All About The Grinder Horse

[BlackOak2]

I went looking for a grinder guide. Is it unbelievable that we don't have a dedicated guide to these grinders yet???

I and others have written snippets covering these all over the place, so it's only a matter of time before a new player will come across the word 'grinder' and shortly thereafter that they'll come across at least a brief description.
I had first wanted to just update the 'grinder guide' that we 'had'. Turns out... we don't actually have a dedicated guide, so here it is!

First off, the snippet from the Community Reminder - End Of May 2022, in the Interesting New Developments on HWO section under the Introduction to the Type of Breeding Stock.

Grinder Stock

This is pretty straightforward like many of these. Grinder stock is stock bred to grind. Almost every horse on HWO should fall under this type. Even the most basic, fresh-out-of-AC horses can fall under this type. Why? Because any horse can grind in locals. They may not be good, but they grind.

However, Grinder stock is generally reserved for horses that at least meet the minimum 'average' requirements for the most basic and useful grinder. This is a horse that pulls generally firsts in either level 9 or 10 in any particular discipline in local shows (not player-made competitions). Thus, begin the Grinder stock type.

And, as a last interesting tidbit, the Grinder stock is probably the most useful and, over-the-long-haul, most lucrative of any 'easy' project. As long as the grinder stock can meet basic grinder uses, you train your own for sale and you produce a regular, dependable supply, you can not only survive on a project like this, but find it's quite handy on income and without having to stick to somebody-else's timeline. Although, a board or freeze account is helpful and almost mandatory.

Just about as straightforward as one can get.
But, just to go into it just a little more and... ehem... grind the point in further. A grinder can be any horse of any HGP, state, age or training amount, that's used in locals to collect money and those random PT and turn drops (aka day drops). Of course, there are certain ways to ensure your collection is a little better. I'll go into that a little later.

A grinder is important for any account to have. It provides the 'bread & butter' monies that an account survives upon. And, through simple use, will also collect random turn and PT drops. I'm repeating myself for a reason. By using a grinder in locals, this grinder will not only pay for your farm to continue it's operations, but also earn enough in his or her lifetime to purchase and even have trained their replacement.

However, just choosing any horse as your grinder may not be quite appropriate. There are many graduations to grinder stock and in order to maximize one, some things must be kept in mind.

First and foremost. The HWO community has programs available to give FOR FREE any newbie their very first grinder. It will come of age under 10 years and fully trained. All newbies are expected to put aside some money to purchase their subsequent grinder themselves. These grinders will come from either confirmed grinding bloodlines or high-end, on-paper stock that at the very least will meet minimum average grinder qualifications. They will be expected to live until 20 years, but some may go sooner (from the first turn after 17 years and up). But that still leaves plenty of time to earn everything that the first grinder is required to cover, namely their replacement and covering a number of the player skills, as well as the day-to-day (rather, turn-by-turn) expenses that any account has.

Now, before I go on toward the next item, I will pause briefly here to mention that grinder stock has high usage for what it is, grinding in local shows. But MOST grinders simply DO NOT make good breeding stock and very rarely make good competition stock. So, even if you really like your grinder and he or she is doing awesome for you in locals, don't think the grinder horse is the top-tier the game has to offer and go entering it willy-nilly in every player-hosted competition you see and breeding it to every partner you have. You may find out much sooner than you expect, that doing so was a huge blunder. You'll leave yourself broke and with a collection of rather mediocre foals with little use. You'll have wasted the other horse's energies (and lifeline) on foals that are much-less-than their grinder parent and useless in both the breeding shed and the competition barn.

Alright, onward!
Second item. Choosing a grinder may sound easy and on the surface, it is. But maximizing your likelihood for finding a promising grinder-prospect does have a few notes to keep in mind. If you're unable to purchase one from the market and are left with what you have on your farm, you'll need to locate a horse you own with the best HGP and BR color combination.
Use this horse to finish out all of your unused time on each turn. Start training the horse's stamina. It won't earn you much, but this horse will get you moving ahead. It will at least, earn you your expenses each turn. Choose a discipline that the horse can pull mostly firsts in the highest level it can. So... for an untrained horse, aim for something in the level 5 or level 6 range. Many horses appear to be able to do firsts in in-hand in the level 6 range with no training, even straight-from-the-AC horses.

Once you have a couple thousand set aside (yes, it may sound like a lot, but it'll be a good investment). Jump on the market and search for the following:

1. Horses that have HGP over 55k.
2. At least ONE comment that's colored green OR gold.
3. Avoid horses with even one red comment.
4. And if available, high conformation stat numbers.
5. Try to target the younger the better, but any horse that's 7 years and younger (7 years will still give YOU time to train a bit).

You'll want to find a healthy mix of mostly good and great comments. One or two poor comments won't affect the grinder negatively. Red comments simply limit your grinder to much tighter disciplines, so although for a grinder, red comments won't really slow them down, it does limit them to more selective local show opportunities.

It shouldn't be hard to find a grinder-prospect at all. And sometimes (maybe more often than not), you may actually be able to find a grinder-prospect for sale for $1. Yes, a single $1.

If you can find a trainer to train up your horse, great! If you do, you can expect to pay about 25k (that's $25,000). That's an average going price for most trainers. There will be some that will ask for more and others that may ask for less, but if you budget 25k, you should be able to locate a trainer that will train your horse for this amount. And schedule in about a week before the horse comes back. Most trainers will return a horse sooner, but some may not follow that tighter schedule. For some tidbits about Evaluating Trainers, please see the Community Reminder - May 2021 and the heading labeled the same.
There are benefits, freebies and discounts that players can take advantage of, so if you've found your grinder, but don't have a minimum 25k to pay for training, keep your eyes open. You may come across a deal. And feel free to open a topic requesting a discount for training your grinder. Somebody may volunteer to train it for you. Just, please remember, don't call anybody out or name anybody specifically and especially don't go onto somebody's training forum and ask for a discount ['Will you train my horse for X, instead of your fee X?']. This is considered begging and is against the rules.

Okay, I think I covered the basics, so let me get into the differences of grinders. AKA, the fun stuff!

Like you read above, literally ANY horse can be a grinder. But not any horse can even be labeled as an average grinder.

So, what is an 'Average Grinder'?
An average grinder is a horse [of any HGP, BR, BR color, Conformation stat scores] that meets the following bullets.

• Pulls mostly firsts in either level 9 or level 10 local shows.
• Earns a random turn drop OR a PT drop every second or third turn used.

Yup. That's it. That concludes what makes an 'Average Grinder'. It's not an extensive list, but it is a bit of a tall order for a community of horses when, arguably 80% of all the horses fall into a category where their HGP is under 45,000 points. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit. Maybe the 80% of the entire population isn't under 45k points. But we do have a lot of color-breeders out there and other players working on other projects that the HGP is simply ignored. If not payed attention to, HGP doesn't change much from one generation to the next.

After the Average Grinder, you'll have the 'Good Grinder'.
The difference between the two, is that a Good Grinder will be able to pull those firsts in almost exclusively level 10 local shows. Between the two, it's not actually the random PT and turn drops that separates an average from a good, but the regularity of earning firsts. An Average pulls in mostly firsts. A Good will consistently pull in firsts and it's almost always in level 10.

Then we have a 'Great Grinder'.
A Great Grinder will normalize your random PT and Turn drops. Instead of the Average or the Good that usually gives random drops every second or third turn, a Great Grinder will normalize them to every turn or every other turn. So you'll be earning a single PT OR a single Turn every turn or every other turn you go through.

And can you figure out what an Exceptional Grinder gives you?
An Exceptional Grinder usually gives random drops every turn, either a PT or a Turn drop. And this is alongside maintaining almost solely firsts in a level 10 local discipline.
If you have luck to come across one of these, there's a little aside to it.

Eventually, a long-time grinder bloodline does eventually develop into a competitive bloodline. What do I mean? A grinder line CAN become a competition line. One that can compete in player-hosted competitions. If you have a little money you can burn, give your Exceptional Grinder (sometimes even a Great Grinder), a few player-hosted entries and see what happens. Then compare those scores against the scores of the record holders and see where they come out. If they're close, great! You probably have a competitor on your hands. If they're not close, but it still did good in those competitions? The competition (other horses) may be 'weak' right now and although your horse may not be a competitor, there's still a chance with careful entering, for you to earn some extra monies on the side.

However, this still doesn't mean that your Exceptional Grinder has become a competition bloodline or a competent breeder. *shrugs* Although these things can run hand-in-hand, there's more that goes into it then just throwing two horses together.
Maintaining a competition bloodline can be more aggravating than the delight of finding a grinder line has graduated to a competition line.

Now for Maximizing your grinder.
This is fairly simple and straightforward. Get your grinder trained to at least 90% (99% is optimal) in at least the discipline you'll be grinding in. For most disciplines it's four stats. In a couple cases, it's only three. For more information on which disciplines cover which stats, check out this link. For information on how to train, check out the links found in my quick-links, there are numerous guides there, found under the training & titling section. You can also send your grinder to a trainer, there are both full-training trainers and discipline-only trainers. Although most trainers will simply fully train every horse. It's actually easier, quicker and more uniform to do so.


And finally, some hard numbers, because I'm sure you're still wondering how much a grinder will actually earn you throughout their lifetime.
*Note that the following information is based on an account with NO upgrades purchased.*
**Also note that the following is assuming you're not in a Dry Spell or a Wet Spell on your account.**

For an Average Grinder, that's fully trained and begins his or her grinding career at 5 years and lives to 17 years. Assuming it earns mostly firsts but also an amount of seconds and maybe a speckling of other places and has a random, but rather low PT and Turn drop. These are low-end numbers; the bare-minimum that a horse should arguably be able to earn.

• Expect about $140,000 in earnings, just in local shows.
• For random drops, it'll be about 96 of either PT or Turn drops. That's total for it's entire grinding career.

Remember, that's bare minimum. Although there are times that this may not be true, those numbers are what you should generally expect. This is a guide, though, when actually playing, your experience may differ greatly.

A Good Grinder that's fully trained and begins his or her grinding career at 5 years and lives to 17 years. Assuming mostly firsts and a minimum of random drops for the definition of a 'Good Grinder' (as defined above).

• Expect about $215,000 in earnings, just in local shows.
• For random drops, it should come in about the same as an Average, 96 of either PT or Turn drops, on the low end.

A Great Grinder that's... the same as above: fully trained, from 5 to 17 and assuming a single random drop of every other turn.

• Expect about $240,000 in earnings, just in local shows.
• For random drops, it should come in somewhere in the realm of 144 of either PT or Turn drops.

Finally an Exceptional Grinder. Using the same as above, fully trained, from 5 to 17 and assuming, this time, a single random drop for every turn used.

• Expect about $250,000 in earnings, just in local shows.
• Unknown earnings in player-hosted competitions.
• Possibility to stand the horse as a grinder-bloodline on market (brood you would sell the untrained foals for whatever the market would bare, assume between 5k and 10k at least).
• And 288 random drops.

All of these numbers are on the slim end. Here's one more example.
Great Grinder, fully trained, from 3 years to 20 years and assuming a random drop of about 2 in any three turn span.

• Expect earnings to come in about $335,000 in just local shows.
• Random drops come in at about 274 of either PT or Turn drops.

One must remember that account Dry Spells and account Wet Spells do factor in. Our admin has told us, quite plainly, that PT and Turn drops are completely random. They work on some algorithm that should drop them... in some percentage... with every click of the local show button... etc...etc... all coding talk. They actually didn't go into detail. But it's random and is not based on breed, on bloodline, and so forth. Although it does appear we will earn them more often with fully trained horses and with the highest level in the highest discipline that a horse can regularly pull firsts.
But I have pulled random drops in every level and in every placement (from, what is it, sixth? seventh? all the way to first).

That said... many HWO players have encountered what's often called as a 'Dry Spell' where our grinder just never seems to earn any PT or any turns at all. I went through one with two... TWO Great Grinders and came out with just a handful of PT and Turn drops. It must've been about 30, in Two Grinder Lifetimes. Maybe I exaggerate a little, but it was certainly a very slim amount and I kept hitting my banked day limit and having to sit until I accumulated more.

Then there will be Wet Spells where it seems even an Average Grinder will earn multiple PT or also Turn drops with every turn used! These are exciting and fun to watch happen.

So, now I'll give you one final example. A maximum earnings sampling for a grinder horse [of any level] but that only enters locals. Not even assuming full training. Assuming only three things, first, that the grinder horse provides naturally from 3 years to 25 years, pulls firsts for every level 10 entry (never missing that first place) and earning the maximum of a single PT drop AND a Turn drop for every click of that local show (that's five maximum a day, without any account upgrades).
...
Ready for this?
Here we go.
...

• Earnings maximize at $464,640.
• PT drops maximize at 2640 collected.
• Banked Turns remain filled. We cannot earn more turns than we can bank. But this means you don't have to stop.
• Horse moves on to greener pastures in about 3 hours, depending on the speed of game-play.

So a Grinder is incredibly important for an account. And because of this, the community does attempt to ensure that all players in need of a grinder for their account, can get a grinder, for their account. And that it fits within their money constraints. Though a Grinder can be literally any horse of any HGP, BR comments, BR color, conformation stat scores and training, a Grinder that does an average job will be at least HGP 55k, with a healthy mix of good, maybe some bad, comments of varying colors and training in the local discipline being used.
Go get yourself a grinder.


As a final thought.
When we offer a freebie grinder to anybody, it's very reasonable for us to assume that the grinder offered will not only pay for it's replacement AND pay for that replacement's training, but also pay for a good deal more that an account needs for upgrades, skill learning and other fun things.
Don't think the community is generous without end. We will attempt to help those in need, but those seen too often asking for the same things and consistently receiving them will find themselves with much less aid in the future. And maybe when they need it most.

---END---

[BlackOak2]

If corrections are needed, please let me know. I may have been good in math, but that was many years ago! Among other corrections.

[Gabby_Woodlark]

For some tidbits about Evaluating Trainers, please see the (url=viewtopic.php?f=8&t=34833]Community Reminder - May 2021[/url]

May want to make that URL correct

[BlackOak2]

For some tidbits about Evaluating Trainers, please see the (url=viewtopic.php?f=8&t=34833]Community Reminder - May 2021[/url]

May want to make that URL correct

Bleck! I did miss that too!

Correcting now. Thank you!

[Gabby_Woodlark]

May want to make that URL correct

Bleck! I did miss that too!

Correcting now. Thank you!

No problem

We all make mistakes, as I assume you know xD

[BlackOak2]

Bleck! I did miss that too!

Correcting now. Thank you!

No problem

We all make mistakes, as I assume you know xD

Oh, very much! Very Much So!

No matter how often somebody reads something, or tries to catch every mistake, things do slip through.

At least I'm grammatically uniform. Not great, far from bad. But uniformly legible throughout.

[Gabby_Woodlark]

No problem

We all make mistakes, as I assume you know xD

Oh, very much! Very Much So!

No matter how often somebody reads something, or tries to catch every mistake, things do slip through.

At least I'm grammatically uniform. Not great, far from bad. But uniformly legible throughout.

Of course xD I have Grammarly, which is supposed to help me with my studies... It does the opposite I try to say HWO, it turns into how. Scammed? Scammer. Champed? Cramped ( ). Grinder? Griffin. Oh, you want to say irl? Nope, it's irk.

I'm honestly thinking of removing the subscription, it isn't worth it :/

[BlackOak2]

Oh, very much! Very Much So!

No matter how often somebody reads something, or tries to catch every mistake, things do slip through.

At least I'm grammatically uniform. Not great, far from bad. But uniformly legible throughout.

Of course xD I have Grammarly, which is supposed to help me with my studies... It does the opposite I try to say HWO, it turns into how. Scammed? Scammer. Champed? Cramped ( ). Grinder? Griffin. Oh, you want to say irl? Nope, it's irk.

I'm honestly thinking of removing the subscription, it isn't worth it :/

Oh...
My...
WORDS!!!

I'd say (out of context) that the only one it got right was the first one. But still should've overlooked it because it's an acronym. Really, that's too funny.

It may certainly be time to boot the thing. Grammarly, meet hoof... that's HWO pixel hoof!

[Gabby_Woodlark]

Of course xD I have Grammarly, which is supposed to help me with my studies... It does the opposite I try to say HWO, it turns into how. Scammed? Scammer. Champed? Cramped ( ). Grinder? Griffin. Oh, you want to say irl? Nope, it's irk.

I'm honestly thinking of removing the subscription, it isn't worth it :/

Oh...
My...
WORDS!!!

I'd say (out of context) that the only one it got right was the first one. But still should've overlooked it because it's an acronym. Really, that's too funny.

It may certainly be time to boot the thing. Grammarly, meet hoof... that's HWO pixel hoof!

Certainly, as in, meet a 21.3 hand horse hoof (My tallest horse so far )

[BlackOak2]

...

Ouch... a dinner plate print.
That's something not returned from easily.