Rules & Regulations

  1. Stable Sizes & Stalls
    1. Basic Members (members with a free, entry-level membership to HarnessNation) are restricted to have a maximum of 25 stalls in their Main Stable and 20 stalls in their Breeding Stable.
    2. First-Tier Premium Members (members with the purchased first-level account upgrade at HarnessNation) are restricted to a maximum of 80 stalls in their Main Stable and 55 in their Breeding Stable.
    3. Second-Tier Premium Members (members with the purchased second-level account upgrade at HarnessNation) are restricted to a maximum of a combined total of 225 stalls.
      1. Stalls may be purchased using HN Money up until a combined total of 175 stalls.
      2. Stalls beyond the 175 combined total point can only be purchased using HN Credits.
      3. Second-Tier Premium Members who have 175 combined stalls or more must have a minimum of 60 stalls in the Breeding Stable and can have no more than 165 stalls in the Main Stable.
    4. Additional stalls may be accumulated by the discretion of administrators for Premium Members.
    5. Premium Members have the option to move their additional stalls between their Main and Breeding Stables for a HN Credit fee. All stall rules, minimum requirements and limitations apply.
      1. If stalls are moved in such a way that a stable has more horses than they have stalls in either stable, a racing suspension will be applied to that stable (please see rules pertaining to racing suspensions.)
    6. Stalls can only be transferred between the Main and Breeding Stables within a single stable account and cannot be transferred to different stable accounts.
    7. Having more horses than there are stalls will result in an immediate suspension from racing, sales and breeding until the stall to horse ratio is corrected.
  2. Multiple Stables - Users may create as many stables as they would like to at HarnessNation, with either the Basic or Premium status. Users who own multiple stables must follow specific rules:
    Stables owned, created or accessed by the same user cannot:
    1. Buy, sell or claim horses between their multiple accounts. Any stables found transferring horses between their stables without using the appropriate Transfer a Horse tool will face the following penalties:
      1. For first time offences or for smaller transfer problems, there will be a minimum of a four week ban from the entire game and all of the horses involved in the transfers will be fully retired - regardless of what stable they currently reside in. All connected stables will also receive a ban. If a large amount of connected stables are found to be connected and the stables are what we consider 'rubbish' stables or stables that may have been used in cheating schemes, all stables connected will be banned indefinitely.
      2. For second time offences or large transfer offences there will be a minimum of one to two HarnessNation season ban from the game and all horses will be retired from the stable involved or those connected. A large fine will also be imposed on the stable involved and those connected.
      3. For third time offences or incredibly large offences (in some circumstances, even if it is a first offence), the stable involved, and possibly those connected, will receive a permanent ban from HarnessNation. All horses involved will be retired.
    2. Breed with horses located in other stables that they own. This includes any scenario with which a foal owned in a stable is offspring of a stallion and/or broodmare located in another stable owned by the same user.
    3. Sale Exception: Users are exempt from the sale rule between stables they own if they use the Transfer a Horse tool available within the game and transfer horses for the required HN Credit fee.
    4. Breeding Exception 1: Second-Tier Premium stables owned by the same user are exempt from breeding rules provided the stables involved are all Second-Tier Premium stables.
      1. For a user to breed between two Second-Tier Premium stables that they own, they must send private breeding offers between the stables.
    5. Breeding Exception 2: Horses acquired after a reasonable amount of time has passed since their foaling (as per discretion of administration) that violate the aforementioned breeding rule whereby stables cannot possess foals that are offspring of stallions/broodmares located in their other stables are exempt from that rule.
      1. Example: A user owns Stable A, B and C. In Stable A, they purchase a 3yo colt that is by a stallion standing in Stable B. Per rule 2.b, this is a violation. However, as sufficient time has passed and the foal is 3 years of age, this makes the acquisition acceptable.
  3. Breeding
    1. Direct inbreeding is not acceptable.
      1. Direct inbreeding is when the sire or dam breed with one of their offspring or when two horses that share the same sire or dam are bred together.
      2. Indirect inbreeding/linebreeding is acceptable.
      3. The game will attempt to block any inbreeding from taking place. However, there may be instances where this occurs on accident. If you accidentally perform direct inbreeding or notice an inbred foal, please notify Administration and the foal will be removed from the system without penalty. If the foal is a yearling and breeding season is still active, the mare's breeding will also be released so they can breed again.
  4. Race Entries
    1. Daily race entries (Claiming, Open, Preferred)
      1. Users are restricted to have a maximum of two entries in a single race per stable.
      2. Scratching may take place on the My Entries page only while entries are in pending status and have not yet closed or entered official status.
      3. Entries close and become official one day prior to the specified post time at approximately 1 am ET.
    2. Stake race entries (Stake Eliminations, Stake Finals)
      1. Stables must be Premium Members to be eligible to nominate a horse for a stake race event. Some stake races may only be available to Second-Tier Premium Members.
      2. Users are restricted to have a maximum of two entries in a stake race event per stable.
      3. Scratching may take place on the stake information page only while horses have not yet been officially entered into the official race itself and listed as such in the My Entries area.
      4. Scratching from a stake race cannot be undone.
    3. All races are limited to a total number of 12 starters.
  5. Stake Race Nominations
    1. Nominations will, typically, open on the Sunday morning two weeks prior to the elimination heats taking place.
    2. Nominations will close at Midnight ET on the Sunday night as specified on the stake information page, which will typically be the Sunday prior to eliminations taking place.
    3. Nominated horses must remain nominated until the elimination fields are finalized if owners intend to have said nominated horse compete in the event.
    4. Horses can only be actively nominated for a single stake race at a time.
    5. Nominees must meet the requirements set forth by the race during the nomination process through until the final race completes. If a horse proceeds to compete in an elimination or final and does not meet the requirements of the race, the stable will be issued a suspension of no less than fourteen days.
    6. Nominees must meet all general race eligibility rules.
    7. Owners are responsible for removing the nomination of or scratching any horse that is injured and will remain injured when an elimination or final takes place.
    8. Stables must retain appropriate Premium Membership status throughout the entire stake process from nomination until the final race completes.
    9. Nomination fees are non-refundable.
    10. Nomination Rankings:
      1. All nominated horses will be ranked by their Stakes Eligible Earnings, which are earned from Preferred, Open, Stake Elimination and Stake Final races.
      2. Stakes Eligible Earnings leveraged will only be from a horse's Last Six Starts.
  6. Stake Race Eliminations
    1. Elimination heats are generated within two hours following the closure of nominations. Any nomination removed before elimination heats are final will not be included in the eliminations.
    2. In the event there are 12 or less nominees, eliminations will not take place and the final field will be set. The date of the final will remain unchanged and stake entrants can race in regular races in the meantime.
    3. Scratching may take place until the official race has been generated on the day prior to the specified elimination date. Scratches must be performed on the stake information page.
    4. Elimination heats will all take place in the same conference as specified by the stake information page.
    5. There shall be no more than 4 elimination heats per stake race.
    6. In the event there are more nominees than there are live posts in elimination heats:
      1. The top nominated horses ranked by their Stakes Eligible Earnings shall earn live posts in an elimination heat.
      2. The 12 horses subsequently ranked below those who earned a live post will be assigned as an Also-Eligible to an elimination heat.
      3. Horses on the Also-Eligible list will automatically move into a live post in the event a live entrant scratches.
      4. All remaining nominees will not proceed to the eliminations.
    7. All elimination heat and post assignments for each eligibility group (live post, also-eligible) will be randomly assigned.
  7. Stake Race Finals
    1. Stake race finals take place on the date and conference specified per the stake schedule and stake information page.
    2. Final fields will include 12 official entries and three Also-Eligible (AE) entries. AE entries will automatically move into the field if scratches takes place in the top 12.
    3. Final fields will be generated at the top of the hour following the elimination heat completion, if eliminations took place.
    4. Final entrants will be assigned posts based on finish position and final time in their respective elimination heats. In the event of a tie, the selected horse will be randomly chosen.
    5. Scratching may take place until the official race has been generated on the day prior to the specified final race date. Scratches must be performed on the stake information page.
  8. General Racing - Horses must meet the following criteria to be eligible for entry in any race at HarnessNation:
    1. Horses must have qualified prior to entry and are only eligible to enter races for the gait(s) they have qualified for.
    2. Must have a minimum of fourteen health and fourteen energy the day the horse is being entered, regardless of when the race will take place.
    3. The horse must be located in the Main Stable.
    4. The horse cannot be officially entered in any other race, injured, up for sale, entered into an auction or involved in any other aspect of the game at the time of entry.
    5. The horse must meet the age, gender, win conditions and any other restrictions available on that particular race.
    6. Entry and shipping fees are non-refundable.
  9. Claiming Races - Claims may be placed on horses that are running in these races. If there are multiple claims on a horse, the winner of the claim is decided in a random draw. The following rules must be met, though, for claiming:
    1. If a user claims a horse they previously owned, they must claim it into the stable that originally owned the horse.
      1. Claims are exempt from the buy-back rule (12.a).
    2. Only one claim per person per horse is acceptable; multiple claims from multiple stables you own is not acceptable.
    3. If a stable claims a horse that they do not have sufficient room for, they will receive a suspension until they resolve their horse to stall ratio.
    4. Stables are not allowed to place a claim on their own horse, even with a different stable. If the claim goes through, it will result in an immediate three-month ban.
    5. Groups claiming the same horse/horses back and forth not allowed. An example of this is getting a friend/friends to claim it for you so you can reclaim back in it's next claiming race. Administration will pick up on patters like this and issue bans accordingly.
    6. Claiming horses to intentionally retire them immediately is not acceptable. The odd occurrence of this is acceptable, however doing so in a malicious way without attempting to sell the horse to other players first will not be acceptable.
  10. Private Transactions
    1. Transactions that are made in private based on good-faith or a person's "word" are not regulated by HarnessNation. We are not responsible for any unfaithful transactions that are not executed using the tools available within the game.
    2. Transactions of horses for sale in order to transfer money to one stable, whether it is owned by the same user or not, is unacceptable.
      1. An example of this: stable a sells a horse to stable b for $1 and purchases the horse back for $5,001 in order to provide stable b with $5,000.
      2. If two users wish to send money to one another, they can do so via the Payment Center, provided they are separate individuals and not the same individual attempting to siphon money into a single account.
    3. Transactions of horses between stables owned by the same user are unacceptable. This includes the use of third-parties as intermediaries. If a user wishes to move a horse from one of their stables to another, they can only do so using the Transfer a Horse tool.
  11. Payment Center & Money Transferring
    1. Users cannot transfer HN Money between stables they own.
    2. Users cannot use a third party to transfer HN Money between stables they own.
    3. Users cannot purchase a horse into one stable and use a secondary stable to pay for it.
    4. Users cannot sell a horse from one stable and accept payment for it in another stable.
  12. Horse Sales & Transfers
    1. Buy-Back Rule - Horses sold either through auctions, claims, sales board, or via private transactions may not be purchased back by the original seller for one (3) full real months (90 days).
    2. In accordance with the above, the horse must return to the original stable owned by that user that it resided in.
    3. Claims are an exception to the buy-back rule as per the claiming section above (9.a.)
    4. Transfers
      1. Horses may only be transferred once within a user account in a 90 day period. After 90 days, this horse may be transferred again to any stable within the same user account.
  13. Stable Sales & Giveaways
    1. If you receive a stable from another person (via gift, payment or other), you may not sell any horses (directly or indirectly) from said stable to other accounts owned by the person you received it from.
    2. Any recent sales between the person receiving the stable and their other stables would also be considered unacceptable. This is classed as horse transferring and will be treated as such.
  14. General
    1. Any activity that is deemed to have a negative impact on the game-play or community at HarnessNation or is found to be malicious in intent by administration at HarnessNation is unacceptable. Administration will handle any such scenarios at their discretion with the integrity of game-play and a positive welcoming, family-friendly community at HarnessNation being the priority. If any act is deemed to be detrimental to the game and/or its community, suspensions and/or bans will be issued at the discretion of administration.
  15. Message Boards, Chatroom & Private Messages - The following acts are unacceptable. Upon the execution of any of the following, it will be to the moderators discretion as to how the situation will be dealt. This may include complete bans from the entire website, regardless of membership status. Warnings issued by moderators must be respected.
    1. Any form of negative behavior that is not family-friendly.
    2. Advertising anything other than images or stable websites without the proper consent.
    3. Flooding. This includes, but is not limited to: the use of ASCII text drawings (chatroom); multiple lines of the same/similar text (chatroom); repititious replies; bumping and threads in the same or different message boards stating the same or similar topic.
    4. The use of all-caps or odd-caps continuously.
    5. Excessive name changes (chatroom).
    6. Swearing. Words that are unacceptable are left to the discretion of administration.
    7. The use of hurtful, disrespectful, rude and hateful comments.
    8. The use of large images (forums/signatures).
    9. Initializing or contributing to a negative discussion.
  16. Game Glitches - Any blatant misuse of technical glitches in the game will be considered cheating the system and receive a suspension and/or ban from the game.
  17. Suspensions, Bans & Horse Retirement - Users shall receive punishment based on the moderators discretion upon the violation of the above rules. Basic and premium members alike must comply to these rules and may receive permanent removal from the game. Any horses that are found to have been bred between stables owned by the same person, or have been used excessively in horse transferring issues can be fully retired by administration. Each case will be looked at individually. Multiple offences by the same person will result in a permanent ban of that person and all the stables associated with that person. Honesty of the player on the issue will also be considered when deciding upon suspensions or bans. Behavior on the message boards and/or chat that results in a ban may also result in user accounts and stables within the game being banned, as well.
  18. Disclaimer - We are not responsible for any lost or missing horses or money in your account. These rules are subject to change. Questions should be sent to Administration. Users shall receive punishment based on the moderators discretion upon the violation of the above rules. Basic and premium members alike must comply to these rules and may receive permanent removal from the game.