Realistic Cowboy Horses

My take on a few realistic horses suitable for a Western.

In this mod I will exclusively work on realistic horse coats and models, specifically those you could find in the Wild West, so nothing crazy. I want it to be lore-friendly. If anything is wrong let me know. I can try and make personalized horses if anyone wants to make a request, those can be of any breed you want and will go to Miscellaneous.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

My mods work as skins for the already existing horses in your game, so they will spawn as normal horses do. I pick one horse to change by default, but you can change it to whatever horse you want by changing the name of the .ymt files. For example, by default you get a_c_horse_mustang_tigerstripedbay.ymt, but you want your modded horse to appear in the white arabian instead of the tiger striped bay mustang; then you have to name it a_c_horse_arabian_white.ymt. (Full list with Pedestrian Database to change any horse in Miscellaneous)
DON’T RENAME THE .YTD FILES, ONLY .YMT.
Some of my packs also change the horse’s names and stats, so not everything acts strictly as a visual skin, but it will also change their stamina, health, etc.
Yes, you can mod your entire game and change every single vanilla horse for a modded horse from this or my other mods, it won’t impact your performance and there’s no limit to it, my entire horse population is changed and it’s okay, have a blast and explore new breeds and coats, your NPCs will be happier too.

WHAT CAN I FIND IN THIS MOD NOW?

American Quarter Horse
New model, new coats.
Stats, names and descriptions in American Quarter Horse Pack 1.

Florida Cracker Horse
Stats, model, coats, patterns, names and descriptions in Florida Cracker Horse Pack 1.

American Saddlebred
New model, new coats, new coat patterns.

Canadian Horse
New model, coats, names and descriptions in Canadian Horse Pack.

Rocky Mountain Horse
New model, coats, names and descriptions in Rocky Mountain Horse Pack.

American Standardbred
Vanilla model, new coats.

Thoroughbred
Fixed model, new coats. Will move this breed to my future “Realistic Exotic Horses” mod.

Morgan
Vanilla model, new coats.

Tennessee Walker
Fixed model, new coats.

Kentucky Saddler
Fixed model, new coats.

Criollo
Fixed model, new coats.

What do I plan in the future?

New breeds.

Vanilla overhaul breeds.

More and more coats and patterns.

Stat, description and naming scripts.

Stick around, endorse and track the mod if you want to see that 🙂

INSTALLATION

1 – Download and install required mods.

FOR STANDALONE OR MAIN PACK VERSION:

A – Once you have properly installed Lenny’s Mod Loader in your main RDR2 directory, where your .exe is (should be something like Program Files/Rockstar Games/Red Dead Redemption 2 in whatever disk you installed the game), create a folder inside “lml” folder and name it “stream”, then download and extract my mods with WinRAR or similar programs. Look inside the folders of my mod and pick the .ymt and .ytd (in case there are any) files of the horse coats you want and drop them inside stream folder.

FOR OPTIONAL PACK VERSION:

B – Download and extract ALL files inside your main RDR2 directory, where your .exe is (should be something like Program Files/Rockstar Games/Red Dead Redemption 2 in whatever disk you installed the game).

C – If you’re using one of my packs and want to install another and keep the stats, names etc, you need to manually copy and paste the new lines into your rdr2-translator.xml (HERE YOU HAVE DESCRIPTIONS AND NAMES) and pedattributes.ymt (HERE YOU HAVE THE STATS). In the future, I’ll merge in mega-packs to fully overhaul the game but for now you have to do it yourself. If you don’t do this you’ll overwrite and keep one pack’s stats and names or the other. Follow bolju’s mod if you want to do it. If not, just pick the stats and names you want to give priority, install everything, overwrite and wait for my mega-overhaul packs.

You are now ready to play, enjoy!

(You can edit the size of the horses inside the file looking for x being the number, and changing it to make it bigger or smaller.)

F.A.Q

Can you teach me how to mod my own horses?
Read the sticky post.

I’m using one of the packs with new stats and my horses’ stats aren’t changing.
You need to drop everything inside ModManager folder of the Lenny’s Mod Loader mod inside your RDR2 directory.

How do I install it?
For real, there’s an exclusive and detailed guide just above.

My modded horse is invisible.
This can happen with online-based coats. It means that you don’t have the latest version of the game (including online), that you’re lacking a file or that your trainer isn’t working properly. Try updating, making sure every required mod is working or trying another trainer, like Rampage. I’ve noticed that lacking the latest version.dll from ASI Loader also contributes to this.

Can you mod donkeys?
They’re extremely cursed for some reason and you get a monster when you try to use them as your horse. If I find a way to fix it I’ll mod them donkeys. I modded mules, though.

Can you put x coat in x other horse?
If I have the time and that horse is on my list, then maybe. If you want it for personal use, open a personal message and I’ll do it for you.

Can you make an All-in-One Pack?
I’m well aware that many people want this, and as much as it’s convenient for you, I’m sorry to say it isn’t for me right now. I’m constantly adding new horses and I try to make packs with them but it would be insane to update the All-in-One constantly. This mod is growing as of now. One day you’ll have your AIO, but right now the current packing situation would have to do.

Can you change this mane/tail? I don’t like the colour/length?
First of all, ouch. Second, read the sticky post.

Changelog:

UPDATE 1.4: Canadian Horse Pack (in Optional files section) replaces Turkoman. Stats are the same, but names, coats and models are custom-made. These are very versatile and beautiful working horses that fit better in a Western than Turkomans, in my opinion.

UPDATE 1.3: Rocky Mountain Horse Pack (in Optional files section) replaces Missouri Fox Trotter. I didn’t add new stats because the MFT is pretty op already, but made custom models, coats and names. I hope you all enjoy them, I love this breed and always wanted R* to make them.

UPDATE 1.2: Florida Cracker Horse Pack 1 (in Optional files section) gives you an alternative to the Tennessee Walker. This breed is rare nowadays but it was a wonderful gaited cowboy horse breed back in the day. I gave them better stats but created them as an optional alternative for mobs that you can also use and keep if you want because they don’t suck ass, like the common breeds and coats in vanilla. Coats, patterns, models, stats, descriptions and names are custom made.

UPDATE 1.2: American Quarter Horse Pack 1 (in Optional files section) brings a selection of my American Quarter Horses into your game. I won’t specify which ones, as I’d rather have you investigate and find them. You can look for them in the wild or stables substituting some breeds I don’t really like in the Wild West, like Ardennes, Dutch Warmblood and Hungarian Halfbred. I tried to change all names to American Quarter Horse + all coats, but let me know if anything slipped. You can study them just like any other horse breed, even though they will be in separate sections of the Compendium take them as exactly the same breed, with the same stats. You can also find Buell with his beautiful coat in a new model with new stats 🙂