so they uh

the dev team (consisting of sonus and his pals) all make it this thing.

every so often, when they're not making a new beta or testing one, they just pick a random player and mess with their save file when they're not online. (nothing major, though, and they return it to normal if the player asks them nicely enough)

sometimes they'll change stat values

others they'll shift around someone's story progress

or they'll lock a player out of a room they just gained access to.

or maybe they'll just swap around music code for the hecc of it.

but they also make a really nice code so that on a player's birthday, they have a 1.5x advantage multiplier on all rolls. including coloration rolls for bred horses, base stat rolls for bred horses, etc etc.

but yeah about the hellhorses...um...there's a 50-50 chance that you'll lose the horse you sacrifice. but if the ritual is successful, not only do the horse's stats carry over, but they ALL GET DOUBLED. (except win counts and whatnot) but then there's a freaking Pokémon-Shiny-encounter level chance that you'll get a major hellhorse instead, like an actual demon horse. the stats get a 2.5x multiplier instead of a 2x multiplier. the only drawback to a hellhorse of any kind is that the other horses you compete with (like your relief horses) lose experience due to the hellhorse's presence (and that asshole gets more than everyone else, whether it actually did anything or not). that and the fact that they're all banned from official tournaments and auctions and trades.

yes, you can sell and trade your horses.

but you get yourself a hellhorse and you're stuck with that guy for life. whether you like it or not.