What do the bold skills mean on Howrse?

Answer 1

first, you need to know the definition of "bolding". When you bold your horses skills, you are not only literally making that skill name bold, but you are also training your horse to the point where it is finished training (AKA not gaining anything more in that skill). You do this by finishing the general training, do rides of all types (long and short) until it stops gaining, and by doing competitions. Unless your horse has a timer and/or a water of youth, it usually takes about over 15 years (i think) to bold a horse in all categories. An elite breeder could probably do it faster....

You will know when your horse is bolded because the name of the skill will literally be bolded. :)

Answer 2

Your horse is born with the potential (known as his "Genetic Potential/ GP) to earn a certain amount of points in each of his 6 skill areas - Stamina, Speed, Dressage, Gallop, Trot, and Jumping.

When you take him on rides, train him, or enter him in competitions, he will earn skill points in whichever skill area those things affect. Look below to see which rides and competitions increase which skills.

#RIDES

short trots: speed, dressage and trot

short gallops: speed, dressage and gallop

short sloping land: speed, dressage and jumping

long trots: stamina, dressage and trot

long gallops: stamina, dressage and gallop

long sloping land: stamina, dressage and jumping

#Comps

show jumping: speed, dressage, jumping

cross country: stamina, dressage

gallop races/barrels: speed, dressage, gallop

trot races: speed, dressage, trot

Once he has gained all the points he can in one of his skill areas, that skill will become 'bold' to show that it is complete.

For example, if you are trying to bold the Jumping skill, you will need to complete jump training to 100%, sloping ground rides till they give 0% gain, and showjumping competitions till they give 0% gain.

'Bolding' your horse's top 3 skills (which you can see by clicking on the link to his breed) is an essential part of achieving 100 BLUP for him.

You will need to have passed riding level 4 in order to see his BLUP, GP, and bolded skills. But that doesn't stop you from working towards bolding - you can tell approximately when a skill is bold because you will no longer be gaining points from rides or competitions and that skill's training bar will be full.

Note* Once all his 6 skills are bolded, your horse can still earn even more points through riding lessons, but only in his top 2 skills. These gains stop once he reaches 25 years old.