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Description
Behold, my epic spreadsheet of doom! A lot of people have been asking me how I keep track of all my equine characters, and this is how. It is a simple little tutorial and is centered mostly around image rather than text. I have provided screenshots of the entire spreadsheet. Bits and pieces are color coded, which I shall elaborate on below.

And yes, this is my actual spreadsheet, though I edited bits and pieces so as to not give anything too major away.

*********************

The highlighted blue bar is the "header bar" which just lists all the categories for each character, but please take note of the row above it, Row 1. Listed there is a lovely reference for talent rolls.

From left to right, the categories are:
Age, Name, Barn Name, Gender, Bloodline, Height, Genes, Color, Talent, Birth, Sliding Build, Intelligence, Life, Trainer, Jockey, Current Resume, Racing Style, Temperament, Other Notes, Human Metaphor/Pairing

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To roll for talent, pop on over to the all-powerful Random Number Gods (aka RNGs), select 1-100, and click 'Generate.' A number will pop up and that will be the foal's talent.

Here are your talent listings (which I color code in the talent column for easy referencing):

1-10 = lavender; no talent at all. Find a different discipline!
11-27 = indigo; little talent to speak of
28-44 = blue; allowance winner
45-61 = green; GIII winner
62-78 = yellow; GII winner
79-95 = orange; GI winner
96-99 = red; all-time great
100 = red; could win the Triple Crown*

*Note that I say "could." I try to keep things as realistic as possible in my story, so I can't very well have a bunch of TC winners running around, especially considering there have only been 11 in the history of horse racing. Therefore, if I roll a 100, I roll again. If the second number is odd, the horse will not win the TC. If it's even, then I will consider having them win. Still, I have had a few land on 100-even in the past and have decided not to have them win. Just try to keep things as realistic as possible.

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Well that was fun. Now, everyone look with me to the yellow circles. See the asterisks next to the numbers? That means that the horse is either retired from racing or will never race.

Now, see the red circles? Those asterisks next to the names mean that particular horse is not owned by BCC Stables.

*********************

Oooo, the fun part. This was taken from GAQ's and slightly edited by me. All columns employ the RNGs' help.

Talent, we have already covered.

-----

Birth is somewhat simple:
1-3 = red; fatal/stillborn (1=lose mare, 2 = lose both mare and foal, 3=lose foal)
4-10 = orange; life-threatening complication; not fatal
11-25 = yellow; minor complications
26+ = safe birth

To determine if your mare is a twinnie (has a tendency to throw twins):
1-10 = twinnie
11-100 = not usually a twinnie

If a mare is a twinnie, then:
1-25 = twin birth
26+ = single birth
Although I adjust these number accordingly. For example, if I had a particular mare who threw twins more often then not, I would bump the numbers up to 1-30 or 1-40. It's entirely up to you.

-----

Sliding Build is a bell-curve.
1 = is conformationally built just like dam
100 = just like sire
50 = perfect combination of both

-----

Intelligence:
1 = dumber than dirt
100 = genius

It is color coded as 1-10=blue and 90-100=red for quick referencing.

-----

Life:
1-3 = red; fatal injury/illness
4-10 = orange; life-threatening injury/illness; not fatal
11-25 = yellow; minor injury(s)/illness(es)
26+ = safe

This, of course, is just a base to work with. I usually follow it, but not always. Don't be afraid to defy the RNGs to make your story more interesting!

*********************

Temperament is essentially their personality. For this, I employ the wonderful Personality Generator: [link]
The RNGs roll a number and I match it up to the Generator. Whatever that number is becomes the basic outline for the horse's personality. This generator is geared toward humans, but it's not that difficult to change them to fit equine minds. And remember, this generator refreshes every time you open it, so be sure to save your personality in your spreadsheet!

-----

This one should be obvious.

*********************

Now and then, a brilliant idea will come to me and I just have to write it down. Thus, at the end of my wonderful list of ponies I skip a few lines, then add in my future darlings who may or may not ever come into being. They are in "creation limbo," you could say.

---

Aaand finally, I like to keep all my horses on file for referencing, so I slap those way down in the spreadsheet where they are out of the way but still available.

All this nonsense (C) me

Feel free to make your own spreadsheet, and don't hesitate to mix things up a little! I played with mine for months before finally settling on a style I like.

As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Hope this helps. Happy organizing!

Description
Behold, my epic spreadsheet of doom! A lot of people have been asking me how I keep track of all my equine characters, and this is how. It is a simple little tutorial and is centered mostly around image rather than text. I have provided screenshots of the entire spreadsheet. Bits and pieces are color coded, which I shall elaborate on below.

And yes, this is my actual spreadsheet, though I edited bits and pieces so as to not give anything too major away.

*********************

The highlighted blue bar is the "header bar" which just lists all the categories for each character, but please take note of the row above it, Row 1. Listed there is a lovely reference for talent rolls.

From left to right, the categories are:
Age, Name, Barn Name, Gender, Bloodline, Height, Genes, Color, Talent, Birth, Sliding Build, Intelligence, Life, Trainer, Jockey, Current Resume, Racing Style, Temperament, Other Notes, Human Metaphor/Pairing

-----

To roll for talent, pop on over to the all-powerful Random Number Gods (aka RNGs), select 1-100, and click 'Generate.' A number will pop up and that will be the foal's talent.

Here are your talent listings (which I color code in the talent column for easy referencing):

1-10 = lavender; no talent at all. Find a different discipline!
11-27 = indigo; little talent to speak of
28-44 = blue; allowance winner
45-61 = green; GIII winner
62-78 = yellow; GII winner
79-95 = orange; GI winner
96-99 = red; all-time great
100 = red; could win the Triple Crown*

*Note that I say "could." I try to keep things as realistic as possible in my story, so I can't very well have a bunch of TC winners running around, especially considering there have only been 11 in the history of horse racing. Therefore, if I roll a 100, I roll again. If the second number is odd, the horse will not win the TC. If it's even, then I will consider having them win. Still, I have had a few land on 100-even in the past and have decided not to have them win. Just try to keep things as realistic as possible.

-----

Well that was fun. Now, everyone look with me to the yellow circles. See the asterisks next to the numbers? That means that the horse is either retired from racing or will never race.

Now, see the red circles? Those asterisks next to the names mean that particular horse is not owned by BCC Stables.

*********************

Oooo, the fun part. This was taken from GAQ's and slightly edited by me. All columns employ the RNGs' help.

Talent, we have already covered.

-----

Birth is somewhat simple:
1-3 = red; fatal/stillborn (1=lose mare, 2 = lose both mare and foal, 3=lose foal)
4-10 = orange; life-threatening complication; not fatal
11-25 = yellow; minor complications
26+ = safe birth

To determine if your mare is a twinnie (has a tendency to throw twins):
1-10 = twinnie
11-100 = not usually a twinnie

If a mare is a twinnie, then:
1-25 = twin birth
26+ = single birth
Although I adjust these number accordingly. For example, if I had a particular mare who threw twins more often then not, I would bump the numbers up to 1-30 or 1-40. It's entirely up to you.

-----

Sliding Build is a bell-curve.
1 = is conformationally built just like dam
100 = just like sire
50 = perfect combination of both

-----

Intelligence:
1 = dumber than dirt
100 = genius

It is color coded as 1-10=blue and 90-100=red for quick referencing.

-----

Life:
1-3 = red; fatal injury/illness
4-10 = orange; life-threatening injury/illness; not fatal
11-25 = yellow; minor injury(s)/illness(es)
26+ = safe

This, of course, is just a base to work with. I usually follow it, but not always. Don't be afraid to defy the RNGs to make your story more interesting!

*********************

Temperament is essentially their personality. For this, I employ the wonderful Personality Generator: [link]
The RNGs roll a number and I match it up to the Generator. Whatever that number is becomes the basic outline for the horse's personality. This generator is geared toward humans, but it's not that difficult to change them to fit equine minds. And remember, this generator refreshes every time you open it, so be sure to save your personality in your spreadsheet!

-----

This one should be obvious.

*********************

Now and then, a brilliant idea will come to me and I just have to write it down. Thus, at the end of my wonderful list of ponies I skip a few lines, then add in my future darlings who may or may not ever come into being. They are in "creation limbo," you could say.

---

Aaand finally, I like to keep all my horses on file for referencing, so I slap those way down in the spreadsheet where they are out of the way but still available.

All this nonsense (C) me

Feel free to make your own spreadsheet, and don't hesitate to mix things up a little! I played with mine for months before finally settling on a style I like.

As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Hope this helps. Happy organizing!