Horses are the primary mount in Crimson Desert, we’ll cover everything from horse taming, breeds, leveling up, gearing, and more.
Horse Breeds
A horse’s breed governs their appearance, their stats, and which skills they can unlock as they level up. The appearance is the only thing that varies between two horses of the same breed, so one Herspia can only look different from another Herspia, but all Herspias will perform the same.
There are 5 main breeds of horses in Crimson Desert, and while their appearances are inspired by real horse breeds, the breed names are made-up.
Herspia
Herspia is the jack of all trades, master of none. They have pretty average stats but no unique skill. They also seem to be the most common type of horse, and they have the greatest number of unique appearances. Really, if you want your horse to look a specific way, Herspia is your best bet.
Priden
Priden are strictly better than Herspia in all respects because all of their stats are higher and they specialize in having high survivability and jumping capability. Their unique skill is High Jump. They tend to have longer manes and come with basic patterns and muted colors.
Numont
Numonts have the highest attack stat (by a little bit) and have the best acceleration, owing in part to their unique skill, Charge. Their stats are better than Herspia’s in all respects except for Stamina, which is tied with Britano for lowest in the game. Numonts all have short or very short hair and basic patterns in brown or tan.
Britano
Britanos can go fast and that’s it. They are the technical racehorses, akin to supercars. They have the highest movement speed, average acceleration and a unique Drift Boost Skill, but every one of their other stats is the lowest or tied for the lowest in the game.
You will have more freedom when it comes to customization and can pick from any horse color you want, though their patterns are basic or some sort of blended gradient, like they have insufficient skin pigmentation.
Elantrima
Elantrima are the beefy Clydesdales. They have the highest health, stamina and handling, and their unique skill, Lateral Movement, allows them to move sideways, like dressage. Their only real weakness is Jump Power, which is tied for lowest in the game with Britanos.
There aren’t too many total customization options for Elantrima, and their hair length tends to be on the longer side like Pridens. Most of the colors are black or dark brown with patches of white. Don’t forget about their signature long hair “pant legs”, either.
Best and Worst Horse Breeds
I’d say that Pridens and Elantrimas are the best for most people from a performance standpoint. If you want the utmost when it comes to speed at the expense of everything else, consider Britano, and probably stay away from Numont and Herspia.
- Best overall: Priden, Elantrima
- Best for Speed: Britano
- Best for Combat: Numont
Stats, Skills, and Leveling Up
Horses can get leveled up as you ride them and as you give them Horse Feed while riding them. This level is called Trust.
As a horse levels up, their stats improve, and you can unlock new abilities, like making them run faster and jump higher. All of a horse’s skills will be unlocked by the time they reach level 5.
If you want to accelerate the process, you can equip the Companionship I, II, III Abyss Gear, which increases the rate at which you earn Trust.
Different horse breeds have different stats at the same Trust level and will unlock different sets of skills, sometimes at different levels.
Horse Skills Compared by Breed
All horses share the same 7 skills and each breed besides Herspia has a unique additional skill they learn at level 3 or 5.
| Skill | Herspia | Priden | Numont | Britano | Elantrima | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Dash | X | X | X | X | X |
 | Drift | X | X | X | X | X |
 | Hind Kick | X | X | X | X | X |
 | Sprint | X | X | X | X | X |
 | Swimming III | X | X | X | X | X |
 | Quick Start | X | X | X | X | X |
 | Double Jump | X | X | X | X | X |
 | High Jump | X | ||||
 | Charge | X | ||||
 | Boost | X | ||||
 | Double Boost | X | ||||
 | Lateral Movement | X | ||||
Horse Stats by Breed
A horse’s breed determines the stats it will have. Below, you can see a comparison of each breed’s stats at level 5.
| Stat at Level 5 | Herspia | Priden | Numont | Britano | Elantrima | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Health | 470 | 520 | 520 | 420 | 720 |
 | Stamina | 255 | 270 | 225 | 225 | 330 |
 | Attack | 21 | 23 | 26 | 21 | 23 |
 | Defense | 47 | 72 | 57 | 42 | 62 |
 | Movement Speed | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
 | Acceleration | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
 | Handling | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
 | Jump Power | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
How to Get More Horses
There are 3 ways you can get more horses including taming, purchasing, and theft.
Taming Wild Horses
Wild horses aren’t nearly as common in Crimson Desert as they are in a game like Breath of the Wild, and it’s practically impossible to go out of your way to find a wild horse of a specific breed in a particular color.
On the flip side, wild horses don’t cost money. They also get registered as soon as you tame them.
You’ll often find small herds of wild horses near fresh water away from people, so check by the rivers outside of town.
Stay crouched until you get relatively close to the horse and then sprint. You can catch them so long as you don’t run out of stamina and they don’t have enough time to make it up to a full gallop.
Press your Interact Button (E / X / ☐) to get on, and then you have to do a little minigame.
On controller, all you have to is pull on the left stick in the opposite direction of wherever the horse’s head is pointing on your screen. It might be easier if you point your camera so it’s top down, but otherwise, don’t move the camera at all.
If you’re playing on mouse + keyboard, you may find it easier to focus on moving the camera rather than changing which buttons you’re pressing. Instead of trying to press the correct WASD combo, just hold S and rotate the camera so the horse’s tail is always facing directly at the camera.
The lasso interface that pops up is just a taming progress bar. Once the rope turns fully yellow, the horse is tamed, but you’ll get bucked if the bar turns fully red or you run out of Stamina.
Buying Horses
Horse Stables have a small selection of horses available for sale. You’ll find them near major cities.
The main drawbacks of buying horses are that they cost money and the selection is limited, but you know exactly what you’re getting, and they’re registered immediately.
Grand Theft Equine
The vast majority of horses you’ll encounter in Crimson Desert are owned by other people, like easily 99%. If you’re in the market for a particular make and model of horse, your best bet is just to steal it.
The odds are much higher that you’ll see your soon to be very own Epona or Roach or BoJack standing around next to someone else than you will encounter them in a shop or in the wild.
Stolen horses don’t cost any money unless you get caught and convicted of GTE, but it’s not hard to steal horses covertly, especially if your desired horse is stabled.
You also have to make it back to a Stable before you can register them as your own. Until then, they will wander off if ever you get off for a moment, so whenever you steal a horse, you can’t really do anything else until you take it to a Stable.
You can also sell horses you steal to a Horse Fence just like you can with Wagons. Coincidentally, these black markets are an excellent place to find and steal new horses because there are a bunch to pick from.
We have a guide that explains how to steal in Crimson Desert and what are the consequences.
Horse Armor
Horse armor (officially, Horse Tack) consists of 5 pieces that can be dyed but aren’t upgradeable. Each piece of armor boosts a specific, separate stat. You can buy it from Saddleries (and related quests) and Contribution shops.
Barding
The Barding is the full “gown” that includes plate armor and cover, encompassing the full. It usually boosts a horse’s Defense stat by 5, 10, or 20.
Champron
The Champron is the face plate/helmet and usually boosts a horse’s Attack stat by 5, 7, or 10.
Saddle
The Saddle is the part you sit on and boosts a horse’s HP by 50, 100, or 200. It also includes a bridle and reins, but these are overwritten if you have a Barding equipped.
Stirrups
Stirrups are the metal hoops you stick your feet in. They offer passive Health recovery, usually at +0.4 or +0.6 HP per second.
Horseshoes
Horseshoes are nailed onto the bottom of the horse’s hooves and boost both Attack usually by 1-5 and improve Stamina regen usually by +1 to +4 per second.
