Controls / riding the horse

[whosethesquirrelnow]

Hi!
Any advice on how to ride that horse? It appears to be impossible.
I have tried everything i have read on the topic but the controls on horseback are always unpredictable.

If i tap 'w', absolutely nothing happens. If i keep 'w' pressed, the horse eventualy starts moving forward and keeps randomly accelerating until full speed. Sometimes keeping 'w' pressed doesn't make the horse move at all, instead i need to keep L_shift pressed to get the horse move.
How do you maintain the speed constant?

Also sometimes the horse starts to run forward on its own even if i don't press any of the keys.

Also stopping the horse is always very unpredictable. Sometimes tapping L_ctrl stops the horse, and sometimes i have to keep L_ctrl pressed for it to stop completely.
But usually that damn horse just keeps running no matter what i do, and runs until it crashes to the tree, rocks or whatever.

How on earth do you control that horse?
I'm just about to abandon the whole game because this issue makes it completely unplayable.

[Flam3]

You need to hold W no matter what to keep your horse moving, it is odd though as holding in LShift whilst holding in W for me is to make the horse gallop at full speed, using up its stamina.

If I let go of LShift my horse will gradually slow to the default run speed of the horse... if I tap LCtrl the horse will slow down slightly, but will maintain that speed as long as I keep holding in W. And then holding in LCtrl will bring my horse to a stop, or it will skid depending on the bonding level.

Keep in mind that horses can be unpredictable sometimes, as they are living things that do have a mind of their own. Different breeds do handle differently as well.

So you need to hold W no matter what to keep your horse moving.

Tap LShift to pick up speed. (you won't see a massive difference, but if you keep doing it, you will)

Hold LShift to gallop. (This will be your horses max speed and will drain its stamina)

Tap LCtrl to slow your horse down gradually.

Doing this all whilst holding in W.

Hold LCtrl to bring your horse to a stop.

These were all shown during the intro of the game, the messages were brief though, easy to miss, but you can go to the Help section in the main menu as well to check stuff out.

[s0b3k]

Turn 'tap and hold speed control' off. Once you turn that off it's just like Flam3 said.

[whosethesquirrelnow]

Originally posted by Flam3:

You need to hold W no matter what to keep your horse moving, it is odd though as holding in LShift whilst holding in W for me is to make the horse gallop at full speed, using up its stamina.
.
.
.
These were all shown during the intro of the game, the messages were brief though, easy to miss, but you can go to the Help section in the main menu as well to check stuff out.

Hi, thank you for the advice, now knowing that i have to hold W pressed makes sense.
You are correct, the controls were explained in the first mission. I have watched them many times but they still don't make any sense.

The problem is to keep the speed constant, it appears i can either go full speed or not at all.
Also steering the horse (A and D) makes it accelerate. The decisions developers have made with the controls make absolutely no sense to me.If i only go straight ahead, i can keep the speed constant for a while, but if i have to steer even once or twice then the horse suddenly speeds up to full speed and refuses to stop until it crashes somewhere. (very convenient in the forest or town LOL)

Following someone seems to work and is alot easier than riding alone.. When following someone, it appears i only have to keep L_shift pressed and the horse automatically follows the lead.

[whosethesquirrelnow]

Originally posted by sOb3k:

Turn 'tap and hold speed control' off. Once you turn that off it's just like Flam3 said.

Hey, i think changing that setting actually fixed the controls. It now appears to work more rationally and the way Flam3 explained. I'm going to try it more, maybe now I won't get killed every time i get on that horse :D

Thanks Flam3 and sOb3k!

[Judge Lazar]

Think of it as the horse having speed settings.

Tapping W goes up one settings, tapping CTRL goes down one setting.

You have to use the stop key, pressing S does not slow you down. Just to make it easier, don't gallop in towns. Either keep the horse at canter pace or just get off and sprint on foot. Even doing that though you need to be careful. if you knock people over you will get a wanted level.

[Flam3]

Originally posted by MTL:

Originally posted by sOb3k:

Turn 'tap and hold speed control' off. Once you turn that off it's just like Flam3 said.

Hey, i think changing that setting actually fixed the controls. It now appears to work more rationally and the way Flam3 explained. I'm going to try it more, maybe now I won't get killed every time i get on that horse :D

Thanks Flam3 and sOb3k!

Np, hope you'll get to enjoy this awesome game now =)

[Eminem]

You can make auto run one button macro with proper hardware. On my orbweaver one of my macros using synapse software is

Press W
insert delay here in seconds
Release W

Ensure macro function is set to 1 button toggle off and on mode.

Have the above macro bound to one of the thumb control pads on the orby.

[Irfanahmed1979]

Here's video on how to skid turn and drift with a horse using PC controls:

https://youtu.be/2evWUbBAwY4

[DodgiiDune]

How do you pat your horse on PC???

[Man o' War]

Originally posted by DodgiiDune:

How do you pat your horse on PC???

Whilst riding tap the "G" button.

When off the horse and facing its flank hold down your right mouse button and tap "R" to feed it, "B" to brush it, "G" to pat it and "C" to lead it by its reins.

I'll throw this in there just in case, use "H" to call your horse.

[Neboyarsky]

I stumbled upon this thread because of the same problem. Truth be told, none of the recommendations in the thread helped me, but here's what I just discovered, at least I have tried a few times and it consistently worked. I go to full stop after I press L_Ctrl and after that no matter how I tap or press and hold the W button, my Roach is not moving. However, she starts when I tap the W button while holding down L_Ctrl. This drives me nuts, but it feels like this L_Ctrl is like a clutch in a car on a stick or a break pedal in a car with automatic transmission - you have to keep it pressed while switching to D mode.
And the S button does not decelerate the horse, it only makes it keep moving, but make a u-turn and run towards the camera.

[Irfanahmed1979]

Originally posted by Neboyarsky:

I stumbled upon this thread because of the same problem. Truth be told, none of the recommendations in the thread helped me, but here's what I just discovered, at least I have tried a few times and it consistently worked. I go to full stop after I press L_Ctrl and after that no matter how I tap or press and hold the W button, my Roach is not moving. However, she starts when I tap the W button while holding down L_Ctrl. This drives me nuts, but it feels like this L_Ctrl is like a clutch in a car on a stick or a break pedal in a car with automatic transmission - you have to keep it pressed while switching to D mode.
And the S button does not decelerate the horse, it only makes it keep moving, but make a u-turn and run towards the camera.

Sorry, pal. I had hoped my vid would have helped but sometimes you just need to get a hang of things yourself or by experimenting. I no longer have RDR2 installed but as far as I remember it was a simple enough game (for me at least). Wasn't too happy with Rockstar's version of a "Western" video game. Would have preferred a game based on a Hollywood style western like they used to make in the 60s.

That's just me complaining because I'm from a previous generation.