The riding club of sunflower valley

The Riding Club stands in the south west corner of Sunflower Valley, a short walk west of the valley gate. Take the country lane from the east side of the village, then turn west as soon as you are through the gate. The Sunflower Valley Halt of the Countryside Railway is just across the lane, on the east side. Open the club menu from anywhere with slash riding, or from the living world menu (slash world).

The club has five places. Stand in one and press shift and enter:

The yard and office, just west of the lane, about 15 steps inside the gate: the shop, horse sales, the notice board and the start of every trail ride.

The farrier's forge, just north of the yard: new shoes for your horse.

The stables, west of the forge: daily care for your horses and the school stable chore.

The riding arena, west of the stables: lessons, show jumping and dressage.

The paddock, the big grass field at the western end: turn your horse out to graze and call it by name.

You cannot ride while you are dead, in jail, in a vehicle or frozen.

Your rider level and rank

Every rider has a level from 1 to 10. Lessons give the most riding experience; trail rides and shows give some too. Your rank follows your level: Novice at levels 1 and 2, Rider from level 3, Horseman or Horsewoman from level 6, and Master of the Horse at level 10. Each new rank also gives you a title.

Some things need a level: your first horse and trail rides at a trot need level 2, cantering on the trails and dressage need level 3, show jumping needs level 4, and a second horse needs level 5.

Riding lessons

Lessons are held in the arena by Mrs Whitcombe, the riding instructor. Up to 3 lessons a day. A lesson on a school horse costs 120 points; on your own horse the instructor's fee is 60 points.

Lessons are a rhythm game. When a lesson starts a small menu opens with the line Now. Keep that menu open and press Enter on Now in time with what you hear:

Walk: four even hoofbeats. Press Now on every hoofbeat.

Trot: two-beat pairs. Rise on the first beat you hear and then on every second beat, so you press on one and let two go by.

Canter: three quick beats and a pause. Press Now on the first beat of each group of three.

Transitions: the instructor says prepare, then blows a whistle. Press Now as soon as you hear the whistle.

Gait quiz: you hear a horse's feet and choose walk, trot or canter.

Pole work: the horse canters towards a pole, one stride at a time. Press Now on the last stride, the moment of take-off.

Every lesson starts with a few steady walk steps: press Now on each one. The club uses them to learn how quickly your presses reach the arena, so a slow connection does not count against you; what counts is a steady rhythm.

Escape or the Pause line pauses the lesson; carry on to repeat the exercise from its start. If the Now menu closes, press shift and enter, or type slash ride, to open it again. If you leave the game during a lesson, your fee is paid back next time you log in.

There are five lessons: First steps (level 1), Rising trot (level 2), The canter (level 3), Pole work and take-off (level 4) and Dressage figures (level 5).

School horses

Bramble, Clover, Duchess, Pepper and Samson are the club's school horses. You can ride one for any lesson, trail ride or show without owning a horse. A school horse is always rested, groomed and shod.

Your own horses

Buy a horse at the office. You may own up to 2. Five breeds are for sale: Shire 20000 points, Haflinger 25000, Connemara pony 30000, Arabian 40000, Hanoverian warmblood 50000. Each breed has its own speed, jumping, rhythm and stamina. You choose a mare or a gelding and give the horse a name. Your horse lives at the club stables. It is not a barn pet and not a vehicle.

Horses have stamina, which drops on rides and in shows and comes back while they rest, twice as fast on a day they had oats. They also have a bond with you, training, shoes and a mood.

You can rename a horse for 200 points, or retire it to the club's pasture farm to free its stall. Retiring gives no points back.

Daily care

At the stables you can groom your horse (you need a grooming kit), feed it (a hay bundle, or horse oats for extra stamina), give it up to 2 apples a day as treats, water it and muck out its stall. When all four of grooming, feeding, watering and mucking out are done on the same day, the horse's bond grows and it is content.

A horse that has not been cared for since yesterday slowly becomes unhappy, and an unhappy horse jumps and moves less well. It never falls ill and never dies, and one full day of care makes it content again. Going away? Livery at the office costs 1500 points per horse for 7 days: the grooms look after it and it stays happy.

Anyone can help the grooms muck out the school stables once a day.

The farrier

Shoes wear down with every ride, lesson and show. Below 30 percent your horse moves less well; below 10 percent it cannot go on trail rides or into shows until it is shod. New shoes at the forge cost 600 points.

Trail rides

Start a trail ride anywhere in the club. You need a riding helmet in your bag. Your own horse rides for free; a school horse costs 150 points. You can ride out and back, or ride one way and get off at the destination while a groom leads the horse home.

While you ride you cannot walk: the horse carries you along the trail, and you hear its hooves and what you pass. Press shift and enter, or type slash ride, to open the ride menu: walk, trot or canter, where you are, turn for home or get off here. Cantering is fastest but tires the horse, walking lets it recover. A tired horse drops to a walk by itself.

There are seven trails: The Brook Bridge, The Orchard Rows, The Oil Press Lane, The Farmyard and the Red Barn, The Edge of the Great Sunflower Field, The Windmill, and Into the Village, which ends in front of the Governor's Mansion. Reaching the end of a trail for the first time adds it to your ride log. The first 3 trails you finish each day pay points.

If you leave the game during a ride, you carry on from the same place when you come back.

Shows

Show jumping: a course of fences in the arena. Up to 3 rounds a day, entry 100 points on your own horse or 250 on a school horse. First a warm-up canter: press Now on each stride. Then for each fence you hear its name and the number of strides; press Now on the last stride to take off. Too early or too late and a rail may fall (4 faults). No take-off at all is a refusal (4 faults and lost time); a second refusal eliminates you. After most fences you can choose Inside turn to cut the corner: it saves time but gives you only 3 strides to the next fence instead of 5. Rounds over the time allowed get time faults.

Classes: Clear round, cross poles up to 60 centimetres (level 4); Novice, 90 centimetres (level 6); Open, 1 metre 20 (level 8).

Dressage: a test of movements marked out of 10 each, ridden with the same rhythm game as the lessons. Up to 3 tests a day, same entry fees. Tests: Preliminary (level 3), Novice (level 5) and Elementary (level 7).

The best result of the day in each show is on the show table at the office. When the day ends, the winner of each table gets a trophy and a rosette.

The weekly championship

Everything you do at the club earns riding points on the weekly board: lessons, trail rides, clear rounds, dressage tests and daily care. On Monday the top three riders of the week get a gold, silver or bronze cup.

Rewards

Titles: Rider, Horseman or Horsewoman, Master of the Horse, Trailblazer of Sunflower Valley (all seven trails), Clear Round Rider (5 clear rounds), Dressage Rider (75 percent in a test) and Show Champion.

Trophies and rosettes for your first clear round, a clear round in the Open class, 80 percent in dressage, the best round of the day, and for your horses: a full bond of trust, five clear rounds and all seven trails on the same horse. Your horses keep a list of their own achievements.

Your ride log (office or main menu, or slash ridelog) shows your trails, rosettes, best results and your horses' achievements.

Commands

slash riding: the club menu, from anywhere.

slash ride: the ride menu while you are riding, or the trail list at the club.

slash horses: your horses.

slash ridelog: your ride log.

All of them are also in the club menu.

Items

Hay bundle, 40 points at the office: one feed. Horse oats, 90 points: one feed that also doubles stamina recovery for the day. Grooming kit, 800 points: needed to groom your own horse, never used up. Riding helmet, 1200 points: needed for trail rides and shows, never used up. Apples from anywhere work as treats.