Foaling: Rules & Information

[TS STAFF]

This thread will detail all of the rules and information in regards to mares giving birth on our site. Please read through carefully as some of the rules and information provided are very specific.

- Breedings will take place in characters' homelands. Posts must be kept PG-13 and we ask that you add "Breeding Thread" somewhere within the thread title.
- Breeding success or failure will be determined by a member of staff.  If after two days your thread has not been reviewed, notify a member of staff.
- Both parties must use the form provided when a foal is to be born on site. This is how your foal's stats will be determined.
- Even if a breeding is successful, mares can still have stillborn foals, miscarry early in gestation, or have other birthing complications. This will be decided by a random number generator when parents' stats have been posted.
- The number generator is based off numbers between 1 and 200. Set numbers have been decided for stillborns, birthing complications, miscarriage, and twins. Only staff will know what these numbers are.
- Birthing complications include: death of the mother or both mare and foal, hard labor, foal not breathing or latching after birth, neurological damage, poor development in the womb, or deformities (blind, deaf, missing/extra limb, etc).
- Gestation for foals is 4 real-time days counted from the day the parents' stats are posted, not when the breeding thread was created and concluded.
- Breeding and foaling will only take place during on-site spring and summer months.
- Foal gender is decided by coin toss. Heads for filly, tails for colt. Coin toss will be best 2 out of 3. The only exception is when there is an influx of filly/colt ratio. For example, if the coin toss resulted in three fillies in a row being born on site, it is guaranteed that the next mare to foal will produce a colt, and vice versa.
- Mane/tail color, coat color/markings, eye color, and peak height will be determined by a genetics generator based off the stats of both parents. Foal stats will not be posted until the day the mare is set to give birth, just to keep it a nice surprise for both parties. We do like surprises.
- Who roleplays the foal is to be determined among both parties. The person who roleplays the mother gets first choice. However, in the event that the roleplayer of the mother goes inactive, roleplay rights to the foal will be granted to the party who plays the father. This cannot be changed, even if your activity picks up. 
- Foals will age just the same as other characters on our site. This means that every spring/summer, the foal must age by 1 year. After reaching 2 years of age, the person roleplaying the foal must create an application within the Free Spirits board and have the application accepted, like any other character. Failure to create and have an application accepted will result in all roleplaying with the foal being put on hold until such application is created. If you fail to provide an application within one week of the foal aging, roleplay rights will be granted to the other party. If they also fail to create an application after 1 week, the foal will be moved to the adoption board.
- If a mare foals to a stallion not within her homeland, and the roleplayer of the father receives roleplay rights to the foal, the foal must be roleplayed with the mother within her homeland.
- Detailed rules regarding trading and kicking foals from herds can be found in our official site rules.
- Everything above also applies to twins. Twins are randomly decided by a member of staff and an additional coin toss will determine wither or not both foals will survive the birth. A coin toss will also determine if the mother survives birth. The person playing the mother will choose between the coin toss being for the survival of the foals or the survival of the mother.
- In the event both twins and the mother all survive the birth, both parties will get to play one foal. Who plays which foal is to be determined among the members involved. If no decision can be reached, a member of staff will decide.


Below is a basic stats form that has been filled out as an example. You may use it as a guide when filling out the parent's details.

Dam: Sally
Breed: Thoroughbred x Quarter Horse (Appendix)
Eye color: Brown
Coat color: Palomino
Mane/tail color: Cream/white
Height: 15.2hh
Build: Slender frame with slightly stocky legs.
Markings: Four white socks, blaze

Sire: Edgar
Breed: Shire
Eye color: Blue
Coat color: Black
Mane/tail color: Black
Height: 17hh
Build: Average
Markings: Piebald, four white stockings

Congratulations! Here are your foal's stats!
Gender: Colt
Coat color: Buckskin
Mane/tail color: Black
Markings: Standard buckskin markings, white sock on right front leg, blaze
Eye color: Brown
Build: Stocky, foal will take more after father in this respect
Guesstimated height: Will not be shorter than 16hh, will not exceed 17hh.
Birthing complications: None
Deformities: None

FOR DAMS:

[b]Dam:[/b]
[b]Breed:[/b]
[b]Eye color:[/b]
[b]Coat color:[/b]
[b]Mane/tail color:[/b]
[b]Height:[/b]
[b]Build:[/b]
[b]Markings:[/b]

FOR SIRES:

[b]Sire:[/b]
[b]Breed:[/b]
[b]Eye color:[/b]
[b]Coat color:[/b]
[b]Mane/tail color:[/b]
[b]Height:[/b]
[b]Build:[/b]
[b]Markings:[/b]