You can’t just go and buy a horse, and this means you will attend the first Derby on the 18th day of Spring as only a guest, but don’t worry, there’s still some enjoyment to be had betting on the races. The day after the Derby, Mugi will visit your farm and give you a pony to look after. At this point you get to name the beast whatever you like, and it’ll be a name you’ll be seeing for a long time, so take your time choosing.
The foal reaches horsehood after 90 days and you can’t ride it until then, but you still need to think of yourself as the animal’s foster owner. If you don’t do a good enough job, Mugi will take it away once it reaches maturity. For a chance to keep the horse you’ll be spending so many days looking after, there’s a few things that need to be done.
Taking care of your pony is fairly simple, but doing so to Mugi’s standards might not be. First off, it doesn’t need fodder as other farm animals do, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have an easy ride. The foal needs to be talked to and brushed every day, and this is easy to forget with so many other tasks to attend to.
Pony Care
To talk to your pony, it’s a simple matter of approaching and pressing the confirm button. This will open a dialogue window where you praise the foal and you’re done. If you’re having trouble catching up to your free roaming foal, you can use the whistle key from close range to call the horse to your side.
Next up is the brushing and this is done with the brush tool selected and the use tool button. If you haven’t yet done this on the current day, you’ll see a heart icon appear over the animal. Like the Fishing Rod, the brush is not included with your starting tools, but this is easy to remedy. The Forge to the north of your farm sells a brush for a little small change so it’s not difficult to get.
You can see your current horse hearts in the pet relationship tab of the menu and you need to get your pony to a minimum of 4 hearts by the 90th day. While we don’t have the figures for the PC version of the game, it has been recorded that each heart equates to 24 points. Once a day you can gain a single point from brushing, another for talking to the horse, and most interesting (and never mentioned in game), possibly one more for gaining the pony’s attention with a whistle.
If you’re still struggling to reach the threshold, there is one more thing you can do to boost it up. Van is a trader that appears on the 15th of each season in the town square and he sells pet treats for 1000 coins that can be used to greatly boost the pony’s affection. If you feel you’ve missed some days of brushing, it would definitely be advised to buy some of these if you’re looking to keep your horse (and Mugi) happy.
If you fail completely and Mugi does take back the horse, he will only keep it for a year, so eventually you will still get a horse of your own. A year is still a long time to wait though, so it pays to take good care of your equine friend.
What's the point?
So, your pony is all grown up and Mugi is so impressed he has decided to let you keep it. What now?
Take it for a ride - That’s right, with the exception of entering buildings, you can ride your horse around town or off for a woodland adventure.
Enter the Derby - The Spring and Autumn Derbies give you the chance to race your horse (and bet on yourself). When racing, repeatedly tap the confirm button to spur your horse on to victory. Be careful not to overdo it though as your horse will tire. Use it only when necessary to stay ahead. The horse’s stamina will appear to you in a bubble: green is good, red is bad, and yellow is somewhere in between.
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