Online Horse Stats & Selection Guide

Spreadsheet of all the horses in Red Dead Online and a guide for selecting a horse.

Spreadsheet

Helpful?


Last updated during the Naturalist update. Not too terribly interested in RDO these days, so may not update this. Feel free to use the data for whatever you want though!

A quick explanation of where the numbers and grades come from.

I graded stats. If an individual stat was tied for the best across multiple horses, it got an A+ (and 100 pts for the totals). If a stat was tied for second best, it got an A (90 pts). Third best, it got a B (80 pts). Etc etc. For instance, the Black Arabian and tier 3 Norfolk Roadsters all have the same acceleration at 8 pips. No horse has 9. So those three horses get 100 pts each in acceleration while any horse with 7 pips got a score of 90 pts in acceleration. So all stats are graded based on how far they are from the best of that stat.

Mobility score is just the graded speed and acceleration combined. It's out of 200 points. Cores score is the graded health and stamina cores combined. Also 200 points. The overall score is both Mobility and Cores score combined. 400 points.

Ranking priority on that spreadsheet is Overall > Speed > Acceleration > Stamina > Health.

I know some people may prioritize other stats. This spreadsheet isn't the end-all be-all of what horse works best for you, personally. If you value other stats or characteristics, by all means, use whatever horse you like.

It's important to note that every top tier horse has 360 (or one with 370) overall score. Obviously intentional on Rockstar's part.

What do I want in a horse?

- Early Game -

Prioritize Speed and Stamina. Acceleration is nice too but go ahead and totally ignore Health. Your goal is to be able to cover distance without running out of energy. Don't bother spending a bunch of money buying the next slightly better horse every time one is available. Find a good horse early and hang onto it for a while. Cash is a huge bottleneck in this game. The following three horses are all available at Rank 1.

Red Chestnut Arabian ($250)
Solid choice available immediately. Of the three horses listed in this section, it doesn't have a gold requirement.

Norfolk Roadster ($150 + 40 gold)
Tier 1. Black or Speckled Grey. I'd say the best choice at this point for the stats. But it requires Moonshiner 1 which itself requires Trader 5. That's a 15 gold investment in Trader, then a lot of Trader XP grinding, and then another 25 gold investment for Moonshiner before getting access to this horse.

Criollo ($150 + 15 gold)
Tier 1. Dun or Blue Roan Overo. Requires Collector 1 which costs 15 gold. It would be the budget choice compared to the Norfolk Roadster. Collector is an excellent role to take first because it has a lot of cash generation potential. Here's a link to a collectibles map if you go this route.[jeanropke.github.io]

Horse	Specialty	Speed	Accel	Stamina	Health	Handling	Cost
Red Chestnut Arabian	Handling	C	A	C	D	Elite	$250
Norfolk Roadster (tier 1)	Speed	B	B	C	F	Standard	$150 + Moonshiner 1 (40g)
Criollo (Tier 1)	Budget	B	C	C	D	Standard	$150 + Collector 1 (15g)

For comparison, your starter horse's stats were graded D or F across the board.

Don't waste your money getting the mid-game Tier 2 role horses or anything else in that area, instead pick what you want out of the:


- Late Game -

Cash is no longer a concern. You want the best of the best. You're going to want a Nacogdoches Saddle (rank 32, $512) as soon as you can afford it. You can use it on your crap horse and move it to a top-tier horse as soon as you get one. This saddle makes stamina near meaningless to minmax because you'll VERY RARELY run that low on it.

Thus, your focus for stats is everything else. Speed, Acceleration, and Health.

Black Arabian (42 gold)
Requires Rank 70. Great all-around pick. Highest possible Acceleration. Speed/Stamina/Health all tied at second highest possible for each stat. It's overall stats are higher than any other horse. Elite handling which you will feel the positive effects from all of the time. Making tight turns is easier and your max acceleration compliments it. Has a black coloring which may provide you a semblance of visual stealth in PVP situations, especially at night. Bonus that it's a small horse and will be better hidden in brush cover if the situation calls for it and you won't get caught between a rock and a hard place as often, particularly around Saint Denis. This horse doesn't have the very best speed or the very best health. You're choosing it because it comes damn close in both without any other drawbacks elsewhere and adds utility and handling on top of that.

Norfolk Roadster ($950)
Tier 3. Requires Moonshiner 20. Has the highest Speed and Acceleration at a significant hit to health. Stamina is second highest it can be. Again, Stamina isn't as important at this point and you may wish you had the health instead. If you're choosing this horse, it's because you want the very best Speed and Acceleration.

Turkoman ($925-950, or 38g, depending on color)
Requires Rank 56 or 60, depending on color. Highest possible Health for a horse. Second highest possible Speed and Acceleration. Third highest possible Stamina. Okay choice! Sacrifices SOME mobility for that top tier health. If you're choosing a Turkoman, you want your horse to be able to absorb an extra sniper hit which can make the difference in wasting enough of your opponents time to secure you a kill.

Horse	Specialty	Speed	Accel	Stamina	Health	Handling	Cost
Black Arabian	Overall Stats & Handling	A	A+	A	A	Elite	42 gold
Norfolk Roadster (tier 3)	Speed	A+	A+	A	C	Standard	$950 + Moonshiner 20
Turkoman	Health	A	A	B	A+	Standard	$925, $950, or 38 gold

I didn't include popular favorites Missouri Fox Trotter or Criollo because there's no situation I would pick them over a Norfolk Roadster if mobility is your concern. If you're going to sacrifice your health for mobility, you might as well get the most mobility you can out of it. Missouri Fox Trotter and Criollo are half measures. If you want one of them over a Norfolk Roadster, you're making the wrong choice between prioritizing maximum possible Acceleration or third-best possible Health.

As a quick thought experiment, I wondered that if I could build the perfect horse, where would I allocate the stats and still keep it in line with the other top tier horses. The stat I'd sacrifice to still be at 360 overall points would be Stamina. Max everything else. You really won't find situations where you wished you had that extra stamina nearly as often as any other stat.

Speed: 100 (9)
Accel: 100 (8)
Stamina: 60
Health: 100
Handling: Elite
Total: 360 (same as other top tier horses)


Do I need more horses for different roles?

Speed is standardized for structured competitive races so you won't need anything but your top tier horse for races. I've yet to find a niche that can be filled by having more than one horse.

If anything, I'd grab another listed Late-Game horse as a backup horse for when your primary horse is temp killed and you'd be waiting on a cooldown to bring it back. But you honestly don't need more than that other than for fun.