last year and at the start of this year, shipping costs for broodmares was $200. I am asuming this was a coding error as the costs have now gone up to match the costs of shipping racehorses.(well they went up some time ago but I’ve only got round to writing this) This for me has come as something as a shock as shipping my racehorses soaks up any profit I make and then some. I have paid out over 60,000 this month alone shipping my horses back to the US and I’ve still got several more to send.
So what I’d like to know is, if I leave my broodmares at the stallions’ stables till they have their foals next year what will happen? Can I send the mare from one stallions stable to the next one? so she never comes home and saves me a fortune. If this is possible, what happens to the foals. There is no option for bringing them back, so will they stay where they are born until they reach racing age?
Shipping costs are out of proportion to the rest of the game if you don’t live in the US or Australia which is a real pity. I know some will argue that they are realistic and the game tries to be realistic and I have no argument with that. But in real life there is racing all year round in the UK so shipping is not an issue for the average horse. Here that is not the case, and with the problem of NE you are compelled to ship them home.
I know I have brought up shipping cost before but it is the only part of the game that I think is really out of balance.
Shipping broodmares has always cost the exact same amount as shipping racehorses.
You have to send all mares home by the end of the year. If you do not, they will all automatically ship home (with associated charges) on Dec 31.
Foals are automatically born at your home stable (hence the need to ship the mare home by the end of the year).
Once there are enough horses in the game, I plan on making both Australia and England have year-round racing schedules.
And, once again, FF stables will help with shipping costs because you won’t need to ship your horses home to your farm for resting.
With the utmost respect Shanthi I have clearly gotten lucky the last year or so as I only paid $200 for moving my broodmares - see an excerpt below. Hope you aren’t going to make me pay up now 
2011-05-13 Shipped River Gal from Darkwood Stables to Outlaws Incorporated $200 $740,105
2011-05-20 Shipped River Gal from Outlaws Incorporated to Darkwood Stables $200 $790,580
2011-05-21 Shipped Highland Continental from Australia to England $27,000 $763,580
2011-05-21 Shipped Wicked Thoughts from Darkwood Stables to Freedom Farms $200 $763,380
2011-05-25 Shipped Wicked Thoughts from Freedom Farms to Darkwood Stables $200 $792,980
Would it be any easier to allow other stables to look after resting horses rather than have FF stables? perhaps using something similar to the leasing system but with the payments going the other way? and the costs and timing altered? So I could ask say Stable XYZ to rest a horse for me for x days or weeks for total cost of $x. It would go through like a lease does now but the resting stable could do nothing with the horse but rest it. You would ship it to the resting stables as you would if you were shipping it home, but you would have chosen a stable near to its last race track so would cost only the $100. The resting stable would gain some money, very helpful for new or struggling stables. Could advertise their rates on the forum as well. I don’t know a lot about coding so it may be just as complex to adjust already written code as write it fresh, but I just wondered if it would be less work to do it like this at least for now?
River Gal was probably due to the bug in shipping leased horses. I don’t know what the deal with Wicked Thoughts was. Either way, it was never intended that mares get a cheaper shipping rate than racehorses. (If anything, they should cost more because they need more space/care, esp. if shipping with foals at side0.
And no, having stables board other peoples’ horses will not be any easier. Especially since you’d still be screwed then because (I believe/hope) no one has their stable based in Dubai, Japan, etc.