RPG Tourist's Red Dead Redemption Horseback Tour

Sometimes really odd things happen like a wild turkey flying up and landing head first on your horse. I loved the female Rose Gray from play through one but I wasn't crazy about her appearance compared to the other Andalusians. I've changed my mind on their looks and I liked this male version just as much. Amigo did the last missions for Chapter 6 so I tried to do a little scenic view with him.

A nice clean shiny Buell being led towards mud. Buell is a unique, named, irreplaceable horse acquired at the completion of an optional stranger mission that comes available in Chapter 6. This mission can be completed at any time and I recommend completing it during the Epilogue chapters or after. He has the best stats of the Warmbloods and a bit of character and back story. All this horse bonding has made me very compulsive about their care. Recently I noticed that I reflexively press the calm/pet button on every level up. Good boah/girl! So it might even be a little beyond compulsive. Dirt shows so fast on Buell that I'm just constantly brushing him. It's my only beef. I thought I would see what happens if I rode through muddy streets and then travelled to a dusty town between brushings. Buell is definitely very unhappy.

Arthur has gone a little strange here. He thinks he's incognito but that didn't work of course. He's very happy with his massive war mount though. Oh that luxurious mane. I named her Freya because sure why not? The absolute top heavy horse in the game and ranks with the top Andalusions which come in at number 5 in the Chapter 2 list.

Midas is always raring to go. Both Gold Turkoman I used were a bit rambunctious until fully bonded. Both were also male. Most race horses tend to lunge unexpectedly when startled and it was noticeable with him. In fact, Midas was the first horse I noticed Arthur losing his patience with. It was partly my fault because I had Arthur dismount too close to alligators. Midas ran off somewhere he couldn't quite figure his way back from. I thought he would catch up to Arthur because he was in whistling range but he refused to come. Arthur cursed and accused him of never coming when he, Arthur needed him. Oh my. Arthur backtracked and Midas did eventually meet him in the middle somewhere so I think he was actually trying and failing. This happened again a little later. Lesson learned. Leave horse in safe space before tromping around through alligators.

Thanks to their high health numbers the Turkoman rank just under the top Arabians.

I probably over use the word spectacular but it really applies to this horse's coat pattern. Arthur is turning her in tight circles here. The Leopard Appaloosa unlocks for sale in Chapter 6 but most players will have an encounter during a mission in Chapter 4 and it's possible to bond with one then. This is one of two top Appaloosas and is one point faster than the wild types. 

Snakes kept invading her space while she was tethered and she`s understandably quite upset. I jokingly called her Cobra because she really does not like snakes. I almost forgot about this premiere horse unlocking at Scarlett Meadows Stable in Chapter 4. I had a male last time. The long forelock makes them look a bit rakish and the colour pattern is quite unique. I thought I would take Cobra on a proper hunting trip north of Strawberry. I managed to get taken by surprise by cougars twice even though I was watching out for them. Got dumped and guzzled both times. Snake hunting went well thanks to Cobra`s alert system. This is a strong, very fast horse but I think the player needs to stay on the ball when predators are around. The Fox Trotters overall ranking is the same as the Turkomans' but emphasizes speed and stamina over health.

He was troubled by a black bear in the vicinity while Arthur was distracted by an NPC who is currently hidden by the horse. His name was entirely prompted by this photo. He seemed a little noisier than any of the other Nokotas I have ridden including the Reverse Dapple Roan in my previous save. He even had some minor separation anxiety. His stats are the same as the top end Thoroughbreds but he was still easier to handle.

Looks like Arthur caught a seahorse. I don't know why Bean was roaming around the river but she finally settled over on the other side. We were in cougar country so that might have been it. This horse is probably light gray with scattered black spots but her coat often reflects white. Bean is short for vanilla bean. I must still want an ice cream. The Few Spots is an uncommon coat and a relatively rare spawn. I had almost given up when I found Bean at an NPC camp. This horse has 1 point more stamina than the common Appaloosa. I find them a stable companion for the most part.

I did not intend to do this at all. I had just left the stable with Bullet and was merely trying to run alongside this fellow but I hit the square button either by mistake or by just auto reacting to an on screen prompt and Arthur abruptly leaped over from Bullet, shoved him off and took over his mount. In a panic, I had Arthur remount Bullet and tried to outrun this very persistent, angry guy not at all paying attention to the horse's stamina drain. It was the first time I can remember getting thrown over empty stamina. I then subdued the guy with the lasso, refilled Bullet and got out of there. I have a history with this horse and should have known I couldn't get too far without a calamity. Both were male. 

This horse is pretty much identical to the Special/Ultimate Edition Dappled Black Thoroughbred which ranks 4 on the Chapter 2 list. That and the attractive brindle coat make this a desirable horse. I'd say the Brindle Thoroughbred is ideal for the run away, run away playstyle as long as you keep stamina filled. He's the fastest horse available before Chapter 4 in the standard edition unfortunately not until Chapter 3 and at the price of 450.00. He's not bad under gun fire but takes a while to bond so his cores need closer monitoring at first. Not a great hunting companion.

It was a struggle getting a shot that does justice to this handsome boah. Either the weather was bad, the lighting was too dark or too much crazy was going on to think about it. I thought maybe I could make Arthur do something interesting so we practiced dismounting with weapons drawn. This required some exact button manipulation but one of them didn't look quite right every time. So this is what I came up with. Buffed out this is a pretty nice horse and one of the top stable bargains in Chapter 2. He's faster than the wild race horses, bigger than the Nokota and more stable than the Thoroughbreds. Adonis had an unexpected trick up his sleeve too.

The Arabian possessing the least impressive stats but most resembling a Breyer figurine. Her numbers are balanced however and she's faster than most of the work class breeds. She didn't really enjoy hauling a large man through knee deep snow but I have a IRL thing about late day winter sun reflecting off a chestnut coat so Breyer got elected to go clear off some  northern objectives. Overall a successful trip but did get dumped once over a wolf swarm. She held for a couple of them but the last two were too much. 

Here we have a horse named Luna watching the sun set on an alligator. Her coat didn't remind me of any candy but did sort of resemble the surface of a far away moon or planet. First play through I know I acquired a male version of this horse after a mission and I know I didn't do anything fancy to get him but I had to purchase Luna from Valentine stable. It was definitely worth it. I really like this horse. A little less edgy in the swamp than others.

It looks like Dynamo has made a little friend. The White Arabian is the best horse found in the wild and ranks third overall. A well rounded horse stat wise, she is always worth the trip to acquire her. I took her on a failed moose hunt. I really must stop doing this to Arabians.

Ferdinand is having a little spaz in the swamp here which he was wont to do. My last Perlino was a female so I was pretty excited to tame this horse. I called her Bella which is close enough to Isabella I guess so I named him Ferdinand. I really liked the Andalusians in my first playthrough but the two I've had so far have been a little nuts. To be fair to Ferdinand, I exposed him to a lot more danger than Bella faced.

OK we got into a little predicament with wolves here. The lighting isn't great and it's hard to see what's going on. Click or touch for a bigger view. The photo below is a close up of where Arthur's at. He did survive. 

The Black Arabian is the second highest ranked horse overall just above the White and is one of the very few elite horses easily stolen early. I was pretty pleased with myself for snagging her. Blaze isn't a totally correct name I guess but I just could not ride this horse slow. I wasn't all that impressed with my first Black Arabian but Blaze was pretty good. She did let Arthur know once what she really thought of snakes after he dismounted. She got a bit crossed up while following Arthur and the wagon but came flying back to his whistle.

I have been doing things a little differently and discovering much I missed the first time and a lot I don't remember well. When Valentine stable unlocked I was confronted with two horses that I had an unreasonable reaction to. The Dappled Black Thoroughbred and the Palomino Morgan are two of my canon horses from my original save. Dancer the Thoroughbred from Chapter 2 to 4 and Champ the Morgan post epilogue. Champ has his own spoiler page about completing the Horseman challenges. I can't think of them as anything else.  I took the Dappled Black for zero dollars, mostly used her as a temporary and refused to name her. The Dappled Black is only available to players with a Special or Ultimate Edition. She was just as anxiety ridden as a temporary as she was as a main horse and seemed to often have her nose practically up the lead horses butt. Inevitably she despawned back at the main camp and reappeared in the stable sometime later where she has stayed.

This is another horse I sold in play through one not realizing that he is unique and unreplaceable. This time I named him Alfred because he is majestic. He was mostly a good hunting companion but I did try to outrun bounty hunters in the dark. They fell down a cliff. The hardy Alfred survived but Arthur did not.