One of the highly anticipated expansions of The Sims 4 franchise, namely Horse Ranch, finally adds the long-awaited horses to the game, alongside bringing other features revolving around ranch life. With that, players can take care of horses and other animals, as well as make nectar and involve themselves in community activities in Chestnut Ridge to fully immerse themselves in a laid-back life that comes with its own challenges of taking care of a ranch.
While The Sims 4 expansion patch doesn't come with any new careers for players to explore, they can still make significant amounts of Simoleons in many ways and make a living out of different routes they can take. For example, players can consider nectar-making as a side income; however, taking care of horses specifically can almost be a full-time job. It is highly rewarding if players are interested in dedicating themselves to horse-related activities specifically.
Entering Horse Competitions
One of the most straightforward ways of making money with horses is to enter horse competitions. While it takes a bit of an entry fee, especially on higher levels, the rewards are quite worth it if the horse places in the ranking. While there is no guaranteed way to ensure a gold medal each time, by training and maxing out riding skill as well as each of the available horse skills, players can climb up the difficulty levels and start making money daily. To have a consistent income with this, it is recommended that players own multiple horses, since a horse can only enter one competition in a day while the rider can enter multiple. As such, by entering multiple competitions a day, Sims have the potential to make more than many careers.
In addition to the competition prizes, winning a competition also significantly increases the sell value of a horse. Additionally, upon placing in the master rank (regardless of the ranking), the horse will receive the Champion Horse reward trait, which will allow players to breed horses with champion genes, allowing them to have a head start with higher value and easier skill training. Players should also note that if they are specifically aiming for gold to increase the revenue or horse value, they may want to consider saving the game right before entering the competition and reload the game to try again if no gold medal was received.
Selling Horses
For players who are particularly interested in breeding and training as many horses as possible, selling horses may be a long-term but rewarding activity. Generally speaking, a horse's value is determined by its skill levels, age, competition performance, and how well it is taken care of. Having Champion Genes will also increase their values. As such, players will need to be breeding and training horses consistently. Players can either choose to sell foals once they are trained or otherwise grow them to the adult stage and enter competitions with them before selling.
In order to have the most optimal profit out of this, however, players are recommended to first focus on obtaining the Grand Champ Trainer reward trait from completing the Championship Rider aspiration. This trait will not only allow these Sims to train horses faster, but they will also be able to sell horses for higher values. While completing this aspiration, players will also be making Simoleons from competitions and obtain a Champion Horse to breed horses with Champion Genes, making the offspring more valuable for selling as these horses will be worth more, but they will also be learning skills much faster. For that simple purpose, players are recommended to have at least one champion horse at a time to be kept rather than sold despite its high value.
Participating In Community Jobs
Another way of making money with horses is to pick out community jobs to perform by selecting the option from a Community Board. While players can find these boards commonly in Chestnut Ridge, they can also purchase one from the Buy menu if they would like to be more efficient and minimize travel time. Community Jobs highly resemble odd jobs in the sense that they are small gigs, although they can be worthwhile with high horse riding as well as horse skills. They typically take 4 hours to complete and require a horse in many instances, though other farm animals like mini sheep and mini goats can also be utilized to make money with the Community Jobs.
Collecting Horse Manure
Surprisingly, even the manure of horses can become a profit. Horses will be regularly leaving manure around the lot, which Sims can collect and stack up to be used for multiple purposes. While they do not sell very high on their own, with different qualities ranging from 10 to 20 simoleons, by stacking them for a while, players will notice a sort of passive income. Additionally, players who enjoy gardening can instead use them as an excellent source of fertilizer, which can significantly increase the quality of the crops and make money by utilizing them in this way instead. Either way, this can be considered more of a supplementary way of making some Simoleons, and on its own wouldn't be recommended as the sole Simoleon-making method.
The Sims 4 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S.