Rules

Behavior

You must be at least 14 years old to join HF.
Pointless bickering will not be tolerated.
No foul language, bullying, teasing, harassment, political activism/discussion, or rudeness towards any group or person will be tolerated. This includes if the threats were made by someone else using your account with or without permission. Please be mindful of who has access to your account.
Posting about other games is allowed on the SIM Advertisements board only.
Playing in different games, simultaneous to HF, is permitted, but member’s HF activity must be regular.
Keep updated records. It is your responsibility to maintain quality, accurate records. Loss of information is not compensated for in HF.
Please try to practice proper grammar and spelling on the forums.
Administrators have the authority to suspend or expel members who violate rules. The officers will do what we can to protect our members.

Suspension, Banning, and Double-Playing in HF

The HF officers reserve the right to suspend and ban from the game any members who display inappropriate behavior, disregard for HF’s rules, etc. to protect the integrity and pleasantries that HF represents. The officers are required to examine the situation and issue a warning first. If the member disregards the warning, the officers may take steps towards suspension. If the issue remains present, the officers have the ability to exercise another suspension or a lifetime ban on that member from HF.
If the member violates rules during any of the above steps, the officers reserve the right to lifetime ban that member during the suspension and even after the member decides to quit in response to their suspension, if that be the case.
Remember, the above steps won’t be necessary if everyone familiarizes themselves with the rules, follows them, and displays good, mature behavior with common sense!
Double-playing in HF, essentially having more than one identity, is ABSOLUTELY NOT ALLOWED. It is quite ridiculous to double-play; there is no gain in it in HF. If you are caught double-playing, serious immediate action will be taken against you. Punishment ranges from long-term supervised probation and revoke of “unlimited” privileges to a permanent ban from the game, depending on your behavior and responsibility.
Returning HF players wanting to start under a new name for a clean slate is permitted, though contacting the officers first is highly encouraged so we don’t think you are double-playing. We will maintain your privacy about your identity.

Quitting HF

In the unfortunate event that you decide to quit HF, please contact an Officer to let us know.
Please secure the future of your horses before you leave. You may sell or give away, export, retire, or send them to The Committee. The Mandatory Registry and an officer must be notified if you export them, please read our export guide here and follow the instructions, making sure you also follow any breeder contracts that may apply. In the event you sell or give away your horses, please be sure to state whether or not you retain buyback/reclaim rights on those horses in case you decide to return.
If you do not state this, or leave under the pretenses of no possible return to HF, then you forfeit your rights to ownership of that horse if you do return to HF, and you do not have the right to ask the current owner for the horse back. Horses whose future isn’t secured prior to your leave will be absorbed by The Committee.

Time & Aging

1 real year = 1 SIM year
A stallion should be no less than two years older than its oldest foal.
A mare should be no less than three years older than its oldest foal.
You may not keep a horse at a single age for more than one real life year.
Mares must be in foal for at least 1 month before they can give birth.
Once a foal is born, you can age it within the normal guidelines.
A horse can only be speedaged once in its life.
Once a horse has shown or been bred (aka is active in HF), the horse can no longer be speedaged.

Death and Retirement

Horses are allowed to die in HF. Sometimes members post a creative disaster for others to read or participate in. HF likes to promote creativity and not rules, so there is no set age for a horse to perish in HF. However, we do ask that you keep their ages reasonable, and not have an unrealistically aged horse.
If you purchase a horse from another member, you MAY NOT have it perish for at least a year after the purchase date. Please notify the previous owner of the horse’s impending misfortune before the fact, as a member might be upset by a previous horse of theirs dying.
You are NOT allowed to retire or perish a horse that is NOT bred or created by you until you have contacted the previous owner/breeder if they are still in HF or All-Sim. ‘Bred by you” means you owned BOTH the sire and dam at the time of the foal’s birth. If one or the other (or both) are owned by other members, you must contact those members first and observe their breeding contracts.

Horse Registration

No two horses of any breed can have the same name.
All horses must be registered in the Mandatory Registry to be considered in the game.
You must register your horses before they can be active, IE showing, breeding, etc.
Breeders have the option of establishing prefixes and suffixes to a foal they have bred. For example, C&H Ranch foals have a suffix of CH, so for example: Happyfoal CH. You may only use your own prefix/suffix, and CANNOT use real life ones, such as V for Varian Arabians.
You may not have two stable prefixes or suffixes on a foal’s name. The prefix/suffix should be the only be the mare’s owners’ prefix/suffix.
Please do not use special characters like parenthesis, symbols, etc. in your horse’s name or prefix/suffix. These disable the show results collection function and you will have to manually collect results.
Famous, fictional, and real life horses’ names and statistics cannot be used (ie. Secretariet, Khemosabi, Black Beauty, etc.)
You may not change a horse’s name once registered. Once it is registered, the name is “set in stone.” Exceptions have been made, but you must petition the change to the Officers.
If you have a Committee horse, either from adopting/registering it directly or by purchasing it, you MUST include a note about it being a Committee horse in its registration in its post in the Mandatory Registry and include the Committee Adoption link. This is important information the horse carries for life.
HF DOES allow created breeds, but they must be approved breeds and certain protocol must be followed. Please read the created breed rules on the HF forum for more information and a list of currently approved breeds. We are very strict on what is allowed!

Creating and Importing Horses

New members through Intermediate members must follow the allotted amount of horse creates. You may find more information about that on the Member Levels page. Please keep your creation levels realistic and try to adopt, purchase or breed within HF.
Members may not create horses just to sell them.
Importation of horses into HF is allowed and encouraged for new bloodlines. However, abuse of this privilege will result in having it revoked at the Officer’s discretion. Please use common sense when importing, and do not forget to register all horses imported.
You are not allowed to import to sell.
Exceptions to the “No import to sell” rule. 1. you have imported a group of rare bloodlines or breed that you are actively promoting in HF, such as with an association 2. A game or stable merge with entire stable importations has been performed. In both cases, the officers MUST be contacted PRIOR to importation, and horses must be registered in the MR.
Horses CANNOT be copies of real life horses with the same stats and name, unless you are the owner of the horse in real life.

Breeding & Selling Horses

When a horse is sold within the game, the purchaser has 7 days to either register the horse with the Mandatory Registry if it has not been previously registered or to transfer the horse within its existing post. If the purchaser fails to comply with this rule, ownership of the horse reverts back to the seller. If a horse is exported, the owner at the time of export has 7 days to update the horse’s Mandatory Registry post to reflect the exportation (please use the exportation guide provided in the MR). If the post is not updated within that time frame, the horse will remain in HF and become property of The Committee.
Horses may be sold into All SIM and other games, as long as the Mandatory Registry is notified AND if the previous owner/owner of sire/dam of horse (if applicable) approved of the exportation. You MUST contact them first, and observe standing breeding/selling contracts on that horse.
Committee horses are never allowed to be exported, so be sure the horse was never in The Committee before you attempt exportation. This is your responsibility as an owner.
Many members uphold a breeding or selling contract. It is your responsibility to be aware of these contracts PRIOR to purchase or breeding, and to honor these contracts. If you re-home the horse, please let the new owner know what contracts apply. For more information on contracts and reclaiming, please visit Reclaim and Contract Guide and FAQ at the HF forum.
If you are a member with a contract, please post your contract into your member profile post in the “Meet Our Members” board on the forum. This allows all members to have quick reference to any contract you might hold over your sold/bred horses. THIS IS MANDATORY FOR ALL MEMBERS, if they hold a contract or have a horse with a contract held over it.
At the same time, please be reasonable in your contracts. Buyers should have freedom of choice with their new horse.
Please do not breed to sell. This contributes to the overpopulation of HF. If you do plan to sell a portion of your foal crop, please keep it a 1:4 ratio, where one out of four of your babies are for sale and you are keeping the rest. If you do not want to do this, another option is to post a foal crop announcement, accept private offers through PM on your foals, and keep the rest that aren’t sold, or perform custom breedings for members via an offer announcement.
HF allows the use of surrogate mares and AI. However, Thoroughbred racing horses cannot be bred in this fashion, mirroring the real life standards.

Please abide by these rules. If you are caught violating them, you will be punished!