10 Best Horse Mods For Red Dead Redemption 2

10 Best Horse Mods For Red Dead Redemption 2 Red Dead Redemption 2 screenshots of characters mounted on horses

By Yuliya Geikhman Published 24 minutes ago Yuliya Geikhman has been writing professionally for over 17 years. She started out in the MMO scene with Pando Media Booster and now dives into everything gaming at Screen Rant. She's a lifelong gamer, a relentless industry sleuth, and a passionate follower of everything happening in the games industry. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

Red Dead Redemption 2 has a fantastic story and open world, but the thing players really like is the horses. While other games let you roll around on boring vehicles like cars, tanks, and helicopters, RDR2 rolls in with classic horseback riding.

There are 19 different horses in RDR2, each with its own look and stats. Over the years, dedicated modders have added even more variety to horse breeds and coats. Some mods bring much-needed quality-of-life upgrades, while others actually make it more challenging to maintain your horse in peak shape. Whether you want more variety, realism, or difficulty, these RDR2 horse mods have you covered.

The Horse Breeds Series By ReaSylvia

Add Any Or All New Horse Breeds To RDR2

ReaSylvia RDR2 The Horse Breeds series of mods

There are plenty of horse breed mods for RDR2, and some of the most popular ones were created by ReaSylvia on Nexus Mods. ReaSylvia has over 30 mods in two main series: one that adds new horse breeds to the game, and one that revamps existing ones to be more realistic.

Some of the coolest-looking horse breeds of the former are the Knabstrupper and Lusitano. The creator also has a pack of Fantasy Horses, which includes outlandish color schemes and coats like rainbow and butterfly-wing coloring. Plus, since they don't all come in one pack, you can pick and choose which new or revamped horses you want in your game.

Realistic Gang Horses Updates The Gang's Rides

The Van Der Linde Gang Gets An Equine Upgrade

Realistic Gang Horses by QuietYoungWolf on Nexus Mods focuses on the Van Der Linde Gang horses. Several other mods also do this, but QuietYoungWolf's take on it is one of the most popular, with over 10K downloads.

The mod updates all the gang's horses to be more realistic. With the mod, horses look more like their real-life counterparts and have horseshoes (except in the case of wild horses), while remaining as close as possible to the originals.

All Horses Are Perfect Maxes Out All Horse Stats

Because All Horses ARE Perfect

Arthur on a horse with two others behind him in Red Dead Redemption 2.

Several RDR2 mods are available that change one or a handful of horses to be "perfect." The All Horses Are Perfect mod from Nexus Mods user feztrc changes all horses to be perfect with one single file.

With this mod, all horses will have all their stats and bonding maxed out right from the get-go. This means every horse will have, according to the mod description, "level 4 bonding, maximum speed and acceleration, max cores and elite handling."

Thirsty Horse Makes You Take Care Of Your Horse

Thirst And Hunger Now Affect Your Horse's Health

Red Dead Redemption 2 is often praised for its realistic graphics and Old West feel. If you want an even more realistic experience when it comes to your horses, Thirsty Horse by alfabravozapa on Nexus Mods can deliver that. The mod gives the player's horse realistic needs: hunger and thirst.

Horses can drink from a trough or other water source, and eat by grazing on grass or being near a haystack. If the horse become too hungry or thirsty, you'll suffer the consequences of dwindling health, stamina, and speed, and eventually, your horse will start falling over. Take good care of your horse!

Disable Horse Holstering Leaves Weapons On Your Back

Keeps Your Weapons Where They Belong

In RDR2, mounting a horse automatically moves your weapons from your back to hang from the side of the saddle. This is a huge pet peeve for many players, who would find their weapons automatically move from their backs to their hands, only to get holstered on the horse, instead.

Disable Horse Holstering by alfabravozapa on Nexus Mods disables this auto-holstering feature if you prefer to keep the weapons on Arthur's back. It also adds the option to entirely disable the back and shoulder long-arms slot, if you'd rather not to be able to see your weapons at all.

Horse Lantern Adds A Popular Online Feature

Bring The Lantern From Online Mods

Red Dead Redemption Online moves the Wild West adventuring online, in a mode that has its own set of quests and equipment. Among the items that you can get in Online but not in the base game is a lantern worn by your horse.

Nexus Mods user Bolmin brings this horse lantern from Online into story mode with the Horse Lantern mod so you can keep lighting the way in style even when offline. This feature is popular enough for the mod to garner over 62K downloads.

Realistic Cowboy Horses Adds Historically Accurate Horses

Become A Real, Era-Appropriate Cowboy

Realistic Cowboy Horses is another mod by Nexus Mods' QuietYoungWolf. This time, the modder tackles the horse options available to the protagonist, Arthur. These packs bring more horse coats and breeds to the game, with a specific focus on only realistic and historically accurate styles.

The mod introduces realistic cowboy horses into RDR2, from different regions spanning from Canada to Florida. It even includes the Florida Cracker Horse, which is critically endangered today but was used by Florida cowboys until the 30s to herd cattle.

Unlimited Horse Whistling Distance Brings Your Horse Running

Summon Your Horse From Anywhere

Unlimited Horse whistling distance rdr2 mod

Red Dead Redemption 2 lets you summon your horse by whistling, but it keeps things realistic. This means if a horse is too far, it won't hear you, or it won't feel like traversing over rough terrain to get to you.

Unlimited Horse Whistling Distance from konstantinos96b on Nexus Mods removes this restriction. With the mod installed, you'll be able to call your horse from anywhere, no matter what your bonding level or distance is.

This is a callback to the first game, where you didn't have to find your horse to ride it—and a useful mod for any RDR2 player.

Horse Holster Fixes Floating Weapons Issue

Suspend Your Disbelief, Not Your Weapons

For all its emphasis on realism, RDR2 misses one glaring detail in relation to the horses—when Arthur's weapons are moved to the horse's saddle, they just seem to float by the horse, held there with nothing but dreams and magic.

The Horse Holster mod from Nexus Mods user Bolmin fixes this mistake with a simple and elegant solution: it adds a holster to the saddle. Now, the rifle and bow have something physical to anchor them to the saddle, and no longer defy physics or gravity.

New Horse Coats Adds More Variety To RDR2's Horses

Over 30 New Horse Coat Packs

By far the most popular type of horse mod for RDR2 adds or modifies horse coats and breeds. You can find pretty much every kind of horse represented on Nexus Mods, and you can add them one by one.

If you'd rather have your pick from all the different hoses in one place, look no further than New Horse Coats by fouronenine14 on Nexus Mods. This massive mod includes more than 30 new horse coat and breed packs, each containing one or more new coats.

This is by far the most popular horse-related Red Dead Redemption 2 mod on Nexus Mods, with over 225K downloads. It's easy to see why: this mod is the one-stop shop for every possible kind of horse type and aesthetic you could ever want, from the Clydesdale to the Appaloosa.

10/10

9/10

Red Dead Redemption 2

10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed Action Adventure Systems PC-1

OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 95/100 Critics Rec: 94% Released October 26, 2018 ESRB M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol Developer(s) Rockstar Games Publisher(s) Rockstar Games Engine RAGE Multiplayer Online Multiplayer Cross-Platform Play N/A Cross Save N/A Franchise Red Dead Redemption

Did you love the original Red Dead Redemption back in 2010? Check out this prequel to the first game, Red Dead Redemption 2. Players explore the complex Western world as Arthur Morgan, a member of the Van der Linde gang. Get ready to find an adventure in the western frontier in the 1800s, fighting against government figures and famous rivals. While some controls are difficult to manage at first, after some practice mounting and dismounting your horse, you should be ready to meet more characters. The stunning graphics are to be expected with Rockstar Games, as they created other popular open world games such as Grand Theft Auto.

Genre(s) Action, Adventure Powered by Expand Collapse

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Red Dead Redemption 2

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