Question:

How do I create a horse? How do these 'Creation Credits' work?

Answer:

To create a horse, simply picture it in your mind and record its information somewhere. You will need, at minimum:

Horse Name: Fairly self-explanatory, yes? You should check Real Life naming guidelines for the breed you've chosen, and try to follow them as closely as possible. For example, Trakehners must be named for the first letter of their dam's name.

Sire: Should be realistic based on naming, colour, age, etc of your created horse. For example, if you want to use Real Life horses in your horse's pedigree, you shouldn't choose a bay 5 year old to be the sire of your cremello ten year old. Also note that horses cannot be registered with parents listed as 'Created' or 'Unknown' (with a few exceptions).

Dam: Same as the above field.

Dam's Sire: Same as Sire field.

YOB: The full, four digit year please. For example, '2000'.

Colour: This must be realistic based on the horse's breed and parents. Arabians cannot be champagne, Thoroughbreds can't be dun, etc. Additionally, two bays aren't going to produce a palomino, a cremello and a chestnut won't produce a buckskin, etc.

Pattern: Again, must be realistic. Arabians can't be tobiano or overo, Thoroughbreds can't be tobiano, etc. If your horse isn't a pinto or appaloosa, ignore this field.

Breed: Real Life breeds only, please. Don't cross breeds and make up random 'new' names for them. If a cross is recognized in Real Life, like an Anglo Arab or a Morab, that's fine.

Gender: Self-explanatory.

Height: Once again, must be realistic based on breed. Note this is the horses height at maturity. If registering a young horse who still has growing to do, record its expected height at maturity, not its current height.

Disciplines: You must select realistic disciplines for your horses. This includes appropriate levels for breed/age (ie Welsh Ponies will not be doing Grand Prix showjumping and 3 year olds will not be competing in Preliminary level Eventing), appropriate combinations of disciplines (ie horses cannot do saddleseat and dressage, nor is it likely to find an Eventer also competing in Hunter classes), and appropriate numbers of disciplines (horses do not do Grand Prix Showjumping, Grand Prix Dressage, and Advanced Eventing all at the same time; nor do they do every single Western or English class at the stock breed shows).

To officially create your horse in BITS, you will need to fill out the 'Create A Horse' form in the 'My Account' section of the BITS website. Input your horse's information in the appropriate field and click 'submit' once. Your horse has now been submitted for approval, and will show up on your 'My Horses' page with the status listed as 'Pending'. Once a staff member has gone over the information to make sure everything is realistic and correct, the horse's status will be changed to 'Active', and your horse officially exists!