Everything We Know About ‘Horses of Hoofprint Bay’

After the major disappointment of Storm Horse Simulator, my mind began racing with questions. What role does nostalgia play when it comes to our expectations of horse games? Is there room to offer something new, or are devs inevitably beholden (dare I say… behooven) to never leave the path already travelled? Well, as it turns out, Theresa Thoma and Anna Glinsmann of Thogli Studios beat me to the punch by releasing the first official announcement for Horses of Hoofprint Bay: an old-timey, 2D-style stable builder and management game, with Alice Ruppert and The Mane Quest handling marketing and publishing. Tackling a project of this scale with a three-person team may sound borderline impossible, but it’s clear that Thogli is not afraid to fill a though pair of riding boots. So let’s jump right into it, and let’s see what new adventures they have in store for us!

HORSES OF HOOFPRINT BAY: A BLAST FROM THE PAST

From the get-go, Horses of Hoofprint Bay makes it perfectly clear as to what game inspired its overall blueprint. Developed by Limbic Entertainment in 2003, Pferd & Pony: Mein Pferdehof (also known as My Horse Farm, My Pony Stables and Horse and Pony Tycoon, per The Horse Game Database) is a turn-based stable management game, released on PC and Game Boy Advance. With no story to follow, players are encouraged to raise their own equestrian facility from the ground up, taking care of horses, winning tournaments and breeding new stock to sell. However, behind this deviously simple premise, lies a highly competent gameplay loop, where every action can have significant consequences. Furthermore, its vibrant, cartoony style lends itself well to illustrate a vast range of emotions in the titular horses, giving you clues as to their need and overall well-being—something many modern titles still struggle heavily with.

A cartoony style doesn’t always equate to competent horse animations or expressivity.
At first glance, could you tell what emotion each horse is feeling? 
Pferd & Pony: Meine Pferdehof © Limbic Entertainment | Bibi & Tina: Adventures with Horses © Markt+Technik

As someone who never played the original game, one thing that immediately stands out regarding Mein Pferdehof is the incredible amount of details in each illustration. There is so much going on in each and every frame, adding many little things in the background that serve no purpose other than to immerse yourself in the messy, chaoting, often unpredictable reality of running a horse stable. And given an overall gaming landscape where even the bare minimum is often a hurdle too high to clear, this outpour of love and care cannot be anything but welcome.

And when it comes to love, Horses of Hoofprint Bay has it in spades.

REIMAGINING TRADITION

At the heart of Hoofprint Bay lies a true and tested recipe—a scrappy young trainer, a plot of land and dreams of equestrian stardom. However, things aren’t going to be nearly as easy this time around. Forget state-of-the-art riding halls and pristine paddocks—in the beginning, all we’re going to get will be a run-down trailer home, a small mud lot and a ramshackle hut. And yet, the place feels like home from the very first moment. As I mentioned before, money is the great (dis)equalizer of the equestrian world, leaving many riders struggling to balance both their passion and the checkbooks. And while it’s true that sometime it’s nice to just play pretend for a bit, there’s nothing wrong with keeping it down to earth every once in a while!

There’s something super comforting in knowing that you don’t need a million dollar stable to feel ‘good enough’.
Horses of Hoofprint Bay © Thogli Studios

But of course, moving in is just the beginning of the adventure. In true horse games’ fashion, there are three main ways to earn your keep in Hoofprint Bay: winning champs and tournaments, giving lessons and raising new foals to sell. However, those are far from being the only interesting things to do on your farm! With every new day, there’s manure to deal with, horses to groom and forest trails to explore, providing a nice change of view and new opportunities for training and extra rewards.

BREEDING SUCCESS

And that’s not all! The more your operation expands, the more the management side of the game comes into view. While improving your facilities can open up new streams of income, the additional workload will require balance between hiring extra staff and keeping some money in the bank to cover expenses… which are bound to increase exponentially as you renovate your facilities.

I don’t know about you, but it’s been forever since I’ve seen such a detailed spread sheet of expenses for a horse game!
Horses of Hoofprint Bay © Thogli Studios

And finally, a special mention must go to the true pillars of the game. Whether they are lazing around in the pasture, waiting patiently to be groomed or taking care of their young, the horses of Hoofprint Bay are just oozing with personality, thanks to the incredible work of Anna Glinsmann. There is perhaps no better example than horse games to justify the old saying ‘the Devil is in the details’, and in this regard Horses of Hoofprint Bay provides the clear and crystal truth:

Horse Girls. Get. Stuff. Done.

Could those be… realistic coat combination and varied patterns?!
Horses of Hoofprint Bay © Thogli Studios

THE POWER OF COMMUNITY

There is another reason why Horses of Hoofprint Bay represents something special. The game’s inception goes back to no other place than the Horses and Video Games Discord Server where, inspired by Alice Ruppert’s talk about Mein Pferdehof, Theresa Thoma expressed her interest in making a similar game. Thanks to another user, SartorialDragon, Glinsmann was brought on board as an artist, with Ruppert herself taking over the marketing and publishing. A true community effort, and a testament of the impact The Mane Quest had in rallying together those Horse Girls still looking for competent games, and an incredible achievement in its own right.

Community involvement is also at the forefront of another project involving Ruppert and The Mane Quest. I’m talking, of course, about The Legend of Khiimori, the open world adventure by Aesir Interactive coming to our screens next Spring. A game that would end up raising close to half a million euros through Kickstarter, blowing past its original € 60.000 original goal to include features such as Falconry, Hunting and Mongolian Horse Racing. And despite some hiccups, the official Demo released during Steam’s Next Fest proved beyond any reasonable doubt that there is a growing market hungry for horse-centric adventures.

As long as you listen to the Horse Girls.

Anna Glinsmann took great inspiration from the landscape of northern Germany, where she grew up,
to give the stables a cozy, lived-in feeling in harmony with the surrounding nature.
Horses of Hoofprint Bay © Thogli Studios

Horses of Hoofprint Bay is available to be wishlisted on Steam, aiming for a 2026 release. Further updates are available by subscribing to the official newsletter and following Thogli Studios on Bluesky, Instagram and YouTube.