As with many things in Crimson Desert, working out how to tame a horse is a bit of a pain. You might have spotted a potential steed out in the wild and tried hopping on it, but the minigame to actually subdue the mount is confusing, to say the least. There are other horse mechanics that aren't entirely clear either, such as how to level them up and unlock horse skills.
I'll run through all of the above, below, plus explain the best method I found to conquer the horse taming minigame to make it less inconsistent.
How to level up your horse in Crimson Desert
There are three main things you can do to level your mount and unlock its skills in Crimson Desert:
Article continues below- Pet your horse by focusing on it with CTRL (LB on controller) and pressing R. Similar to pets, there seems to be a daily limit on how much trust you can build this way, though you can view your horse's current trust on the left if you select it in the inventory menu.
- Feed your horse, either directly through the inventory with horse feed items like sugarbeet, hay, or sugar cubes, or by discarding food that horses like, such as oats or apples. Be careful there are no other horses around as they'll run over and snaffle it up instead. As with pets, you seem to be able to gain trust from horse feeding three times a day.
- Ride it around. Perhaps the simplest method, this will take a lot longer, but you can pretty much guarantee that your horse will level up over time if you're simply using it.
Doing a mixture of these actions will level up your horse in a relatively short amount of time, unlocking its skills. I suggest you carry around horse feed with you, which you can purchase from any Saddlery, to expedite the process. If you want to view your horse's skills, enter its tab in the inventory menu and press 5. Your starting horse's skills are:
Required level | Skills |
|---|---|
Level 2 | Dash: Tap shift (A on controller) to move quickly |
Level 3 | Drift: Press WASD and alt (left stick and B on controller) while dashing to slide while moving quickly Back Kick: Right mouse button (or RT on controller) to kick an enemy positioned behind |
Level 4 | Spring: Tap shift (A on controller) while dashing to move very quickly |
Level 5 | Swimming III: Can move faster in water Quick Start: Sets off quickly when starting to move Double Jump: Jump while in midair one more time |
While the double jump isn't quite as good as Torrent's in Elden Ring, it's pretty useful when trying to navigate your horse through rockier areas.
How to tame a horse in Crimson Desert
You can find wild horses running around the map in Crimson Desert, particularly in the river areas to the east and south of Hernand. The taming process is a bit weird as it tells you to keep WASD (left stick on controller) aligned with the tail of the horse. This is an absolute pain to do, so I suggest using my method: hold the camera behind the horse and just hold S.
You'll have to keep the camera moving as the horse spins around, but it isn't too hard to keep it glued to the tail of the horse. When the yellow circle builds fully, you will have tamed it, though you have to do this before you run out of stamina and get kicked off. If you do, simply run up to it and interact to get on again.
Once you tame the horse, you can see its stats and register it as a mount. Spare mounts can be stabled at any stable, such as the one just to the north of Hernand and the Royal Trading Post. You can also buy horses at the stable.
How to heal a horse in Crimson Desert
If your horse takes a lot of damage and needs to be revived, there are a couple of ways you can do it. Either:
- Use a Horse Tonic—You can buy these from any Saddlery and often steal them.
- Head to a stable and choose the "Retrieve and revive horse" option, though you will have to hoof it to one yourself.
- Use Force Palm: Healing on your horse
Any of these three works, but obviously Force Palm: Healing is the speediest option. Remember, you can see your horse's current health in its tab in the inventory menu.
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