Howrse
is an internet game where you can breed and care for your own horses, enter competitions, and take part in all kinds of promotions. Launched in 2007 by Owlient, Howrse can be played in over 20 languages.
This game contains the following tropes:
- Allegedly Free Game: A common complaint of Howrse is that players (especially minors) are expected to pay real world money if they want to unlock special features or acquire Passes.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: A recent Black Market item, Iris' Coat, will re-color a horse a random color of the rainbow (or even just "rainbow colored"). Players have a 50% chance of having a foal affected by Iris' Coat if their parents are bred with the item on hand. The dam (mother) must be 30 years old, too.
- The Bus Came Back: Animal companions for your horses were discontinued at one point, but were eventually brought back due to popularity.
- Cool Horse: You can make them cooler with Black Market items such as Golden Apples, Apollo's Lyres, and Helios' Rays.
- The Divine horses are a very notable example. They can be won during promotions or sales.
- Gender Equals Breed: Inverted; in cases of crossbreeding, the foal can be the mother's breed or the father's breed regardless of its gender.
- Goshdarn It To Heck: Invoked by the site admins; you aren’t allowed to swear on the game because there are minors playing.
- Immortal Procreation Clause: Divine horses can never breed, though there are certain Divine mares and stallions that can only reproduce once (the resulting offspring cannot breed, either). Fully averted with Qilin, though.
- Pegasus: They're common as the unicorns in the game, but unlike unicorns, you can only get a Pegasus by giving a horse the Black Market item called Medusa's Blood. In certain promotions, the game will ask you to remove the wings off a Pegasus, though unlike unicorns, you still have the chance of giving them wings again.
- Rule of Three: Donkeys and draft horses can only be bred 3 times (4 times if they are born while you have a Pegasus account). There seems to be a persistent habit among players to use up all 3 coverings the minute they become 2 years, 6 months (the age of sexual maturity). Coverings can be very expensive.
- Single Specimen Species: One Howrse card game promotion introduced Cowbra, a very rare and very valuable horse. It was won by one player who eventually deleted their account. Cowbra has not been seen or mentioned since.
- Unicorn: You can breed unicorns together, but unless you have a Hestia's Gift, there is a 1 in 8 chance of getting a unicorn foal. Certain promotions will ask you to remove a unicorn's horn, but once you do that, you can't undo the change, and they become regular horses.
- Winged Unicorn: One can be acquired by giving a unicorn the Black Market item Medusa's Blood.
- You Are Number 6: On Howrse, especially in the sales, many horses will be referred to by numbers instead of names. These numbers typically represent their genetic potential.
