Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the most realistic games ever, and since the story is set in 1899, horses play a major role in the game.
Rockstar has made one of the most realistic horse presentations where you can tame, purchase, or breed one of the 19 horse breeds.
Apart from having realistic mechanics, similar to the ones you can find on real-life horse race odds, RDR2 goes much deeper than that. You can also breed horses and create horses with unique abilities and color coats.
In this article, we will have a much deeper look at the breeding process in RDR2.
Let’s go.
Can You Breed Horses in Red Dead Redemption 2?
The short answer is yes!
Not only you can breed horses, but if you don’t want to go through the process you can also purchase horses or tame wild horses.
To engage in horse breeding, you’ll need to acquire a stud fee from a stable. This fee grants you temporary ownership of a horse of the opposite gender.
Subsequently, you should lead your newly acquired horse to a private location and allow nature to take its course. After your horses have successfully mated, a brief waiting period ensues before the foal is born.
At this point, you have the option to raise the foal yourself or sell it back to the stable for a lucrative gain. Thus, if your aim is to expand your horse collection in Red Dead Redemption 2, breeding stands out as the optimal approach!
However, one thing that is important in RDR2 is horse bonding. You don’t want to change horses too often. The bonding process with a horse will ensure that you have a loyal companion that can be trained, and this will make a tangible difference in the gameplay.
As you bond with your horse, the horse’s stats such as stamina and health will grow, meaning that you’ll have a better-performing horse.
Breeds in Red Dead Redemption 2
As we mentioned before, there are 19 different breeds in RDR2, and five new breeds available in Red Dead Online.
Every horse breed includes its attributes, coat style variations, and other information. By combining different breeds you can get more than 60 different coat types and 40 tack options. This means that you can make your horse truly unique, which is one of the benefits of the breeding process.
The breeding process in RDR2 is not that realistic and Rockstar didn’t go into detail, unlike the rest of the game. For example, there aren’t any crossbreeds, which would have been awesome.
The idea is to get an Arabian horse and a Turkoman and breed an entirely different crossbreed with unique characteristics and color traits. With that said, this would mean that the game should have a lot more than 19 breeds.
With that said, there is a Mod that will allow you to install crossbreeding and get creative.
Additionally, horses in RDR2 cannot grow. This means that even though some horses appear smaller than others, they will remain the same forever.
One of the rarest horses in RDR2 is the White Coat Arabian, but most of the rare horses in the game cannot be obtained through breeding and they can only be found in specific locations.
In terms of breeding, the Newfoundland Pony, the Dales Pony as well as the Sorraia horse are one of the rarest ponies.
Taming a Wild Horse
In most cases, players will tame wild horses instead of purchasing or breeding. You’ll usually encounter small groups of horses throughout the game, which can save you more than 1,000 bucks, especially if you get lucky to tame a rare horse.
You can check the horse’s stats even from far away by using your binoculars and pressing R1/RB.
Even though wild horses can be tamed, you need to enter into stealth mode. They are easily scared if you make too much noise and it may require a few attempts for you to successfully tame a horse.
Final Words
Even though breeding is available in the game, most of the aspects of this process are limited. This means that you don’t get to grow and train your newly born horse, which leaves selling as the best option.
With that said, Red Dead Redemption 2 is still one of the best games in terms of horse mechanics and visual presentation. On top of that, your horses will react to the environment, the same as Arthur.
