Horse

Horses are the primary and most common mode of transportation in the American west at the time of Red Dead Revolver as well as Red Dead Redemption.

Horses are fast, adaptable, carry equipment and allow the rider to utilize weapons while riding. In-game horses come in a vast variety of breeds, appearances and colors; several of which have different pattern variations.

Description
Horses can be purchased from ranchers/stores, in the form of deeds, or stolen by force or guile. Additionally, the player can locate wild horses and attempt to tame a captured horse. The player can lasso enemies from horseback and either hogtie or drag them (which eventually results in death), gun down foes from horseback or even trample them with the mount. Horses, just like the characters, will each have unique personalities, temperaments and performance characteristics. Horses can be killed in combat, by animals, by the player, and from falls. If the player is stranded in the wilderness without a horse, they are presented with a situation to attain one.

All horses in the game have a certain level of stamina that players must keep an eye on. If you constantly tap the X button(PS3) or the A button(Xbox 360), the horse will slow, then become exhausted and buck the player off onto the ground. There are also items that you can buy from shops that will refill your horse's stamina (Apples and Horse Pills).

Horses can jump over obstacles such as fences, and will jump automatically if going fast enough.

The horses in the game are categorized by stars. One star horses are the worst, and are jaded, or sick. Two star horses are the most common to encounter in the world. One and two star horse deeds can be bought at any time. There are three 3 star horses; the American Standardbred, the Kentucky Saddler, and the Hungarian Half-bred. These three horses must be broken before you can purchase their deeds. One star horse deeds cost $100 ($50 with high honor, or low honor at Thieves Landing.), two star horse deeds cost $500 ($250 with high or low honor), and three star horse deeds for $1,500 ($750 with high or low honor). To use a horse deed, open your satchel, select the deed you want to use, then whistle, and the horse will run near you. Another way of obtaining a horse is by stealing or "borrowing" said horse and hitching it to a post...it saves the game and makes said horse yours. Using the horse deed can act as a quicksave as well, even if the horse is still alive. This is an easy way to save without having to search for a place to camp.

Overview
The horses in Red Dead Redemption utilize the Euphoria engine to create realistic procedural animation, an engine also utilized by GTA IV and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Depending on where the player acquires a horse, there are varying levels of loyalty between them. Essentially, choosing to lasso a wild horse and break it in for riding, this horse may not be too kind on the idea and may buck the player off. However, after some time passes between the horse and Marston, the horse will learn to trust its rider, Apples are a good way to build trust. A loyal horse is much less likely to buck or rear. Of course, the way players treat the horse will also play a role in their loyalty. Spurring a horse nearly to death, the horse may opt to buck off. The same goes for a horse that is forced to run for very long periods of time without any rest. Basically, don't allow horses to become jaded and they will have much more positive feelings towards you. The origins of horses also plays a part in how much health the horse starts off with, i.e. a horse that was taken from a farm will have more health than a horse taken from a roaming gang.

Horses are very realistic in their movement and behavior. Unlike cars in Grand Theft Auto games, horses are living, thinking animals which have some degree of self-preservation. For example, a horse will generally refuse to jump off a cliff despite attempts by the player to guide it over like: "Simultaneously spurring the animal and instructing it to jump (i.e., pressing the A + X button on the Xbox 360) will usually do the trick." In addition, they will become panicked when riding too close to the edge of steep drop.

Horses may wander if they have not been tied and shy away from gunfire and animals, especially snakes, and will also get nervous and spooked by any potentially dangerous animals moving towards or that are near the player. However, it is possible to recall horses that have wandered away using the game's whistle function, which will prompt the horse to come to the player. If the horse does not trot to side, then it is likely that the horse has been killed or died in some way or another. If the horse has died, continue on foot until finding another horse.

Alternatively, if you own another deed besides your previous horse, you can summon another mount of the same type by simply bringing up the Satchel inventory screen (the "back" button for Xbox 360 users) and selecting the deed again. If the horse does not immediately appear, wait a minute or two and then whistle; your loyal mount will come up to you, just like new.

Breeds
Please visit the Horse Breeds article for more detailed information on Horse Breeds, behaviours, abilities and locations.
 * Kentucky Saddler
 * American Standardbred
 * Hungarian Half-Bred
 * War Horse
 * Dark Horse
 * Lusitano
 * Turkmen
 * Infested Ardennais
 * Jaded Tersk
 * Lusitano Nag
 * Ardennais
 * Cleveland Bay
 * Dutch Warmblood
 * Highland Chestnut
 * Painted Quarter Horse
 * Painted Standardbred
 * Quarter Horse
 * Standardbred Pinto
 * Tersk
 * Tobiano Pinto
 * Welsh Mountain
 * Dead Horse (cut content)
 * Undead Horse (Undead Nightmare DLC)
 * War (Undead Nightmare DLC)
 * Famine (Undead Nightmare DLC)
 * Pestilence (Undead Nightmare DLC)
 * Death (Undead Nightmare DLC)
 * Unicorn (Undead Nightmare DLC)

Mules
There are three different breeds of mule in Red Dead Redemption. You can buy their deeds from Mexican General Stores in the same way as you can with horses. They are considered equal in ranking to one star horses. They are all available in single-player, but El Señor is also available in multiplayer.


 * El Señor
 * El Picor
 * El Hedor

Multiplayer Mounts
The mounts in multiplayer differ from those in single-player. Five horses and one mule are retained from single-player, with the rest of the mounts being exclusive to multiplayer.

Retained

 * El Señor
 * Lusitano Nag
 * Turkmen
 * Cleveland Bay
 * Hungarian Half-bred
 * American Standardbred

Exclusive to multiplayer

 * Bonzo (Bull)
 * Buffalo (American Buffalo)
 * Albino Buffalo (American Buffalo)
 * Super Bull (Texas Longhorn)
 * Zebra Donkey (Tijuana Zebra)

Horse Taming
The player is able to capture and tame horses for later use. Visit the Horse Taming page for more information on this activity.

John can only maintain one horse at a time. Taming a wild horse while actively using another, the newly tamed horse will not become John's primary mount until it has been hitched at a town.

Quality is important when taming a horse, a horse with a shiny coat and muscle definition will be much faster and more reliable than a horse with bones sticking out and a thin neck.

Horse Power
Horses also provide the physical power for stagecoaches, wagons and carts. Between one and four horses pull the weight of vehicles of various weights, and at various speeds. The player can drive these horses by occupying the driver's seat of the trailers. Horses can break free if the vehicle is damaged.

Tack
There is no known way to modify the tack of your mount.

When you break a wild horse, it will be shown without a bridle or saddle. However, once hitched, the horse will have a brown saddle after the game is saved. All stolen horses will have a black saddle, until hitched.

Tips

 * A horse can be put over a dead animal that has yet to be skinned to skin it faster, instead of watching the animation. If the horse is positioned correctly over the animal while skinning, the animation won't play and the animals properties will appear. This also works with looting from a dead person.
 * It is possible to carefully drop from a ledge of a certain height (e.g. the roof of a building) and land mounted on the saddle of the horse, a stunt performed in many westerns. Despite many rumours and skeptics calling this a myth, it is confirmed do-able. The player must be sure to not jump but naturally fall off the edge off the ledge for this to work. This can easily be done by jumping over the balcony of the Armadillo saloon directly above a hitched horse.
 * It's possible to use the sidetrack near railroads to travel faster the same way as using roads, though if the player comes too close to tracks its considered as "offroad" and the speed of the horse will drop rapidly.
 * It is possible to make the horse's stamina last indefinitely while riding top speed by pressing the sprint button once every 4 gallops. Additionally, the pressing of the sprint button 2 times every 4 gallops decreases stamina very slowly.
 * We've all seen the classic western move when the person jumps up onto a galloping horse, well, with good timing, this is possible in game. When you whistle your horse, run away from it at full force. The second you see the press Triangle(Y on Xbox), press it and keep tapping X(A on Xbox). This can lead to an extremely fast mounting and helps when chasing horse thieves or running from police.

Bugs

 * If a player starts a multiplayer free roam session in Blackwater and whistles for their horse, there is significant chance that their currently saved single player horse will respond instead of their multiplayer unlocked horse. For example, a level 30 player could whistle for their Cleveland Bay, but instead the Kentucky Saddler they last used in single player will come. This glitch even extends to the War Horse. The bug seems to occur predominantly in Private Free Roam rather than Public, but once summoned the horse can sometimes transfer if the player changes between the two modes. (Xbox 360)
 * Sometimes in horseherds, there may be horses with saddles, carts and even NPC's on them(!) The player can lasso them normally. But when the player mounts up on them everything will disappear. It's impossible to ride the cart and the player will just walk through it as if it wasn't there. The NPCs don't talk nor respond the player. Shooting at them will have no effect other than spooking the horse, though killing the horse will just make the NPC stand up and walk away.

Achievements
The taming and riding or killing of horses are included in the completion of the following four available achievements/trophies:

Caballo