Champ: The Little Morgan Who Could

 Warning: This page features screenshots taken across the Red Dead Redemption 2 map post epilogue and detailed descriptions of single player Horseman challenges 4 to 10.

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I completed Horseman challenges 1 to 3 early in the game because they aren't that difficult but challenge 4 seemed like such a horrible, honour losing thing to do that I stopped there. At some point in my quest to acquire every available horse, I decided it only made sense to do the challenges but this was well after the epilogue. I was also quite obsessed with horse rankings and I was shocked that a palomino Morgan was only valued at $15.00. Oh if wishes were horses. There is no statistical reason for this other than obtaining a cheap alternative early game mount. I then set out to prove that the Horseman challenges could be completed with even the lowest valued horse in the game.

The first task was acquiring one. In my current save, they're not available for sale at Valentine stable. I don't remember if they ever were but I was only interested in the Dappled Black Thoroughbred so I may not have noticed. I thought one might be easy enough to steal and spotted one at Emerald Ranch. Silly me. I returned after dark in a rain storm. There were no horses to be seen even in the stables. Towards morning the rain cleared and horses began reappearing from somewhere. All except the palomino Morgan of course. Curse you, you mind reading spawn scripts.

I eventually tracked one down in Big Valley around Little Creek River which is the best horse spawn location in the game. After taming him, I took him to a stable and rather optimistically named him Champ.

The Adorable Champ

I needed to give Champ all the advantages I could muster and quickly bonded to level 4 with him. I use a crafted saddle that reduces stamina drain rate but unfortunately I do not have the horse race perk and can only raise speed by 2. His stats topped out at health 5, stamina 6, speed 5 and acceleration 4. He definitely needed a supply of horse meals and tonics.

I meant to take screenshots along the way to prove that Champ was actually accomplishing these things but I bungled the screenshots badly. I had to relearn for the umpteenth time how to save video and extract a screenshot on PS4 only to even bungle that sometimes so you'll have to trust me on this to some degree.

Horseman challenge 4: While mounted, drag a victim 3300 feet using your lasso.

Why 3300 feet specifically? I wanted to look for an individual that actually deserved this fate but while travelling along a dry creek bed, we encountered a single passerby. When the game gives you an opportunity to get away with something you should take it so we dragged him along the creek bed. I was a little worried about Champ's stamina but he had no problem with this task. There were no witnesses and no bounty but I can still hear our poor victim. The honour hit when the unfortunate fellow passed on wasn't much of a big deal either.

If you are wondering yes we did get that legendary animal.

Horseman challenge 5: Trample 5 animals while on horseback.

This challenge would be quite easy mounted on a draft horse or an Ardennes with their clodhopper hooves so I was concerned that Champ's dainty feet might miss. I soon realized that wild turkeys were perfectly designed for this task and they are everywhere. We quickly took out three of them and while in pursuit of dim witted turkeys we managed to trample a chipmunk and a red fox which never would have happened if we were actually trying. I missed the screenshot but the red fox was the 5th victim so here's a shot of Champ viewing his handiwork. Or hoofiwork.

Horseman challenge 6: Ride from Strawberry to St. Denis in less than 9 minutes without touching any water.

The most direct route is via the train track from Rigg's Station to St. Denis. Champ did this first try on one horse stimulant. Bad timing on the screenshot. Our biggest problem was staying on the track and that has nothing to do with Champ.

Well we got $15.00 for something.

Horseman challenge 7: Kill 7 enemies from horseback without dismounting.

Champ's low health stat worried me on this one. Attacking an enemy stronghold or camp is the fastest way to get this one which is something I avoid doing if I can. It took two tries. I tried to attack from an elevation but we were still too close and got overwhelmed and poor Champ went down. Rather than revive him, I just let the PC get killed and loaded a manual save. We then approached from a different direction and took enough out with a sniper rifle that we only needed to pick off a couple enemies who rode out. I quickly saved the video and we left the scene pronto.

Horseman challenge 8: Kill 9 predators from horseback.

We absolutely used the easiest method for this one and sniped a bunch of oblivious alligators.

Horseman challenge 9: Ride from Van Horn to Blackwater in less than 17 minutes without touching any water. 

This challenge also worried me. As usual, I was the problem not Champ. On our first try we had to out run wolves and an ambush and went wildly off course a couple of times so I couldn't blame Champ for any of that. I reloaded a save from Van Horn and tried again not realizing that I was likely reloading the ambush as well. There are some really simple things about this game that I just refuse to learn. We stayed on course but got overwhelmed, thrown off and killed during the ambush. I reloaded for try number 3. This time we stayed on course and out ran the ambush. I was sure we had done it this time even though we had a couple of disastrous collisions but no. At this point, I was wondering if Champ had it in him. I decided to call it a day. So we loaded in for try number 4 on my next session. I abandoned this one thanks to a catastrophic fall. I pondered the map looking for an easier route and decided to do a dry run and eliminate our enemies once and for all along the way. We successfully ended the ambush but I felt the new route was too long. This time we just fast travelled back to Van Horn and tried the original route once more. So on try number 6 with no enemy encounters, no falls, no back tracking and no collisions we did it. From the video it looks like it took Champ around 15 minutes and two horse stimulants. Champ definitely had it in him all along. Even when I doubted him, I was really starting to love him because he tries so hard.

For anyone struggling with this challenge, we rode into Van Horn from the south making sure to trigger the Van Horn notification. We disembarked from the north end, turning left across the railway tracks and followed the most direct route to Butcher's Creek using the bridge there to cross the river. We then went directly to Emerald Ranch and took the road through the middle and went over the small bridge which crosses the creek. We then took a right away from the creek and went pell mell through the heartlands towards Twin Stack Pass and after passing through there headed to Flatneck Station, followed the track to Riggs Station and took the road through Strawberry to Owanjila Dam. We crossed the river there and ran a bit of a perilous journey through Tall Trees until we hit the road that leads directly to Blackwater. Rider remained mounted the entire time. I don't know for sure if anything fails this challenge other than time or touching water but that is how we did it. I used waypoints at first but switched to placing red markers at important points.

Horseman challenge 10: Break every wild horse breed.

Champ was not essential to this challenge but it was an opportunity to do some adventuring with him. I did ride a couple of other horses around with Champ following. I never took the saddle off him though for fear of losing him. 

We eventually landed back around Little Creek River where most of these breeds can spawn. I was looking for specific coats which complicated things. We got a number of horses here but eventually moved on. I did learn that Champ definitely has a two wolf maximum. Flanked by three wolves or a cougar and rider goes off. That said we bagged more than a dozen wolves, two cougars, a grizzly bear and at least one legendary animal and miraculously horse and rider survived it all staying mounted more often than not. I managed to flub both the screenshot and the video this time so this is all I got folks. Just confirmation that we achieved an equipment upgrade for some challenge on the back of an unknown mustang. 

After all this, I went into a bit of a crisis over Champ. I gave him a well deserved rest at the stables but I have many horses left to acquire and I need to leave at least one stall open. I can't bear to sell him and he's at risk of disappearing if he becomes the fifth horse so I'm down to the Dark Bay Turkoman and Champ. I enjoy the Turkoman's long stride. But for now, Champ stays even if I never get him out of the stable.

Champ getting some love for a job well done.