As in real life, owning horses on Howrse can rack up expenses. A lot of little purchases all add up, from boarding all of your AP hunters for another 30 days, to buying a Horn of Plenty in the item exchange and investing in a GA coat horse in the sales for your collection, it's far to easy to indulge and spend all your equus on everything Howrse has to offer (yes, I'm looking at you, Horns of Plenty sitting in my inventory after blowing my entire reserve on you). But I am here to the rescue, to tell you my tips on scrimping and saving on Howrse! This is not a guide on making money, but more a guide as to how to not spend quite as much money on Howrse.
Tip #1: Board
When you own a lot of horses and need to board a lot, the cost of giving your stock a place to lay there head can seriously rack up. You can save a lot by not being selective as to *must have a trough and shower*, especially if you're only boarding horses so they can be bedded. Filter the ECs by cheapest first or select a maximum rate that you'll pay per night. You'll often find that poor skilled horses can get into ECs with showers and troughs, but you'll pay maximum rate for it, whereas when your horse is fully skilled you can get more luxurious ECs at a lower rate, purely because the EC owners begrudge giving horses that contribute towards their prestige a good time. Another way to reduce your losses through board is to not board horses you don't need - believe it or not it does your horses no harm to not board and not work. You can work a horse without it being in an EC and not bed it down, and it will freeze in time until it is bedded down. If you have them, Hypnos' Blankets mean you can bed your horses down without an EC, which will save a lot of money in the long run.
Tip #2: EC Workshops are your BFF
It is always cheaper to make in your workshops (even when buying raw materials) than it is to buy in the shop. For example:
Water Trough: 1500 iron => 15 000 equus vs shop at 20 003 equus
Making your own bonuses for your horses can also save you a lot of money, especially when using leather and/or iron you received from growing cattle and boarder missions.
Tip #3: Horse Sales
When you're browsing the sales for horses, whether it be a unicorn, AP Hunter or GA, make sure you give yourself a budget. I wouldn't recommend spending more than 5000 on an AP hunter as all it needs to be is a horse, nothing special, to collect APs. Start with specific criteria for what you want, and if there's nothing within budget then compromise. If you were looking for a Shire with 3 coverings left but everything was too expensive, widen your search to Shires with 1 or 2 coverings left. You can always negotiate sales with the vendor, but don't offer a ridiculously low price (especially if passes are involved) or get offended if they reject your offer - they're trying to make money and you have to take that into account. It is also worth checking the auctions as low seniority players will use the auctions and prices are often lower than in the directs.
Tip #4: Buying items that vary in price
Items that are not infinitely stocked in the shop will fluctuate in price slightly depending on their stock (the more there is, the lower the price). Bear this is mind if buying tack/field and box enhancements/bonuses as patience may give you a discount. This also works when selling items, as when the price for purchasing is higher, the profit you get from selling is higher.
Tip #5: Storing Equus in Wheat Bran
When buying a pass with your reserve or paying vets fees, it is representative to your reserve. If you're buying a pass and don't want too much money to go down the drain, you can buy wheat bran (a lot), buy your pass and then sell the wheat bran back. Why wheat bran? It costs 1 equus to buy and 1 equus to sell, so you don't lose any money when selling it back.
Tip #6: Item Exchanges
Don't do what I did: buying a HoP for 300 000 then realising there were others for sale for 250 000. Bad move. Don't ever just buy the first BMI you want that you see, as there might be somebody selling one cheaper, or somebody selling 2 in one cheaper than it would be to buy 2 separately - also saving you a trade slot. Unless it's a high pass item such as a Nyx Pack or HoP, I would never spend 200k+ on an item. Think about how much the item is worth when paying for it, and only pay more when you need it desperately. Other than that, be patient and somebody will have one for sale at a price you can pay.
Tip #7: Promos
Most promos require equus at some point for asking friends for help, donating to Ow or buying extras. Sometimes the equus is optional towards you completing an objective, and if you don't need to spend the money to advance - don't. In the Great Challenge and Dice events, do as much as you can without spending money on asking for help or re-rolls. For lotteries, get a lot of friends and give them tickets - they'll give you them back and it saves you buying them. for card promos, unless you have the equus to spare and are desperate for a diamond/gold card, I wouldn't really bother spending money on the auctions/directs.
Tip #8: Coverings
Coverings can be expensive and cost up to 10 000 equus each when adding in vet fees. It may be best first clicking a random covering to see what your vet fee is first, then factoring that into your budget. If there are people who you know breed good stallions for a certain breed, it may be worth being cheeky and asking them if you can have a lower grade covering for a cheaper price. One thing I advise is to never scrimp on BLUP, as you wan't the best possible foal out of a covering.
Well, I think that covers all of my cheapskate tips! I hope you found this useful and leave any extra tips in the comments.
Happy Howrseing
F x
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