Post by RogueLightning on Nov 20, 2013 11:52:47 GMT -8
The Current Akhal Teke Lines
So firstly, what do I mean by lines? Around the game I have seen players refer to lines in a manner that basically means all the horses they themselves produce. This meaning is interchangeable with the term stock, and I think that is a better way to refer to the horses you own. My definition of a line is a group of horses who have a common ancestor, are still being bred today, and most likely have some common trait like discipline, high stats, color, or conformation, just like in real life. Two store horses bred together may be the start of a line, but they are not a line, though players often refer to a horse from them as short lined. Neither are unrelated horses in the same discipline, at least to me. Related horses who have died out because other players stopped using them would not technically be a line, or at least be a dead one. Randomly breeding different horses with no clear goal is also not a line. A line is a line because it is distinct and you can use it as a reference for your goals.
When horses descended from one outstanding individual or pair can be picked out from others, and continue to be known for the same qualities those in then a line has been created. A good line can change a breed. Right now, all the lines we have in Tekes today, with an exception of a few store horses who benefitted from special treats, produce the best there is to offer. They are not very old, the oldest being eight generations from the first horse, and I’ve watched them all develop. I am proud to have at least had a hand in all of them and continue to preserve them to grow even better and more consistent.
A line is like your brand. You can point to those horses, even if someone else owns them, and say that wouldn’t be around if you didn’t put your effort into it. Most attempts at starting lines end up being absorbed into the already established ones because people would rather breed to higher stat horses than create their own. I’m not saying that is bad. But on occasion, I see a horse worth recognizing as the founder of what could be a new line and I take note. I hope that others will do the same in order to reward those who take the time to breed generation after generation of their own without outside influence.
I forewarn, if you get any horses of the lines I mention, the will have deleted horses in their pedigrees somewhere with unclickable names. That’s just an effect of being around for so long, and mods have been deleting accounts so it’s not always the choice of the breeder. I think most of us are getting over the “clean lines” ideal so it isn’t really a big deal and I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
So without further ado, let me introduce you to the lines of Tekes on the game.
My Controlled Lines
I call these controlled lines because as the starter and owner of the majority of the horses having them I can maintain the qualities I set out for them to have and ensure they continue to exist. There are horses of these lines others own so they are not technically private, but I have tried to be selective in who gets them. I name lines after the horse that was bred the most to produce it, usually a stallion.
Sky
Desert Sky was the first teke foal I ever bred, about a week after starting the game from a crappy stud I will mention later and a store horse. He was no better than a store horse but of course I was proud of him. I was also stupid enough to accidentally delete his mother, so all Sky horses are broken lined lol. That didn’t stop anyone from using them and they are the oldest line around. They are mostly endurance or racing without dun or champagne modifiers if they are pure Sky.
Tempo
This is my favorite line. Most of the horses from it are suited for dressage, though early on I crossed with some jumping mares. Tempo was the first Teke foal I waited to produce from two store horses I bought from another player, and the best Teke around in his time. He was the first Teke on the overall leaderboard for the show points he earned. I also added Champagne to his genetics with the Gold and Silver ballon event, so he added to the champagne carrying horses at a time when the only ones had been two customs that had never been bred before. I probably bred him more than I should have, and currently I am condensing his line, meaning deleting any low quality horses I find related to him and only breeding his descendants once. That reduces the difficulty of finding mates for everyone in the long run. If you have a horse related to Tempo, you’re a lucky person indeed.
Dance
Dance Revolution was Tempo’s younger full brother and I was much more careful with breeding him so there aren’t as many of them around. I am trying to keep his descendants separate from Tempo’s so I can linebreed them, so be aware of that if you want to buy one. He did not have champagne and most of his descendants don’t either. Otherwise they are entirely dressage horses.
Jack
Jasper Jack was a second hand foal I collected when I started breeding. He was racing, but some of his descendants have kind of drifted over into endurance when I was crossing disciplines a lot. You will rarely see a Jack horse without Sky or Time. But they kind of straddled those two lines and improved them for stats. These guys are usually dun.
Time
This is a mare line from a horse I bought from a long time player, Blue Time, and is geared strictly toward racing. I attempted to keep enough horses going in it separate from my Jack and Sky lines so that it remains a line in its own right, but the pure line is down to one horse I control right now and his half siblings owned by other players. Sometimes you can breed too little when it comes to your own lines. They are also dun. I want to point out that if you can find a racing horse with champagne modifiers it probably has endurance ancestors.
Correction: Two of my horses are Time only, I forgot about my oldest stallion who I just bred for another pure Time foal. YEY!
Karma
This is the most recent line I’ve decided to form and is for jumping. Until last year, I often crossed disciplines when breeding and didn’t put much effort into pairing horses with the same stat areas. My jumping ones were mostly absorbed into dressage and racing. Sweet Karma was the first mare I decided to breed strictly for jumping so the line is named for her. I used the public stud Through Dusty Days, who I will mention later so this is one I can only take partial credit for. These horses have recently been turning out grey and often have cream modifiers.
I am attempting to start a western line right now, and it will incorporate my Jack line and the public stud line Days which I will mention next as I talk about horses that aren’t my own but have a pretty good base in the breed. If anyone wants to help me with it I am dying for more western horses. I currently only have three because I don’t plan well.
I hope I haven’t lost you yet with all this stuff. This is what it’s like to be a top breeder. You get weird.
Other Lines
These are lines in the sense that horse has been bred enough times that it’s offspring show up everywhere, usually because he was at public stud. I do not own the horses so I can’t say what the goals were in breeding them, and many owners have locked. If their owners would like to enlighten me I would be happy to add that in addition to the recognition of them being lines.
Days-the original racing stallion Through Dusty Days owned by pondertongue and bred by Kate is who I consider as the founder of this line because he had good stats for what was around at the time. He had three foals and I owned his son Gold Days, who you will probably recognize in the pedigree of many horses from the deceased stud ღ gold days cowboys owned by Suzy. Gold Days sucked at passing champagne so you have him to thank for your plain descendants. This seems to have turned into a racing/jumping line.
Weapon/Hymns- I see this combination a lot in pedigrees of racing and jumping horses. Raise Your Weapon owned by Tempest [Nordic] was bred eight times, five of those times to Bedroom Hymns of the same owner. All those descendants have been bred at least twice, so do the math. Bedroom Hymns is the daughter of Tempo and Dance Revolution’s father Halifax, his only outside foal. So even though those lines have been dressage for eight generations, there are lots of racing and jumping horses related to them and you would have to be careful if you wanted to avoid inbreeding. Technically, this is a sibling of the Tempo/Dance line. SEE how complicated this can get and how the number of times you breed can impact everyone?
Merle- Nearly every endurance horse that is more than two generations, besides a couple of my Jack/Sky ones, is related to this stud. I used him too much myself as well, but being bred eleven times has saturated Tekes with his pedigree. Merle was owned by Cyslla and was another champagne gene added horse, which made him popular. If you have a racing horse with champagne, it’s from him.
The Ancients
I’m about to drop a bombshell on you. The Merle, Jack, Dance, Weapon and Tempo lines are inherently related through the mares that they were bred to, so if you think breeding any those lines together would produce clean lines, you’re wrong. To explain this requires a bit of a story. Once upon a time there were only two Akhal Teke studs on the whole game. It was that way for many months and they were bred to each other’s offspring and even each other when one was turned into a mare. Yes, the few Teke people were desperate back then and the only thing anyone really cared about was dilute colors. I call these guys the ancients because they aren’t going to be anywhere near the first page of your pedigrees.
Seeing Red- This is the father of my Desert Sky, and two of the mares I started with. He had a grand total of 230 stats when he died at 10 years old. Yet he was bred 9 times at least and that’s not counting deleted foals. Before he died he was turned into a mare and bred to the other stud.
Remplir La Fleur- with 292 stats Fleur was the best you could do for a stud back then. He died before I could breed to him myself, but I got several of his granddaughters. If I had known the frustration it would cause me later I might not have done it, but c’est la vie. Many others ended up with his sons and daughters, and thus the name was spread far and wide.
Considering that was the status quo back then, Tekes are doing exceptionally well. But there is always room for improvement.
A Player to mention- Sessake
Sessake did a lot to improve Tekes, and I miss them dearly. They purposely bred high stat store horse Tekes to produce foals they would sell, giving you good short pedigrees to add to anything. They were also generous with their studs if you asked. I have Sessake lines as a note on many of my horses pages, and it just means that I used Sessake horses, so I check before I breed that they aren't the same ones.
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So that is your introduction to the world of Teke lines. How this affects you depends on whether you tolerate inbreeding or want to sell and breed your horses to my established lines. I can tell you the currently I cannot buy a horse of any of these lines off you unless I bred it myself, in which case I would probably delete it. Once they are multiple generations removed I might consider it, but I have too many of them. You can avoid this vast world of record keeping by working with store horses, and if you get past three generations of the same discipline I’d probably consider it a line. Three generations would be a year and a quarter in EV time, so it’s a long haul. But it would be incredible if someone did it and I would be able to die happy.
So firstly, what do I mean by lines? Around the game I have seen players refer to lines in a manner that basically means all the horses they themselves produce. This meaning is interchangeable with the term stock, and I think that is a better way to refer to the horses you own. My definition of a line is a group of horses who have a common ancestor, are still being bred today, and most likely have some common trait like discipline, high stats, color, or conformation, just like in real life. Two store horses bred together may be the start of a line, but they are not a line, though players often refer to a horse from them as short lined. Neither are unrelated horses in the same discipline, at least to me. Related horses who have died out because other players stopped using them would not technically be a line, or at least be a dead one. Randomly breeding different horses with no clear goal is also not a line. A line is a line because it is distinct and you can use it as a reference for your goals.
When horses descended from one outstanding individual or pair can be picked out from others, and continue to be known for the same qualities those in then a line has been created. A good line can change a breed. Right now, all the lines we have in Tekes today, with an exception of a few store horses who benefitted from special treats, produce the best there is to offer. They are not very old, the oldest being eight generations from the first horse, and I’ve watched them all develop. I am proud to have at least had a hand in all of them and continue to preserve them to grow even better and more consistent.
A line is like your brand. You can point to those horses, even if someone else owns them, and say that wouldn’t be around if you didn’t put your effort into it. Most attempts at starting lines end up being absorbed into the already established ones because people would rather breed to higher stat horses than create their own. I’m not saying that is bad. But on occasion, I see a horse worth recognizing as the founder of what could be a new line and I take note. I hope that others will do the same in order to reward those who take the time to breed generation after generation of their own without outside influence.
I forewarn, if you get any horses of the lines I mention, the will have deleted horses in their pedigrees somewhere with unclickable names. That’s just an effect of being around for so long, and mods have been deleting accounts so it’s not always the choice of the breeder. I think most of us are getting over the “clean lines” ideal so it isn’t really a big deal and I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
So without further ado, let me introduce you to the lines of Tekes on the game.
My Controlled Lines
I call these controlled lines because as the starter and owner of the majority of the horses having them I can maintain the qualities I set out for them to have and ensure they continue to exist. There are horses of these lines others own so they are not technically private, but I have tried to be selective in who gets them. I name lines after the horse that was bred the most to produce it, usually a stallion.
Sky
Desert Sky was the first teke foal I ever bred, about a week after starting the game from a crappy stud I will mention later and a store horse. He was no better than a store horse but of course I was proud of him. I was also stupid enough to accidentally delete his mother, so all Sky horses are broken lined lol. That didn’t stop anyone from using them and they are the oldest line around. They are mostly endurance or racing without dun or champagne modifiers if they are pure Sky.
Tempo
This is my favorite line. Most of the horses from it are suited for dressage, though early on I crossed with some jumping mares. Tempo was the first Teke foal I waited to produce from two store horses I bought from another player, and the best Teke around in his time. He was the first Teke on the overall leaderboard for the show points he earned. I also added Champagne to his genetics with the Gold and Silver ballon event, so he added to the champagne carrying horses at a time when the only ones had been two customs that had never been bred before. I probably bred him more than I should have, and currently I am condensing his line, meaning deleting any low quality horses I find related to him and only breeding his descendants once. That reduces the difficulty of finding mates for everyone in the long run. If you have a horse related to Tempo, you’re a lucky person indeed.
Dance
Dance Revolution was Tempo’s younger full brother and I was much more careful with breeding him so there aren’t as many of them around. I am trying to keep his descendants separate from Tempo’s so I can linebreed them, so be aware of that if you want to buy one. He did not have champagne and most of his descendants don’t either. Otherwise they are entirely dressage horses.
Jack
Jasper Jack was a second hand foal I collected when I started breeding. He was racing, but some of his descendants have kind of drifted over into endurance when I was crossing disciplines a lot. You will rarely see a Jack horse without Sky or Time. But they kind of straddled those two lines and improved them for stats. These guys are usually dun.
Time
This is a mare line from a horse I bought from a long time player, Blue Time, and is geared strictly toward racing. I attempted to keep enough horses going in it separate from my Jack and Sky lines so that it remains a line in its own right, but the pure line is down to one horse I control right now and his half siblings owned by other players. Sometimes you can breed too little when it comes to your own lines. They are also dun. I want to point out that if you can find a racing horse with champagne modifiers it probably has endurance ancestors.
Correction: Two of my horses are Time only, I forgot about my oldest stallion who I just bred for another pure Time foal. YEY!
Karma
This is the most recent line I’ve decided to form and is for jumping. Until last year, I often crossed disciplines when breeding and didn’t put much effort into pairing horses with the same stat areas. My jumping ones were mostly absorbed into dressage and racing. Sweet Karma was the first mare I decided to breed strictly for jumping so the line is named for her. I used the public stud Through Dusty Days, who I will mention later so this is one I can only take partial credit for. These horses have recently been turning out grey and often have cream modifiers.
I am attempting to start a western line right now, and it will incorporate my Jack line and the public stud line Days which I will mention next as I talk about horses that aren’t my own but have a pretty good base in the breed. If anyone wants to help me with it I am dying for more western horses. I currently only have three because I don’t plan well.
I hope I haven’t lost you yet with all this stuff. This is what it’s like to be a top breeder. You get weird.
Other Lines
These are lines in the sense that horse has been bred enough times that it’s offspring show up everywhere, usually because he was at public stud. I do not own the horses so I can’t say what the goals were in breeding them, and many owners have locked. If their owners would like to enlighten me I would be happy to add that in addition to the recognition of them being lines.
Days-the original racing stallion Through Dusty Days owned by pondertongue and bred by Kate is who I consider as the founder of this line because he had good stats for what was around at the time. He had three foals and I owned his son Gold Days, who you will probably recognize in the pedigree of many horses from the deceased stud ღ gold days cowboys owned by Suzy. Gold Days sucked at passing champagne so you have him to thank for your plain descendants. This seems to have turned into a racing/jumping line.
Weapon/Hymns- I see this combination a lot in pedigrees of racing and jumping horses. Raise Your Weapon owned by Tempest [Nordic] was bred eight times, five of those times to Bedroom Hymns of the same owner. All those descendants have been bred at least twice, so do the math. Bedroom Hymns is the daughter of Tempo and Dance Revolution’s father Halifax, his only outside foal. So even though those lines have been dressage for eight generations, there are lots of racing and jumping horses related to them and you would have to be careful if you wanted to avoid inbreeding. Technically, this is a sibling of the Tempo/Dance line. SEE how complicated this can get and how the number of times you breed can impact everyone?
Merle- Nearly every endurance horse that is more than two generations, besides a couple of my Jack/Sky ones, is related to this stud. I used him too much myself as well, but being bred eleven times has saturated Tekes with his pedigree. Merle was owned by Cyslla and was another champagne gene added horse, which made him popular. If you have a racing horse with champagne, it’s from him.
The Ancients
I’m about to drop a bombshell on you. The Merle, Jack, Dance, Weapon and Tempo lines are inherently related through the mares that they were bred to, so if you think breeding any those lines together would produce clean lines, you’re wrong. To explain this requires a bit of a story. Once upon a time there were only two Akhal Teke studs on the whole game. It was that way for many months and they were bred to each other’s offspring and even each other when one was turned into a mare. Yes, the few Teke people were desperate back then and the only thing anyone really cared about was dilute colors. I call these guys the ancients because they aren’t going to be anywhere near the first page of your pedigrees.
Seeing Red- This is the father of my Desert Sky, and two of the mares I started with. He had a grand total of 230 stats when he died at 10 years old. Yet he was bred 9 times at least and that’s not counting deleted foals. Before he died he was turned into a mare and bred to the other stud.
Remplir La Fleur- with 292 stats Fleur was the best you could do for a stud back then. He died before I could breed to him myself, but I got several of his granddaughters. If I had known the frustration it would cause me later I might not have done it, but c’est la vie. Many others ended up with his sons and daughters, and thus the name was spread far and wide.
Considering that was the status quo back then, Tekes are doing exceptionally well. But there is always room for improvement.
A Player to mention- Sessake
Sessake did a lot to improve Tekes, and I miss them dearly. They purposely bred high stat store horse Tekes to produce foals they would sell, giving you good short pedigrees to add to anything. They were also generous with their studs if you asked. I have Sessake lines as a note on many of my horses pages, and it just means that I used Sessake horses, so I check before I breed that they aren't the same ones.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
So that is your introduction to the world of Teke lines. How this affects you depends on whether you tolerate inbreeding or want to sell and breed your horses to my established lines. I can tell you the currently I cannot buy a horse of any of these lines off you unless I bred it myself, in which case I would probably delete it. Once they are multiple generations removed I might consider it, but I have too many of them. You can avoid this vast world of record keeping by working with store horses, and if you get past three generations of the same discipline I’d probably consider it a line. Three generations would be a year and a quarter in EV time, so it’s a long haul. But it would be incredible if someone did it and I would be able to die happy.