Horse Life

List Price: $19.99 Discount Price: $14.79

Features:

• Select the horse of your dreams from three breeds and give your new foal a name
• Learn the basics of riding, jumping and caring for your horse
• Compete in events like cross country, dressage and jumping
• Earn money to spend at the store and purchase riding outfits, equipment, or special treats for your horse
• Earn prestige awards to unlock in-game bonuses, including a new horse breed

Customer Reviews:

Great fun for the young Equestrian [Posted on 2008-03-07]
Got this game for my granddaughter along with many others, but this is by far her favorite Equestrian game. The graphics are great and the animation is hard to beat. I wasn't sure about buying this one, but it was well worth the money. She will spend many years playing this game.

Unrealistic, but interesting [Posted on 2008-03-28]
This game is very unrealistic, but it is interesting. The gameplay is decent in the lessons and challenges, but it does not present a proper view of real horse training... or horse life. You begin the game with the choice of 3 breeds, and then name your horse. The game ignores what could have been fun, playing with your foal and raising it... halter breaking, etc, but instead flashes to '2 years later'.

You then proceed to learning 'dressage', 'steeplechase' and 'eventing'. None of these is really accurate, but whatever. In dressage you learn the basics of moving the horse. The controls are not intuitive and you may need to repeat the lessons a few times. What's annoying is the fact that the lesson has to be repeated over and over if you make the slightest mistake. "Steeplechase" doesn't remotely resemble actual steeplechasing... it's more like showjumping, seeing as time doesn't matter, you don't jump hedges and you're alone. Eventing combines the two previous events with a woodsy jumping course in addition, rather like real eventing. (Yay.)

It should be noted that your rival looks like the chick from Transformers and she doesn't really do anything if you lose to her or beat her besides complain that you've cheated or say that she naturally would beat you. You never see her horse or her compete, so it's more of a waste of time.

Besides lessons and competitions, you also have to trail ride, groom, and feed your horse in the morning. You also can visit him in the pasture (it's always a gelding) where you whistle to him and then feed him apples. You could feed him 100 apples. He's the magical non-colicing horse.

The fact that you're jumping 4" and doing high dressage with a 2 year old horse is a little disturbing to a horseperson as well. But it is a game.
The menus are annoying, as well. But it's something vaguely horsey to play while you're waiting for the train.

A review from an experienced horseback rider! [Posted on 2008-07-19]
This was one of the first games that I got for my Nintendo Ds, and I have to say that from riding for four years(hunter/jumper), this game was not challenging enough for me. I think that even for someone with no experience with horses, this would be an okay game to get but for a real horseperson, not really.
In the beginning you start out by choosing from three breeds, but I didn't think those were enough-I would be satisfied with a little more variety. Also, you immediatly get a gelding-I mean, it's a foal, it has to start out as a stallion or otherwise a mare. Then the screen goes to "2 YEARS LATER". I wish that you get to train your foal; that would be loads of fun.
The eventing (dressage, steeplechase, and cross-country) events are not realistic and eventing is usually takes three days. By the way, the guy who helps you "train", sets a bad example for training-he is way too critical and the animator made him look like Mr.Clean.
Although this game was not what I expected, I enjoyed buying from the gear shop and choosing my outfits!

A review from an experienced horseback rider! [Posted on 2008-07-19]
This was one of the first games that I got for my Nintendo Ds, and I have to say that from riding for four years(hunter/jumper), this game was not challenging enough for me. I think that even for someone with no experience with horses, this would be an okay game to get but for a real horseperson, not really.
In the beginning you start out by choosing from three breeds, but I didn't think those were enough-I would be satisfied with a little more variety. Also, you immediatly get a gelding-I mean, it's a foal, it has to start out as a stallion or otherwise a mare. Then the screen goes to "2 YEARS LATER". I wish that you get to train your foal; that would be loads of fun.
The eventing (dressage, steeplechase, and cross-country) events are not realistic and eventing is usually takes three days. By the way, the guy who helps you "train", sets a bad example for training-he is way too critical and the animator made him look like Mr.Clean.
Although this game was not what I expected, I enjoyed buying from the gear shop and choosing my outfits!

Horse Life Is Awsome! [Posted on 2008-08-14]
In the beggining of the game, you get to choose a breed. Then the mare has a foal, and the foal is your horse. Then you name your horse, and the game goes to "Two Years Later." Then your guide, who looks a little weird, helps you train your horse and enter it in contests. The things you teach your horse are pretty easy. There are four types of contests, and five levels. Every time you get a diploma, whcich is what you get for teaching your horse things, you can enter in a new contest level. The four types of contests are dressage trial, steelchase, cross-country, and eventing. In the dressage trial, you preform tricks. In the steelchase, you go over a bunch of jumps. The cross-country is like the steelchase, but it has a path, and the eventing is all three. You can also go for rides in the forest, and you can unlock new parts of the forest. You have to clean your horse and muck out the stall. You can visit your horse in the pasture, too. In the gear shop, you can buy clothes, saddles, brushes, shampoo, treats, and food. Also, there is an awsome grand prize. If you complete the natonal contests and start a new game, you can get a unicorn! If you want a horse game, you should buy this one.

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