Ashley Northhall

bc i feel like they’re really just drill teams making pretty shapes w/ their horses (which i’m not judging btw. it still looks really cool, and i’m sure they put plenty of time into thinking of routines. i just think they’re labeling it by the wrong name).

of course, i also know next to nothing about dressage, so i could be completely wrong. i’m of the opinion that SSO implementing dressage would be really cool (and long overdue), and to see a bunch of people calling something “dressage” and then doing a completely different thing seems rather strange.

also:

the jumping arena of the ridehouse has gotten plenty of attention in the past, so i think it’s a little odd that SSO has been stepping around the dressage arena for years now. they updated it with a section to sit in, and they’ve even had that Canter Ella audition quest take place there.

heck, they’ve even been referencing dressage movements, like the piaffe and the levade.

Actual Dressage requires memorizing a test, and performing that test as accurate as possible to later get scored on by the judges. The judges score based on accuracy, rhythm of the horse and rider (has their tempo been consistent throughout the test) suppleness, etc.

The sound of the horse hoof beats.

I see games with their focus being no where near horses have better sound with them.

Just an aesthetic I would love, if I could heard actual horse hoof beats.

-riding animations (referring to Link, not the horse… he actually looks like a rider is supposed to when sitting the canter, in SSO they still have the ‘character pasted to the horse sitting ramrod straight’ issue–there’s not enough movement for it to look natural even with the updated character models)

-cantering and galloping animations (referring to the horse–the emphasis on the suspension in BotW looks like how a canter feels to ride… idk how else to explain it)

-mane and tail animations are way better, it’s also a neat detail that when Link is riding a wild horse he grabs a section of mane to hold onto

-plus, you can whistle to call your horse over to you in BotW… a feature noticeably absent in SSO

And BotW is not even a game ABOUT horses. Not even remotely. It’s not just the hoofbeat sound effects that SSO needs to be improving. I mean, they’ve been getting better what with the new Connemaras and NSHs and their forelocks moving and stuff, but still. (I also really love that they FINALLY added bobbed tails as an option for the drafts… but that’s neither here nor there.)

Sorry, but there it is. 

Player:

for the Jarleheim mayor to return/be rescued. 

to find out what’s in Devils gap (prolly the mayor, no?)

to see if there was a point to the spy dude in Jorvik city

to see if there was a point to May & Lynx (is it her soul horse or something?)

are there more than 4 areas of Jorvik city cause??!

- Old King’s Road???

- Ashland???

- what is GED doing in Northlink???

I’m sure this might seem a little self-centered coming from a player who’s a quarters of the way into level 21, but there are a number of reasons why SSO needs to reconsider how they do leveling. And players of all levels should be interested in this progression change, because it helps us all to have these changes made, the least of which is the higher level players.

For example, Creek would decide he’s too lazy to run away from Darko, and if I’m not fast enough convincing him to get going we’d be caught. He’d probably also try to eat literally everything.

I would like to introduce Honky Tonk Jet aka “Jet” to everyone on here. The whole process went very smoothly! He loaded on to the trailer with no problems, was quiet, got off without a hitch, and settled nicely in the paddock with Virgil the Donkey! I walked him around the property for a bit, and in the arena just so that he could get of taste of everything, little by little. He was alert, and felt excited, yet had a curious and calm demeanor about him as well. When being turned out with Virgil, he walked around for a bit and grazed on some grass, then broke into a nice flashy trot straight toward Virgil! He started to herd Virgil around for a bit, with ears perked forward and necked arched. After he had his fun, he settled down again for a nice roll in the dirt, and went off to eat some hay.