Kingdom Come: Deliverance guide: How to ride a horse

As Kingdom Come: Deliverance’s illuminated manuscript-style codex points out, “A dog might be man’s best friend, but you can’t ride one. Better to make friends with a horse!” Early in the game, your life will depend on your horse riding ability, but the game doesn’t give you a chance to practice before you’re running for your life. We’re here to help.

Warhorse Studios

Right in the middle of your panicked flight out of Skalitz, you’ll get a wall-of-text tutorial about riding horses. If you’re like us, you immediately accidentally dismissed it because the exit button is the same as the sprint button on consoles. We put it above for reference, but it’s worth getting into a little more detail.

You have three speeds while riding a horse in Kingdom Come: Deliverance: trot, canter and gallop.

• Trot. Trotting is just pushing up on the left analog stick (or W on PC). You can steer left and right and even back up as well. This is your walking pace.
• Canter. While you’re trotting, hold down circle/B to canter. This is basically a jogging speed. It will drain your horse’s stamina very, very slowly, so it’s a good cruising speed. If you just hold down the circle/B button, your horse will follow whatever road you’re on automatically. (If it doesn’t start cantering along automatically, give it a nudge with the left thumbstick.) You can add in the left thumbstick (or A and D on PC) any time you need to steer or press up (W on a PC) for a little extra speed.
• Galloping. Galloping requires a circle/B double-click-and-hold along with constant input on the W/left stick. (We bolded that last part because the game doesn’t explain it very well.) This is a flat-out horsey sprint that drains the horse’s stamina (but not as fast as you’d expect). It’s good to use if you’re fleeing for your life or just in a hurry to get somewhere.

It’s also important to note that you steer your horse with only the left thumbstick (or the PC equivalent). It doesn’t matter which way Henry is looking. The horse is going to go its own version of forward. This takes a second to get used to just because it’s different from Henry’s controls.