Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – How to Tame Horses

Amid all the wild contraptions you can build in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, there’s still something to be said for jumping on a horse and galloping around Hyrule. While it’s a very similar method to BOTW, there’s still so much to remember with taming horses in TOTK that even experienced players could probably do with a refresher.

First off, you need to actually find a horse. In TOTK, horses typically spawn in wide open fields or anywhere that’s not filled with enemies or Gloom. You will usually also encounter at least a couple of horses.

Once you’ve spotted a horse you want to tame, get within a short distance of them from behind and then press L3 (left stick) to start crouching. Slowly approach the horse, then press A to mount when you’re right behind them and the prompt appears. Link will then jump on top of the horse. Depending on the horse, they may start to buck, so press L to try and soothe them and get them under control. If you don’t have high enough stamina, you may not be able to tame a specific horse, so try and use some elixirs to overfill your stamina if you really need a particular horse.

Generally, the harder they are to tame, the better they are to ride.

If all goes well, you will now have tamed the horse, but there’s still a long way to go before they “perform” as well as you probably like. When you first tame a horse, you may notice that they are somewhat unresponsive to your directions, and may even go off in another directions. This is because you need to deepen your Bond with them.

You can improve your Bond with your horses over time by generally riding them, soothing them with L when they start to get anxious, and also feeding them; we recommend a healthy supply of apples. Over time, your Bond level will increase with your horse, meaning that they are smoother to ride. In our playthrough, it may have just been us, but they also seemed to be more responsive to whistling (down on the D-pad) to call them to Link.

You can check the Bond level with a horse at any Stable, which is where you can also board your horse, rename them, and even equip them with gear.

Here’s where you can also check the stats of your horse, based on the following:

– Strength
– Speed
– Stamina
– Pull
– Temperament

All of these are fairly obvious, expect for the Pull stat, which basically determines how effectively they tow items when equipped with a Towing Harness.

Players can register up to six horses at stables from the start, though they can earn more spots by collecting Pony Points and earning rewards. Other rewards include special saddles for lugging items around and even the chance to sleep in a special bed for buffs. The easiest ways to earn Pony Points is to simply hire a bed and register horses, but there are often NPCs around the many Hyrule stables who will give you Pony Points for helping them out with side quests.

If you ever lose track of your horse, you can go to a stable and take it back out again, regardless of whether or not that’s where you originally boarded it.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now on Switch.

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