Introduction
Black Desert Online Horses Guide will help you quickly establish a strong foundation for your journey. Let’s dive in and get you on the right track!
Welcome, adventurer. In the expansive and ever-evolving realm of Black Desert Online, few companions are as vital, reliable, and treasured as your loyal steed. Horses are not merely a means of transportation in this world — they are your partners in exploration, trade, battle, and even economic success. They carry you across scorching deserts, treacherous mountain passes, and bustling trade routes, all while offering speed, agility, and a touch of majesty to your journey.
Whether you are galloping across the open plains in pursuit of quests, racing through perilous routes to deliver trade goods before the sun sets, or preparing for the elite breeding of Dream and Mythical Horses, mastering the intricacies of horse ownership is not just helpful — it’s essential. The horse system in Black Desert Online is one of the most robust and rewarding lifeskill paths available, offering players a deep and multifaceted experience filled with strategy, patience, and long-term goals.
From the early days of capturing wild horses in remote regions to training them with care and attention, every step in your equestrian journey helps shape your path as both an adventurer and a skilled trainer. As you progress, you’ll uncover a world filled with breeding potential, tier advancements, skill optimization, and rare mount awakenings that elevate your experience beyond simply riding. You will learn how to prepare your horses for combat, for travel, and for the marketplace, each goal requiring its own knowledge and dedication.
More than just gameplay mechanics, horses in Black Desert Online represent progress. They symbolize growth, determination, and the time you’ve invested in perfecting one of the game’s most rewarding systems. There’s a sense of pride in registering your first captured horse, in seeing your foals grow into powerful mounts, and ultimately, in achieving the legendary status of owning a Tier 9 or Tier 10 horse that few possess.
This in-depth guide will escort you through every aspect of the equestrian system, offering clear explanations and helpful tips at every stage — from acquiring your very first mount to training, breeding, and raising legendary creatures worthy of awe and admiration. Whether you’re a newcomer just learning the ropes or a seasoned trainer aiming for perfection, this guide is designed to equip you with the knowledge and confidence to master the path of the Horse Master.
So saddle up, adventurer. A journey of hooves, heart, and heroic feats awaits — and it all begins with your first ride.
Acquiring Your First Horse
Embarking on your equestrian journey in Black Desert Online starts with the acquisition of your very first horse. This foundational step introduces you to a number of available paths. You may catch a wild horse using a taming method, purchase one directly from the in-game Horse Market, or breed two existing horses to create new offspring. Horses can also be obtained through quest rewards, seasonal incentives, or temporary means such as borrowing a Traveler’s Horse. In time, you’ll discover the best method that aligns with your personal gameplay style.
Catching wild horses is one of the most immersive options available to new trainers. However, it is important to first reach Beginner Level 5 in the Training life skill. With this prerequisite met, you will need to obtain Capturing Ropes and Lumps of Raw Sugar.
Capturing Ropes are available at any Stable Keeper, while the Lumps of Raw Sugar must be crafted by heating together ten units of Raw Sugar and one unit of Mineral Water.
Taming is a delicate process requiring patience and timing. Begin by slowly approaching your target until the rope crosshair turns red. Initiate the mini-game, and upon success, slowly walk toward the horse while managing additional mini-games involving precise Spacebar interaction. Once close enough, feed the horse a Lump of Raw Sugar to gain its trust. Finally, attempt to mount the horse and, if successful, guide it back to a town with the help of your own mount or on foot.
After returning, seek out a Stable Keeper in any major town and register your newly tamed horse, giving it a name and preparing it for training, leveling, or breeding.
Understanding Horse Tiers, Levels, and Stats
Each horse in Black Desert Online is ranked by a tier system that reflects its overall potential. Tiers range from 1 to 10, with the lower levels being suitable for beginners and the upper echelons—especially Tiers 9 and 10—reserved for Dream and Mythical Horses. Tier 8 horses often serve as the foundation for Dream Horse awakening. Lower-tier horses can only reach level 30, while those of Tier 8 and above can ascend to level 100.
Leveling your horse affects its base statistics, such as speed, acceleration, turn rate, braking efficiency, stamina, and health. These statistics are vital in determining a horse’s overall performance. Speed and acceleration directly impact travel efficiency, while braking and turn radius affect how smoothly a horse can navigate terrain. Health and stamina influence survivability and endurance.
Additional considerations include the horse’s breeding count, which determines how often it can be used to produce offspring. Male horses can typically breed twice, while females can breed once. Although horse deaths no longer negatively impact breeding outcomes, a high number of deaths may reduce a horse’s value when listed on the market.
Training and Leveling Your Horse
The most common and effective method for leveling your horse is simple travel. By riding your horse over long distances, it gains experience and improves its stats. Ideal leveling routes include back-and-forth travel between key regions such as Olvia and the Southern Guard Camp. This journey provides both a manageable route and solid experience gains.
Leveling efficiency can be improved by equipping Trainer’s Clothes or using items that enhance Training EXP. Horses can learn new skills as they level, and some trainers recommend stopping at level 30 when preparing horses for breeding, as leveling beyond this offers diminishing returns for reproduction purposes.
Horse Skills and Their Importance
As horses level up, they can learn various skills that dramatically enhance their functionality and combat capabilities.
These skills range from Sprint, which increases speed, to combat abilities such as Fore Chop and Hind Kick.
Skills like Instant Accel and Drift improve maneuverability and are essential for rapid travel.
Some items can increase the chance of a horse learning new skills, including training stones and branding items. One such item, the Mount Brand Spell Stone, improves the odds of skill acquisition and also reduces repair costs and death penalties.
Dream Horses begin with exclusive skills unique to their type, alongside Courser’s Spirit and Double Jump. For instance, Arduanatt specializes in aerial gliding, Diné offers party buffs and desert survival, and Doom boasts offensive skills and group mobility. These unique traits define how Dream Horses interact with the world and cater to specific playstyles.
Outfitting Your Horse with Gear
Horse gear, often referred to as barding, plays a critical role in optimizing your mount’s abilities. Equipping your horse with appropriate gear enhances movement, defense, and unlocks certain skills. There are five main gear types: barding, saddle, stirrups, horseshoe, and champron. Each piece improves specific stats or is required to activate certain skills.
Basic gear can be acquired from Stable Keepers, while advanced gear must be crafted using workshops and materials. Light armor focuses on mobility, while heavy gear enhances defense. The most powerful equipment, such as Krogdalo’s sets, offers both individual bonuses and set effects that aid combat and travel efficiency.
Gear can be crafted using workers assigned to Horse Gear Workshops. Materials must be placed in the associated warehouse before crafting begins. The crafting process can be streamlined by investing in the right nodes and managing worker stamina effectively.
Breeding Horses for Stronger Generations
Horse breeding is the cornerstone of equine progression in Black Desert Online. By pairing male and female horses of appropriate levels and tiers, players can generate foals with potentially better stats and abilities. Breeding level 30 horses is generally advised, as it maximizes the probability of producing higher-tier offspring.
The breeding interface is accessible through Stable Keepers in most towns. Once initiated, the process takes several hours and concludes with the birth of a foal, which must be registered at the stable. Breeding count and horse tier heavily influence the resulting foal’s potential.
Another method of producing foals is Horse Exchange, where both parent horses are consumed to generate a single offspring. This method is useful when both horses have exhausted their breeding count. Additionally, rare foals called Imperial Steeds may occasionally result from breeding, which can be delivered to the Imperial Court for substantial rewards.
Selling Horses Through Imperial Horse Delivery
The Imperial Horse Delivery system provides an alternative to selling horses on the market. Horses at level 15 or higher can be turned in at Stable Keepers for silver and valuable items. While the payout in silver is lower than market sales, the additional materials received make this method highly worthwhile.
Imperial Steeds, when delivered, yield even more lucrative rewards. These include items necessary for Dream and Mythical Horse upgrades, making this path essential for trainers seeking high-tier mounts. The process is straightforward and involves checking in the horse and selecting the delivery option.
Navigating the Horse Market
The Horse Market is the primary venue for acquiring and selling trained horses. Accessible through Stable Keepers, it provides a user-friendly interface for browsing horses by tier, level, and skill set. Market prices are automatically set based on the horse’s attributes and condition.
Selling through the market incurs a tax, though higher Training life skill levels can reduce the amount deducted. Trainers are encouraged to monitor the market for opportunities to purchase affordable high-tier or skill-rich horses. Coursers, which are foundational to Dream Horse awakening, are marked with special icons for easy identification.
Dream and Mythical Horses
Dream Horses represent the elite category of mounts in the game. They are acquired by awakening Tier 8 Coursers using materials and training techniques. These horses come with unique abilities and offer unprecedented performance. To awaken a Dream Horse, players must ensure the mount possesses key skills and meets the Courser criteria.
Mythical Horses take the concept further, combining two Dream Horses of the same type. This process requires crafting a Mythical Censer and involves consuming both parent Dream Horses. Mythical variants possess extraordinary abilities and cannot be sold on the Horse Market.
The materials needed for this process are challenging to acquire and involve dedication to Training, Horse Delivery, and event participation. Once complete, Mythical Horses become permanent fixtures of a trainer’s legacy.
Managing Mounts with the Stable System
The Stable is the heart of horse management in Black Desert Online. Through this interface, you can check mounts in and out, initiate breeding, rename horses, recover stamina, reset death or breeding counts, and even transport horses between regions.
Each stable has a default slot limit, which can be expanded using items. Only one land and one sea mount may be active at a time, but you can store many others within your stable. This system allows for strategic mount usage, breeding planning, and training management.
Trainers should become familiar with all stable functions, as this interface governs every aspect of a mount’s life cycle, from registration to retirement.
Final Tips for Aspiring Horsemasters
Begin your horse training journey by acquiring manageable, low-tier horses for practice. Utilize wild horse taming to improve your Training skill and gather resources. When breeding, focus on pairing horses with complementary tiers and skills. Avoid unnecessary deaths and maintain strong Training progression to improve results across the board.
If you seek community or assistance, many experienced trainers gather in-game or through various communitychannels. Watching real-time Dream Horse attempts can also provide insights and entertainment.
Above all, remember that patience and persistence are the hallmarks of every great Horse Master. May your hooves be swift, your breedings successful, and your stable forever full.
Conclusion
The path of the horse trainer in Black Desert Online is a journey of depth, dedication, and constant learning. It’s not merely about having a faster mount to get from point A to point B. Instead, it’s a rich, multi-layered system that offers players the opportunity to engage with the world of BDO in a completely unique and immersive way. Whether you are casually enjoying your first mount or deeply invested in breeding the perfect Tier 10 Mythical Horse, the game rewards your time, strategy, and persistence at every step.
Starting with the taming of wild horses, you’re introduced to a world of mechanics that challenge your timing, patience, and resourcefulness. It teaches you the value of preparation — bringing enough Capturing Ropes and crafting the essential Lumps of Raw Sugar. Even catching a single wild horse can feel like a victory, especially when you know it’s just the beginning of a long and rewarding endeavor. This early phase sets the tone for everything that follows. You’ll begin to understand how each decision you make — from how and where you train your horse, to the specific gear you equip — plays a significant role in your mount’s performance and long-term value.
As you grow more experienced, you’ll find yourself exploring deeper systems like breeding, exchanging, and skill optimization. The breeding process isn’t random chaos — it’s a calculated system based on tiers, levels, and training. It becomes almost like a science, especially for players who take the time to understand genetics, horse colors, skill probabilities, and tier outcomes. With every foal born, you learn something new — not just about the mechanics of the game, but about your own style of play and the goals you want to pursue.
Eventually, you may set your sights on the ultimate prize — the Dream Horses, and even beyond them, the elusive Tier 10 Mythical Horses. These mounts aren’t simply powerful or beautiful; they represent a culmination of countless hours of training, planning, and investment. Each Dream Horse brings unique abilities to the table, opening up new ways to interact with the world — whether it’s gliding through the air on Arduanatt, healing allies with Diné, or dashing through enemies on Doom. And Mythical Horses? They are not just mounts; they’re statements of your mastery. Owning one is a badge of honor, a symbol of your skill, patience, and commitment.
Of course, your journey doesn’t end with just obtaining these majestic creatures. Managing your stable, selecting gear, engaging with the Horse Market, delivering steeds through the Imperial system, and training your Life Skill levels all provide you with ongoing goals and achievements. There is always something more to do — a better gear set to craft, a foal to breed with better stats, or a Training rank to push even higher. Even for long-time players, the horse system continues to offer growth and challenge.
Perhaps the most satisfying part of all of this is how interconnected horse training is with the rest of Black Desert Online. You’ll engage with trade routes while leveling horses, explore new towns and regions while looking for breeding markets or stable expansions, and gather rare resources that tie into other professions and lifeskills. Horse mastery is not a separate activity — it’s woven seamlessly into the larger world, enhancing every other part of your gameplay experience.
So, whether you’re someone who dreams of becoming a top breeder, aims to race the fastest mount across the desert, or simply enjoys the peaceful rhythm of leveling horses while watching the scenery pass by — know that every rider begins somewhere. And with dedication, knowledge, and a love for the game’s equestrian systems, you can ride your way to the top.
Your stable will grow. Your skills will improve. And one day, when you finally soar through the sky on a fully trained Dream Horse or dash across the land on your prized Mythical mount, you’ll look back at your early days of taming wild horses and realize just how far you’ve come.
In the world of Black Desert Online, the path of the horse trainer is not just about mounts — it’s a legacy. One hoofbeat at a time.
