The best horses in Red Dead Redemption 2 and how to get them

The majority of your game time on Red Dead Redemption 2 will be spent on horseback, so it’s only natural to want the best horse you can get. Luckily, I have spent countless hours hunting for horses, riding them and bonding with them, so I can provide you with this horse guide for RDR2.

Below, you will find the best horses in the game (or at least the best ones that I have found):

Best Starting Horse

You don’t get to choose the first horse you get in the game, you kind of adopt it. However, early on in the game (after all the snow), you do indeed get to choose your first horse. The best horse to take here depends on whether you pre-ordered the game or not. If you pre-ordered, you should take the ‘War Horse’, which is an Ardennes breed in the stables. If you didn’t pre-order, the remaining two horses to choose from are pretty similar, so just take the cheapest one. You’ll be changing it out soon enough anyway.

Once you have picked your first horse, you’re free to go and find one of your own. Luckily, one of the best horses in the game—and the best horse you can get until at least chapter 4—is found in the snowy mountains just northwest of Valentine. The horse I am talking about is the White Arabian horse and I’m going to show you how you can get your hands on it:

Firstly, you need to make your way to where this horse roams free, and that is north of Valentine in ‘Ambarino’, and more specifically to the north west of ‘Lake Isabella’:

Once you get near the location, please save the game. The horse is very elusive and gets startled easily, there’s also some wolves roaming around and if you get into a fight with them while close to the horse then it might make a run for it, and when it does it can take hours to find it again; I speak from experience.

So, once you’re there and have saved the game it’s time to catch the horse. You’ll see the horse in the area highlighted on the map above, and once you have it in your sights follow the steps listed below to capture it:

1. Approach the horse slowly while focusing on it (LT / L2)
2. While moving towards the horse, ‘calm’ the horse when needed. This will be indicated by a white bar – once the bar starts dropping, push the button to calm it (X / Square)
3. Once you get close enough to the horse, jump on it (Y / Triangle)
4. Now you’re on the horse you need to stop yourself getting bucked off, to do this you hold the left thumbstick back and then move it in the opposite direction that the horse starts to buck; so if the horse bucks left, you move right and so on
5. Once you have managed to sit comfortably on the horse and it’s stopped bucking, it’s time to saddle it up. Run over to your old horse, take the saddle off and put it on the White Arabian

That’s it, you now have one of the best horses in the game for free. It’s probably a good idea to visit a stable once you have the horse just to be safe. You should also keep a horse reviver on you at all times, just in case the horse ever meets its maker.

Best Mid-Game Horse

The best mid-game horse can be bought from the stables in Saint Denis. The horse is another Arabian horse, but this time it’s black and is only available for purchase once you reach chapter 4. Although the horse is better than the White Arabian horse you can get near the start of the game, it’s not that much of an upgrade, especially when it costs you $1050. If you have plenty of cash, go ahead and grab yourself one. If not, it’s no biggie.

Best Late-Game Horse

And finally, the best horse in the game full stop is the Rose Grey Bay Arabian. It has increased health and stamina when compared to the other two horses in this list. However, as with the previous horse, unless you have a lot of funds the improvements aren’t that noticeable when compared to the White Arabian.

The Rose Grey Bay Arabian is only available once you’ve hit Epilogue 1, which is right near the end of the game. By this point, you should have plenty of money, so it’s probably worth a buy. You can pick it up from the Blackwater Stable and it will set you back a mere $1,250.00.

The stats for each horse can be found below:

Summary

Honestly, once you have the White Arabian horse and have bonded with it fully—which you should have done by the time you are able to purchase the two better horses—there’s no real reason to change from the White Arabian unless you have a tonne of money. The only two stats that change with each horse are the Stamina and Health and, to be honest, I’ve never had my White Arabian die or run out of stamina. However, if white isn’t your colour then go ahead and spend your hard earned $$ on the others.

You’ll notice that every horse on this list bar the ‘War Horse’ is Arabian, that’s because they are one of the best breeds in real life, they’re revered for their intelligence and how easy they are to train.

Check out our other Red Dead Redemption 2 Guides:

• The Best Horses in Red Dead 2 and How to Get Them
• Best settings for combat in Red Dead 2
• How to Fast Travel, Auto Run and more
• How to redeem Red Dead 2 DLC items