To be fair there wasn't a question asked in this post. But as I stated if any member had a question then I'm sure it would have been answered. But what I wrote was trying to explain why there may have been so few replies, I always read and re-read whatever I write and I don't think it was patronising. But the response I got was totally OTT and off topic. So I agree that it would be good if some of the 'older' members would answer more of the new people's questions but the new people also have to not shoot down anybody who gives them a response they don't like or nobody will ever bother to reply.

If you read my post "SUPERCAT", nothing was aimed at you about been patronising, nor was it ONLY about this thread.
Some forum users including yourself "supercat" are quick to reply/assume that posts are aimed at you/them, Hence read and read again, my post was an opinion that i have of the forum in general, It was not aimed at any individual/user and yet you feel the need to defend yourself/older forum users......

Oh I know Scotty. I didn't think for one minute that your post was aimed at me, nor was I trying to defend myself or anybody else, I just wanted to reply to some of the points you raised, considering the reply I got from a new member after what I wrote above. I totally agree that the users of this forum need to have a big rethink of their etiquette.

I don't know if you've seen the advert but much of the behaviour on this forum reminds me of the Saga car insurance advert where the people are rushing around bashing into other people, pushing people over, screaming at each other etc etc. While that advert reflects many walks of life now I think it's very much like that on here, and there seem to be so many people willing to write nasty, offensive or inappropriate things because the forum is virtually anonymous.

I don't know what started it but it needs to stop, this forum was such a nice thing to read a year or so back but now most of the threads revolve around arguments, disrepute or what some disgruntled and misinformed 'newbie' or 'older' member has said; rather than it being about the game and horse racing. It would be great if the SO4 forum could be like the SO2 and SO3 ones were. I have no idea where this one has gone wrong.

He's gone to Montreal for the weekend but pretty sure he mentioned it in one of the posts on the racing page, bit low odds for me.

Can't say I have noticed new members being dismissed or ignored, certainly didn't experience that first hand, but the arguments and fighting on here is becoming a joke. Seems to be every day some new one bursts into the open.

Agree with this being the main cause for arguments!
Excellent post Dixie lets all try this more often!

what does it mean when my horse prefers top of the ground or prefers cut??

Is that something to do with the surface?

Sorry if this is extremely newbie.. I just bought the game.. I love it..

Also does softer and firmer mean different surfaces?

A horse that prefers a bit of cut in the ground is a horse who would like a softer surface. So good-soft/soft.

There are 5 terms all to do with how hard or soft the course is. You'll find the all weather is nearly always standard as with real life in this country.

Hard = probably a bit like racing on a road although it's very unlikely now you'd get hard going at a real race course with all the mod-cons.!

Firm = Summer going, there is a bit of give but the horses won't leave much of a hoof print. Most of the shock absorption is from the thickness of the grass rather than the ground having a lot of give in it.

Good = 'Perfect' racing going. The horses leave a hoof print without cutting up the turf too much.

Soft = This is where a horse who likes a bit of cut would excel. The horses will likely kick up divots and leave holes in the course, they may well come back with mud up to their fetlocks.

Heavy = The deepest going. Horses generally come back covered in mud, unless they've lead all the way. They cut large divots in the course and damage the grass, sometimes they will have gone in above their fetlocks.

There are also goings in between those like Good-firm. In Ireland (possibly America) they also have different variations of soft and firm going which I believe are programmed into the game. I hope that gives you all the info you were looking for!

Yes that helped a great deal.. so horses wont have a preference to turf or dirt? just how soft or firm the turf/dirt is..

Occasionally your Stable lad will tell you that your horse prefers dirt, but it does not happen very often.,

Bill

As Bill Sieko says Head lad will sometimes tell you a horse prefers dirt. But the dirt will nearly always be standard, you don't really get any other changes in the game. I think I've seen standard/slow once.

Should bloody well hope so too SC! Mind you the last time a girl flirted with me, I ended up on a very expensive six year roller-coaster ride that I'm still a bit dizzy from!! Soo many shoes

Ha ha. I prefer horses to shoes, you'd only have to buy a few hundred (good) racehorses!

A FEW HUNDRED!! A FEW BLEEDIN HUNDRED!!

You'd have to be a Jewish nymphomaniac who was a dead ringer for Megan Fox for me to dig that deep.

Well you've never seen me in the flesh so you never know...

I guess I could settle for just 20 or so, as long as I got a couple of really nice dressage horses which would qualify me to ride at the Olympics next year too! Plus the house and the space to keep them and the racehorses, plus Phillip Hobbs or Martin Pipe or SMS or John Gosden, and I want a beautiful landscaped garden and a gardener, and a maid, I don't fancy cleaning a country estate house!