Red Dead Online features a unique take on the Challenges seen in the Red Dead Redemption 2 story mode. Awards work pretty much in the same way, as players need to complete a certain task to get XP as a reward, which can be used to rank up and unlock additional content. Unlike Challenges, however, some Awards can be reset so that they can be completed again for more XP.
Awards are divided into different types - Sharpshooter, Combat, Hunting, Survivalist, Crimes, Travel, Trade, General, Horse, Posse, Free Roam and Competitive. Awards belonging to all types can be either single or multi-tiered. An Award is considered complete only when all tiers have been cleared.
Alongside additional XP, players will also receive a Gold Buckle when completing any Award fully. These buckles, which don't bring any enhancement for your character, can be equipped at any time by accessing the wardrobe. Obtaining five of them will allow you to unlock the Buckle Up Trophy / Xbox Achievement.
In this guide, we will be taking a good look at the Horse Awards and at some tips to complete them as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Article Contents
Awards Overview
The Horse Awards category is the one including the least amount of challenges. All three challenges are actually single-tiered and they don't take much time to complete, with the exception of the second which requires players to have good amounts of money and a high enough rank to complete.
Horses Are Life
The first Horse Award is one of the very few that most Red Dead Online players will unlock by just playing the game normally, as it requires you to achieve maximum bond level with a horse. Raising the bond level is quite simple, as you just need to take good care of your horse, feed it, brush it and so on.
The bond level is also improved by just riding the horse and patting it. As there's a Travel award that requires you to travel a certain amount of miles on horseback, you may want to complete these two Awards at the same time, as the long distance required to complete the Travel Award will improve the bond with your horse considerably.
The second Horse Award is definitely the most difficult to complete, as you need to purchase 5 unique horse breeds. The key word here is "purchase", so horses that can be obtained for free as bonuses for the game's Special Edition don't count. At the beginning of Red Dead Online, you will only be able to purchase very few horse types, and additional types are unlocked only by ranking up.
You can unlock the Belgian Blond Chestnut Coat and Mealy Chestnut Coat at rank 6, the Dark Bay Coat and Light Grey Coat at rank 15, Suffolk Punch Red Chestnut Coat and Sorrel Coat at rank 18, American Paint Overo Coat and Tobiano Coat, American Standardbred and Appaloosa Horses at rank 21, Hungarian Half-bred Flaxen Chestnut Coat and Flaxen Piebald Tobiano Coat at rank 24, Mustang Tiger Grullo Dun Coat and Wild Bay Coat at rank 27, American Paint Splashed White Coat, Nokota Horses, Tennessee Walker Horse and Thoroughbred Horses at rank 30, Andalusian Dark Bay Coat, Ardennes and Dutch Warmblood Horse at rank 36, American Standardbred Palomino Dapple Coat and Hungarian Halfbred Horse at rank 39.
Additional horses become available by ranking up further. You will be able to purchase a Andalusian Rose Grey Coat, Appaloosa Horse: Brown Leopard Coat and Leopard Coat at rank 43, Mustang Tiger Striped Bay Coat, Nokota Horse: Reverse Dapple Roan Coat at rank 48, Thoroughbred Brindle Coat at rank 51, Ardennes Strawberry Roan Coat, Dutch Warmblood Horse: Chocolate Roan Coat at rank 54, American Paint Grey Overo Coat and American Standardbred Horse at rank 55, Missouri Fox Trotter Amber Champagne and Silver Dapple Pinto Coat at rank 58, Turkoman Gold Coat and Silver Coat at rank 60, Arabian White Coat at rank 66, and Arabian Black Coat at rank 70.
As horses can cost a significant amount in Red Dead Online, and you will need the best possible horse to succeed in the Races multiplayer mode, we suggest you focus on getting one of the best horses possible, like an Arabian horse and then some of the cheapest possible ones.
The final Horse award is also one of the easiest awards to get in all of Red Dead Online. To complete this single tiered award, you only need to fall with your horse from 10 meters and make sure both your character and your horse survive the fall. This challenge is rather straightforward, but you may want to use a stolen horse to test the fall before using your own, as you may miscalculate and kill your horse.
