion	CCh.	$25,000
7,000 points	World Champion	WCh.	$35,000
10,000 points	Elite Champion	Elite	$50,000

Breeding

Horses must be 3 years old to be bred.

Mares are limited to 1 foal per birth year unless you've purchased a set of twins in the Neighborhood Game Shop.

There is no gestation period required.

Crossbreeding is allowed. The the foal will be "Breed X/Breed Y" by default. If the foal should, realsitically, be one breed or the other, the breeder will be able to update this, if the horse is under their ownership, on the horse's page.

By default, players can only breed their own horses. However, stallion owners can offer breedings to other players and breeding rights are shared in a lease agreement.

Experience

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.
- Provid 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 at the Bank for cash at a rate of 1,000 experience = $2,500.

The Orion House

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.

Establishments

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.
- On-site pages for stables may be obstained via the Neighborhood Game Shop.
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).
Message one of the Curators to have your establishment added to the site! Please include the following:
establishment name: url: not required for associations wanting to use the site's association page country: if stable type: association / business / stable subtype: private / boarding / vet / etc owner(s):
Once your establishment has been added to the game by the Curators, you may edit its details under Home > Settings.

Competing

Hosting

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).

Joining Application

Terms & Conditions

By submitting this form, you recognize that you are not guaranteed playership. You agree to submit to the authority of the Curators and the rules of the game. You agree that you will not plagiarize the work of others – including ideas within the game.

Counter Canter is open minded to member ingenuity and feedback. Surveys and discussions are common for continuous improvement of the game. Do not abuse this spirit by change mongering. Be respectful of the opinions and decisions of the Curators and other players.

The internet allows a lot of anonymity but if you are a jerk, you will take your leave. Playing should not give anyone heartburn.

While most players are 18 years or older, players as young as 16 years old are welcome to join. Keep all public conversation PG-rated.