This week, we want to share some significant changes we’ve made to horse jobs for V2. While jobs provided a consistent income source in V1, we felt they were under-utilized—primarily because they weren’t lucrative enough and were difficult to balance with other energy demands in the game.
Our Vision for Jobs
We have two main goals for the jobs system:
First, jobs should be a viable option for horses who aren’t competing, allowing them to earn their keep without players feeling forced to show.
Second, jobs should be profitable for younger show horses who are still gaining experience, and should provide a retirement path for horses past their competitive prime. Once a horse is no longer at peak performance for showing, they can transition to a job and still earn a good income.
Now, we’re not saying you have to retire a maxed show horse—you can absolutely keep showing them to chase prize money! However, offering an attractive alternative helps prevent show ring saturation, which opens up placements for younger, developing horses to earn points and titles. This creates a healthier competitive ecosystem for everyone.
Salary Increases and Maximum Age Limits
To make jobs a genuinely appealing option, we’re increasing the salaries of most jobs, with a few exceptions. Here’s what the new pay structure looks like (with the caveat that we may adjust these as needed during testing): Yes, most jobs have seen substantial pay increases! But there’s an important addition: maximum age limits.
| Job | V1 Max Yearly Salary | V2 Max Yearly Salary | Max Age (years) |
| General Pack Horse | $27,600 | $34,800 | 15 |
| Rodeo Pick-up Horse | $26,400 | $38,880 | 15 |
| Hunting Pack Horse | $26,400 | $34,320 | 18 |
| Police Horse | $25,200 | $28,800 | 18 |
| Logging Horse | $26,400 | $38,880 | 15 |
| Ranch Horse | $25,200 | $23,040 | 18 |
| Parade Horse | $26,400 | $18,900 | 20 |
| Film Actor | $26,400 | $23,040 | 18 |
| Circus Horse | $26,400 | $28,800 | 18 |
| Pony Horse | $25,200 | $23,040 | 15 |
| Carriage Horse | $25,200 | $31,200 | 18 |
| Trail Horse | $18,000 | $15,600 | 20 |
| Therapy Horse | $16,800 | $14,400 | none |
| Lesson Horse | $16,800 | $14,400 | 25 |
| Petting Zoo | $16,800 | $10,800 | none |
| Rodeo Bronc | $18,000 | $24,312 | 15 |
Notice the Max Age column? That’s the maximum age a horse can be while performing that specific job. Some jobs—like pack work—are quite strenuous. It’s unlikely a 28-year-old horse would be doing that kind of work in real life, so we’re simulating that reality with age cut-offs. Two jobs, however—therapy horse and petting zoo—will have no age limit!
And, yes, a few jobs did decrease in maximum salary, but you will notice that they usually have higher maximum age limits, potentially allowing your horse to still earn more over time than some of the higher-paying, lower age-limit jobs.
Changes to Condition/Energy Requirements
We mentioned wanting jobs to help young show horses earn income, but there’s a problem: in V1, with how horse condition worked, the best feed only allowed you to do two of these three things per rollover without losing condition: train, show once, or have a job.
We’ve also talked about encouraging players to show young, in-training horses. So how do we expect horses to train, show, and work a job?
The solution: We’re tweaking energy requirements for training and jobs.
- V1: Training was -1 condition, jobs were -0.5 or -1, depending on the job
- V2: Training and all jobs will be -0.5 condition
This means you can train a horse, give them a job, and take them to one show per rollover on the highest calorie feed without losing condition. We’ve also made some adjustments to the feed system that we’ll share more about in the future.
Why This Matters
We want to encourage horses to start showing before they’ve completed training, so they can move up through the levels quickly and spread out competition more evenly. Fast point accumulation also opens the door to special championships like the Breeders’ Cup!
One major reason younger horses weren’t being shown in V1 was too much competition in level 1, making them unprofitable until they maxed out. With these changes, a horse in training can attend one show per rollover and—even if they don’t win much prize money—earn job income to help cover their expenses.
That’s the plan, anyway. We’ll, of course, adjust as needed if things don’t work out as intended during testing.
We’re excited to see how these changes affect gameplay strategy and career management. As always, we appreciate your support and feedback as we continue building V2!