¶ Condition
¶ The Basics
¶ What is ‘Condition’ in Legacy?
Condition represents the horse's weight/thinness/fatness in Legacy. Condition has 9 rankings, from Emaciated to Extremely Fat, based on the ‘Body Condition Score’ scale commonly used in real life.
¶ What does Condition do in Legacy?
Condition affects your horse's health, show scores, and fertility in mares.
¶ What controls Condition in Legacy?
Well, of course, genetics! But, only to a point. You will be able to manage your horse's Condition through managing their feed, exercise/training, showing and jobs. See below for more details.
¶ The Scale
Condition has 9 rankings, illustrated below.
1: Emaciated
2: Very Thin
3: Thin
4: Moderately Thin
5: Moderate
6: Moderately Fat
7: Fleshy
8: Fat
9: Extremely Fat
¶ The Details: What Condition is best, and how to manage Condition
¶ So, what Condition score is best?
Well, it varies a little, depending on what you are trying to do.
1. If your horse is going to be showing, a Condition of 4 (Moderately thin) is best. Being thinner or fatter will negatively impact show scores.
2. If you want to breed your mare, a Condition of 5-6 (Moderate to Moderately fat) is best. Being outside this range will decrease your mare's chance of getting pregnant.
3. If neither 1 or 2 apply to your horse, a Condition of 4-6 (Moderately Thin to Moderately Fat) is considered healthy.
¶ What Condition do horses start at?
Each horse has a ‘baseline’ Condition that they will start at. Their baseline Condition is genetic, and controlled by 6 genes. This will mean some horses are naturally a little thinner or fatter than others. Baseline Condition will always range from a 4-6 (Moderately thin to Moderately fat).
¶ How do I manage my horse's Condition?
Many of the things you have them do in the game require calories, and the more you have them do, the more calories they will need! It's up to you to increase or decrease their feed as needed throughout their life to maintain or adjust their Condition as needed.
Let's look at a list of all the things that decrease Condition, and by how much each rollover.
| Task |
Condition Effect |
Alternate Condition Effect |
| Exercise or Training |
-0.5 per rollover |
- |
| Showing |
-1 per show |
|
| Jobs |
-0.5 per rollover |
|
| Pregnancy (2nd or 3rd trimester only) |
-2 per rollover |
-2.5 (if they are carrying twins) |
| Nursing a Foal |
-1 per rollover |
-2 |
To figure out what feed they will need, you simply add up all of the things that apply to them.
¶ How do I feed my horse?
There are two ways to feed your horse, you can either use a preset formulation, or make your own mix of hay and grain.
¶ Barns vs. Pastures
One thing really quickly before we talk about the feeds, but whether your horse is in a Barn or Pasture also affects their needs. Horses in pasture will have access to grass, so they will gain +0.25 Condition per rollover, which probably means they will need less feed, depending on your goal. Thankfully we have feed presets for barns or pastures to help with this difference!
¶ Presets
Don't want to deal with figuring out the right amount of feed? Then presets are for you! To use a preset, scroll down to the Management section of your horse's Profile, and click on the ‘Preset’ dropdown to see a list.
The 10 options have the following effects on Condition:
| Preset Name | Condition Gain | Price (per rollover) |
|
Basic Pasture |
0.25 |
$50 |
|
Basic |
0.5 |
$100 |
|
Supplemental Pasture |
0.75 |
$150 |
|
Supplemental |
1 |
$200 |
|
Performance Pasture |
1.25 |
$250 |
|
Performance |
1.5 |
$300 |
|
High-Performance Pasture |
1.75 |
$275 |
|
High-Performance |
2 |
$325 |
|
Concentrated Pasture |
2.25 |
$375 |
|
Concentrated |
2.5 |
$425 |
Presets with ‘Pasture’ in the name are lower calorie and intended for horses in pasture, but you can use any feed you want anywhere!
To use a preset, simply select the option you want, and then click ‘Change’. Your horse will be fed with that feed every rollover until you change it.
¶ Manual Feeding
If you prefer to mix your own feed, you can do that too, instead of using a preset! You have the options of giving your horse Grass Hay, Alfalfa Hay, or Grain. You can mix just one or all three, and give your horse up to 35 lbs total (across all three) of feed per rollover, with a minimum of 10 lbs of something needs to be given to them. Each feed type has the following effects on Condition:
| Feed | Condition Gain per Rollover | Cost |
| Grass Hay | 0.25 (per 10 lbs) | $50 (per 10 lbs) |
| Alfalfa Hay | 0.5 (per 10 lbs) | $100 (per 10 lbs) |
| Grain | 0.2 (per 1 lb) | $25 (per 1 lb) |
To mix feed for your horse, go to the same section as where you can select a feed preset, and adjust the sliders:
The impact that your mix of feed will have on the horse's Condition will update at the bottom. To set the feed, click ‘Change’, and your horse is good to go! They will be given the same feed every rollover until you change it or select a Preset instead.
¶ Slow Feeders
You also have the option of giving your horse a slow feeder to reduce their feed intake a bit. This is helpful for horses who need to lose weight. To use it, simply click the checkbox. You will be charged $20 to buy one for your horse, but once you have it for that horse you can toggle it off and on without additional charges. If toggled on, it will have a -0.25 effect on their Condition each rollover.
¶ Do I want my horse to gain or lose Condition? Or do I want them to stay the same?
It depends! If they are in the Condition range that you want, then you will want to aim for them to have a net 0 Condition gain per rollover. If they are too fat, you will want them to lose Condition. If they are too thin, then you want them to gain Condition. To help you decide which preset feed is best for your specific needs, we made a little helper spreadsheet that you can download and use:
Feed Preset Helper (Google Sheets)
Note that you will need a Google Drive account to use this!
¶ Where can I see my horse's current Condition?
It is displayed both as text in your horse's information section, as well as a bar underneath that section:
The top bar shows your horse's current condition, marked by the gray vertical bar. The white vertical bars mark the mid-points of each Condition level.
The bottom bar shows how much Condition your horse is expected to gain or lose based on their activity during this rollover period. The black bar in the center marks no change. If the gray bar moves to the left of the black bar, they are going to lose Condition at rollover. If the gray bar moves to the right of the black bar, then they will gain Condition at rollover. This bar actively updates as you do things with your horse, and depending on your feed settings!
¶ A few last things about Condition
¶ WARNING: Be careful with showing!
You are allowed to enter as many shows as you want per rollover, but each show you enter decreases Condition. You could potentially emaciate your horse quickly this way.
Showing is strenuous and horses need rest, so be sure not to enter too many per rollover. We recommend 2 maximum per AM or PM.
¶ Are there any consequences if my horse is too thin or fat?
Yes.
1. Mares that are outside of the 5-6 (Moderate to Moderately Fat) range will have a lower chance of getting pregnant if you try to breed them. Their fertility decreases the further they are from this range.
2. Show horses that aren't a 4 (Moderately Thin) will lose points at shows. The further they are outside of this range, the more points they lose.
3. If a horse is emaciated (Condition score of 1) for 3+ months in the game, there is a chance they will die. That chance increases the longer they are emaciated.
4. If a horse is fat or extremely fat (Condition score of 8-9) for 6+ months in the game, there is a chance they will develop metabolic laminitis. That chance increases the fatter they are, and the longer that they are fat. If they develop metabolic laminitis though, there is a chance then that they could die of the disease, if you do not manage their Condition. See below.
¶ What happens if my horse develops metabolic laminitis?
Metabolic laminitis is a systemic, crippling disease in horses which causes a weakening of the laminae anchoring the horse's hoof to the bone inside. This is extremely painful for the horse, and results in lameness.
Horses who develop metabolic laminitis in Legacy will never recover. This means they will no longer be rideable, and cannot be trained, exercised, taken to shows, or do any jobs. They will still be breedable, however.
There is no cure, but symptoms can be improved by ensuring the horse loses weight. To make them lose weight, since they can no longer do training or exercise, they will need to be switched to Balancer feed, a low calorie diet feed, to lose weight.
If the horse develops metabolic laminitis and their feed is not changed and they remain fat/extremely fat, then there is a chance they could die. However, this risk of death only applies if they are left as fat/extremely fat. If you successfully decrease their Condition score to an acceptable level, then the risk of death will be gone, but they will still be unable to train, show and work.