Horse Taming & Mount Guide: How to Catch, Train and Upgrade Every Mount in Crimson Desert

Learn to tame, train, and upgrade mounts in Crimson Desert. Discover wild horse locations and breeds like Brianto, Herspia, and Priden.

Horses are a core gameplay system in Crimson Desert, transforming exploration, combat, and travel across Pywel. The horse taming and breeding system offers deep progression, with your mount serving as a companion, a means of escape, a combat vehicle, and a way to reach hidden areas. This guide covers catching, training, equipping, and mastering mounts.

The mount system is redesigned from Black Desert Online's mechanics, featuring more interactive, skill-based taming and progression tied to gameplay milestones. Horse equipment provides tangible combat and exploration benefits.

Where to Find Wild Horses

Wild horses spawn organically throughout Pywel, not in fixed locations. Look for them grazing in meadows, drinking at rivers, or roaming plains. Areas with higher spawn rates include the land between two streams east of Hernand Town and the fields south of the river below the cliffs to Howling Hill. In Demeniss, look around the Golden Plains near Honeywood Apiary. Pailune's tundra has fewer, hardier breeds. Keep an eye on the horizon while traveling; wild horses are visible from a distance as small moving figures.

How Horse Taming Works

Taming is an interactive minigame. Approach a wild horse and initiate the taming attempt. Manage your approach carefully, moving slowly and avoiding sudden movements. Once mounted, the horse will buck and pull; push the left stick (LS) in the opposite direction to counter. There's a hidden time limit. Consistently and accurately countering movements fills a taming meter. Failure means starting over. Taming difficulty scales with horse quality; rarer breeds buck more violently and unpredictably. Practice on common horses first.

Horse Breeds: Brianto, Herspia, and Priden

There are three standard tameable breeds:

• Brianto: The most common breed with balanced stats in speed, endurance, and health. A reliable all-purpose mount for early and mid-game. Appears in various coat and mane variations.
• Herspia: A sleeker, faster breed prioritizing speed and agility over durability. Less common than Briantos, often found in flatter, open terrain. Excels at long-distance travel but is more vulnerable in combat due to lower health.
• Priden: The rarest standard breed. At Level 5, it unlocks High Jump, allowing access to elevated platforms, cliffs, and unreachable locations. Requires patience to find in wild, spawning less frequently in remote areas.

Leveling Your Horse

Horse progression in Crimson Desert is tied to three main activities that build tr