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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

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How to Ride Horses

By
Seren Morgan-Roberts

This page offers a comprehensive guide on how to tame and ride horses, as well as how to register them and change their gear.

Once you’ve gotten the hang of riding horses, you can find the best horse and equip the best gear!

How to Tame a Horse in Breath of the Wild

Wild Horses are found all across Hyrule, though the easiest way to find some is to head over to a stable and explore the nearby vicinity. The first stable you’ll likely stumble across in your playthrough is Dueling Peaks Stable, and you’ll find a bunch of horses in the field behind the stable!

Once you’ve found a herd of wild horses, you’ll want to crouch and begin sneaking slowly towards the horse of your choice. This endeavour can be made easier by wearing the Stealth Armor set or drinking a Stealth potion, but they’re definitely not necessary, since they’re not really accessible early in the game.

Crouch and sneak towards a horse so you can mount it

As you approach sneakily, keep an eye on your sound bar, found next to the mini-map. It helps you gauge how slowly you need to move to avoid being heard. If the horses hear you, they’ll be spooked and run off. You can run after them and try again though, so not all is lost if you don’t catch a horse the first time round.

Once your on the back of the horse, depending on how wild it is, you’ll need to spam soothe the horse by pressing Joy_Con_L.png. Once it’s initially tamed you can ride around on it freely, but at first it’ll be a bit reluctant and not listen to your commands that well. You’ll need to work up a good friendship with the horse before you have complete control and the ability to make him your official, registered horse!

then soothe it to tame it!

Different Horse Types

Some horses are easier to tame than others! Spotted horses are the easiest horse to catch and tame but they aren’t particularly quick and don’t have a whole lot of stamina. One-color horses, especially white or black horses, are faster and have more stamina but they are wilder and harder to tame.

(1 of 2) Spotted horses are easier to train

Spotted horses are easier to train (left), but the wilder, harder to train one color horses are faster and have more stamina. (right)

Horses have four different personality traits that vary from horse to horse:

  • Strength - this determines how resilient and tanky your horse is.
  • Speed - the higher the speed rating the faster the horse can go!
  • Stamina - the amount of stamina icons a horse has determines how many times you can boost your horse’s speed by pressing Joy_Con_A.png.
  • Temperament - the wilder your horse, the harder it is to tame!

The best horses, however, are found through side quests which are listed below. But they can be tricky to obtain so grabbing a good old wild horse first is a good place to start!

Horse Riding Controls

Below, you’ll find the controls for mounting and riding horses. You can also use your bow and arrow, as well as your melee weapons whilst riding on the back of your horse! The combat controls are exactly the same as when you’re on foot!

Move Controls
Whistle Press down_dpad.png to whistle - only works if your horse is nearby!
Mount Press Joy_Con_A.png when you’re near a mount.
Yah! (speed boost) Press Joy_Con_A.png to use up a stamina icon.
Soothe Press Joy_Con_L.png whenever your horse does something good!
Whoa… (stop) Pull back Joy_Con_Left_Stick.png.
Follow roads Find a path then do nothing! Let your horse take the reins.

How to Register a Horse

Once you’ve caught a horse, you’ll need to ride around on it a little before you can register it and officially make it your horse! You can’t instantly register a horse you just caught, you have to have a good friendship, which is just obtained from riding around and soothing it periodically.

After you’ve spent some time with your new horse, head to your nearest stable and speak to the stable owner about registering a horse. From there, you’ll need to pay 20 Rupees to register the horse, but for this price you get to name it and you also get a bridle and saddle. You can register up to 5 horses. Once a horse is registered, you’ll be able to board it at a stable and take it out whenever you like by speaking to a stable owner.

When you speak to a stable owner, you can register a new horse, or board/take out an existing horse.

This mechanic is especially useful if you’ve lost your horse or left it somewhere far away and you don’t want to have to travel to get it. Just board the horse and take it out again! If your horse is nearby though, you can just press down_dpad.png to whistle, but this won’t work for horses that are too far away to hear your call (unless you have the DLC Ancient Horse Gear).

How to Change Your Horse’s Gear

After registering a horse, you’ll have access to the default Stable Bridle and Saddle, but there are other horse gear available in the game! To change your horse’s gear, you’ll need to first obtain some new gear.

Horse Gear Obtained from:
BotW_Extravagant_Bridle_Icon.pngExtravagant Horse Gear Complete the obstacle course at Lakeside Stable under a specific time to unlock the gear.
BotW_Knight_27s_Bridle_Icon.pngKnight’s Horse Gear Complete the mounted archery course at the Mounted Archery Camp west of Highland Stable.
BotW_Royal_Bridle_Icon.pngRoyal Horse Gear First complete The Royal White Stallion, then speak to Toffa at Outskirt Stable.
BotW_Monster_Bridle_Icon.pngMonster Horse Gear Buy the bridle for 399 Mon and the saddle for 299 Mon from Kilton at Fang and Bone.
BotW_Travelers_Bridle_Icon.pngTraveler’s Horse Gear (Amiibo) Scan the Link (Rider) Amiibo.
BotW_Ancient_Bridle_Icon.pngAncient Horse Gear (DLC Only) Complete Ex Ancient Horse Rumors (DLC Quest)

Once you have horse gear you can change it at the following stables: Highland Stable, Outskirt Stable, South Akkala Stable and Woodland Stable. You can also change the horse’s mane too!

You can change your horse’s mane, bridle and saddle!

Horse-related Side Quests

Some of the best mounts in the game are found by completing certain side quests!

Other mount-related side quests don’t get you any special mounts but they do require completing actions with a mount.

Perhaps you want to be the talk of the town on a gigantic horse?

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Nintendo
  • Platforms,
    Switch, Wii U
  • Genre
    Action Adventure
  • Guide Release
    6 April 2018
  • Last Updated
    27 June 2023
    Version History
  • Guide Author
    Cassie Sun

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You wake up in the mysterious Shrine of Resurrection and see a Hyrule you no longer recognize. All you have by your side is the equally mysterious Sheikah Slate and the voice of a stranger to guide you. Take up the mantle of the chosen hero Link and journey throughout the most expansive, open iteration of Hyrule yet in your quest to destroy the monstrous Calamity Ganon and recover your memories of what happened 100 years ago.

This guide will serve as your companion as you traverse the beautiful world of Hyrule. It currently covers the following content:

Version 1.1 (Updated October 2021)

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