Spring Exploitations in HoLV

Players of FoMT and MFoMT will be familiar with the Spring Horse Races as the first opportunity to make a significant profit. In HoLV, you can trade your Medals for Lumber, which is even better than money in the first Spring Season.

Medals cost 50G each, so you may wish to save as much money as possible in anticipation of the Spring Races on 22 Spring.

There are three Races. In the first Spring, you will not be able to enter a Horse in any Race but you nonetheless can wager on them.

The first Race is a Spring or Short Distance Race. The second is a Long Distance Race and the third is a Steeplechase.

It appears that the first Race is the one that is the easiest to predict. The favourite usually wins at 2 to 1 odds. This is NOT a guaranteed result, however. I have experienced results wherein the horse at 4 to 1 odds won instead.

Unfortunately, you cannot save your game at 1.59 p.m. at the entrance to the Race Course as you could in Mineral Town, but you always can reload to replay the entire day if you wish. In almost every case that I or a fellow HM fanatic replayed the Race Day, the favourite won the 1st Race. The other two Races were a little more variable.

Louis: It’s best to use logic to pick a winnning horse. Trust the odds. Don’t gamble on a long shot and expect to win.

By the time the Summer Races are held, you may be able to enter your own Horse in one of the Races. It is suggested that you enter the Long Distance Race as you probably will have more items in your possession that will restore your Stamina than Carrots or Mineral Carrots, the only items that will increase your Speed. When your own Horse is entered in a Race, the odds will be utterly random. He may go off as the favourite at 2 to 1 or he may be posted as a longshot at 6 to 1. If you think you can win the race, make certain that the odds are long and then bet on him. It is worth the effort of reloading back to 6.00 a.m. if your Horse is posted as the favourite.

On Race Day, in fact, you may wish to do as little as possible BEFORE the Races are run, as you may wish to reload the game if the results are not profitable for you.


A very small potential exploitation exists when you accept Part-Time Work in Martha's Kitchen at the Villa. She will ask you to prepare a specific Dish and usually will give you an excess of ingredients. If you know the Recipe (and it should be included in my HoLV Cookbook Guide if you do not), you can use the least expensive and the fewest ingredients to prepare the required number of Dishes. Martha always will give you any 'leftover' ingredients.

For example, when she asked Freyr to make 3 Fish Meals, he was able to choose his second ingredient in each instance from a wide variety of items, including Breadfruit, Tomatoes, Green Herb, Mushrooms and Walnuts. Fish Meal is made with two ingredients, one of which always must be Fish. He took home about 15 items.

In another case, when Martha asked him to make 5 blocks of Cheese using Medium Milk, she gave him 14 Medium Milk. He only needed to use 10 and thereby was able to go home with 4 Medium Milk, a 'Wanted Item' at the Greengrocer's Shop.

As far as Part-Time Work in general is concerned, every Job has its own rules.

Where Mining and Forestry are concerned, it is the the number of times that you accept the Job that counts in terms of unlocking new options rather than the amount of work completed. You need to work for Rudolph five times in order to unlock the Mine. Similarly, you need to work for Woody five times to unlock the Forest. As you cannot keep anything from the Mine except Mineral Crystals when you are working for Randolph and only Mushrooms and other Wild Items when working for Woody, you may wish to conserve your time and energy a little and simply do the bare minimum in order to unlock the freedom to Mine and Chop Lumber for yourself. In the case of Bob's Part-Time Job, you may wish to focus on a single Horse as well as boosting Bob's Friendship each time with a gift of Fodder in order to obtain a Horse from him at the start of Summer. Even if you only brush one Horse and Brush and Milk the Cow, as well as throwing Fodder into all 6 stalls, you will earn 100G and the Small Milk. Note that Friendship Points earned by ALL the Animals he owns will count towards the minimum total FP requirement, however.

Once you have unlocked the Mine for your own use, Rudolph's Part-Time Job no longer will exist. Once you unlock the Forest, you no longer will be able to work for Woody, but you still will be obliged to apply to him for access to the Forest. What this means, in effect, is that you only can visit the special Forest area on days when the weather is fine and never on Tuesday or Thursday when the Carpentry Shop is shut. The Mine, on the other hand, is not subject to the original hours set for Rudolph's Part-Time Work and although he will continue to stand near the entrance during those hours, you need not apply to him for permission in order to smash Rocks.

Bob's Part-Time Work continues after he gives you a Horse. Martha's Part-Time Job as well as Ronald's Job of caring for his Chickens continue indefinitely. These two jobs are situated inside buildings and payment therefore is based on the job rather than the time spent. Bob's Part-Time Work, as it partially is performed outside is based on the amount of time spent in the Pasture. You can arrive early and stay until 6.00 p.m. to earn almost 1000G in a single day. You do need to Milk the Cow, however, if you wish to receive the Milk 'Bonus'.