Horses

The horse system in DragonRealms is very detailed and has something for everyone. There is no circle minimum to either ride or own a horse. Even a novice can ride! However, the horse system includes many advanced riding techniques, like having your horse fight beside you if you are a Paladin, or loading a ranged weapon while riding if you're a Barbarian. These types of abilities do have circle and sometimes guild requirements.

First things first, you need to learn how to ride. Find any Stablemaster in the Realms, and ASK <STABLEMASTER> ABOUT HORSE. The Stablemaster will teach you, going into a lesson similar to the speech you get from a Guild Leader when you join. You must stay and simply "listen" to the lesson. When it is complete, you'll know how to ride! In addition, magic users should ASK <Stablemaster> ABOUT PREPARE, so that they can prepare spells while mounted.

Buying a Horse

Before buying your horse, there are two very important points to consider.

Halflings, Dwarves, and Gnomes can ride full size horses. However, the horse must be taught to KNEEL by a Ranger before these height-challenged races will be able to mount them. Ponies are only rideable by these three races.

Horses do not like Prydaen or Rakash when in moonskin. If you are one of these races, your horse must be trained to tolerate animalistic races by a Ranger, otherwise you will not be able to approach them!

Buying from a Stable

At the stable, you can either LOOK IN CORRAL or simply ORDER to see a menu of the of the horses currently available, along with their prices. To LOOK at a specific horse, you must use the number in this menu. For example, if you want to look at the second horse in the corral, you need to LOOK 2. Likewise, to purchase the second horse, you would ORDER 2. Be careful when buying, however - horse stock is always rotating. If a stableboy leads in a new horse, the numbering for the horses in the corral changes, so you might end up with the wrong horse!

Buying from an Adventurer

When buying a horse from another adventurer, you must use the services of a Trader that is circle 25 or above to make the sale. This transaction can only take place in a Brokerage Office. Traders that are level 25 and below cannot purchase a horse from another player. Their only option is to buy from the corral.

Horse Appearance

Horses in Elanthia come in all types of colors and sizes, with all sorts of features that make each one unique.

Gender

Horses are available as either mares (female horses) or geldings (neutered male horses). In the horse world, stallions (males who are not neutered) are generally harder to control and are not often used for riding.

Height

Horse height is measured in "hands", which are 4 inches each. Height is measured from the ground to the top of the horse's shoulder. Ponies can range from 8 to 13 hands, while horses generally range from 12 to 18 hands. Only horses that are 16 hands or higher are able to wear plate armor.

Color

The color of your horse is the first thing someone will see if your horse is standing in a room. They'll see a white horse, a grey horse, a gold-colored horse, etc. There are many colors available - white, grey, black, dark, red, cherry, dappled, gold-colored, roan, flea-bitten (a black spotted pattern), chestnut, dun, blue, rose, smoky, buckskin, and bay, among others.

Detailed Features

Horses can possess a number of different coat and color variations, and it's rare to find identical horses unless you're purchasing a white one. There are several different features you can look for, such as a glistening white coat, or a light reddish brown colored coat and mahogany highlights. Keep an eye open for all sorts of unique patterns!

Horse Care

Horses are a responsibility. If you don't take good care of your horse, it can become sick, injured, and even die. To check on your horse's condition, use APPRAISE HORSE. Appraising your horse will tell you if it is healthy, if it needs cleaning, and other information like its strength.

You can purchase everything you need from a tack shop for the care of your horse, including food and grooming tools.

Feeding

To buy food from a tack shop, simply ASK <shopkeeper> ABOUT FOOD. He will give you a list of items that you can purchase. You can buy things like grain, apples, carrots, salt, and other items. You can also forage for some of these things or even pick apples from a tree, like in the orchards at Baerholdt's, or south of Therenborough. (Free food is great!)

To feed your horse, just hold the food in your right hand and FEED <food> TO HORSE.

Grooming

There are three "sections" of a horse that you can clean - the mane and tail, the coat, and the hooves. Once you've finished cleaning one of those sections, you are not able to clean it again for a short time. To clean your horse, you need four tools - a soft/stiff brush (turnable item), a mane and tail brush, a curry comb, and a hoof pick. These items are all available in a tack shop if you ASK <shopkeeper> ABOUT GROOM.

To clean the mane and tail, CLEAN HORSE with empty hands until you are told you need a brush. Pull out your soft brush, and BRUSH HORSE until you are told to use another tool. Next, pull out your mane and tail brush, and BRUSH HORSE until you are done.

To clean the coat, hold the curry comb and CLEAN HORSE. When you're asked for a new tool, pull out your soft brush and TURN it to use the stiff side. Again, BRUSH HORSE. When that step is completed, turn the brush once more to the soft side and brush again until you are finished.

To clean the hooves, get your hoof pick and CLEAN HORSE four times, once for each hoof.

Stabling

When it's time to stop adventuring for the day, it's important to take your horse to a stable. Leaving it wandering around can allow it to get sick and injured - in addition, you can lose your tack. If you are booted from the game or there is a game crash, your horse will stay at your location for only a short time before it's returned to the nearest stable.

Stabling your horse is simple. First, you need to remove all of your gear from the horse except the bridle, and then STABLE HORSE. There is a small fee, so make sure you have coins. When your horse is safely stabled, you will be given your bridle back. If you're an Estate Holder you can use BUNDLE HORSE to get the stableboys to pack up your gear for you. There is a small fee for this service.

When you're ready to get your horse out again, go to any stable and RETURN HORSE. You will be charged a fee depending on how long your horse was in storage for its food and upkeep. All stables are connected, so you can get your horse out no matter where you happen to be. However, you will pay a slightly higher fee if you don't go back to where you originally stabled your horse. You cannot get your horse back out immediately after stabling, because it's being fed and groomed!

Teaching Adventurers and Horses

There are several different skills and tricks that are available in the Elanthian horse world. In some cases, only the horse needs to be trained in how to use an ability. In others, both the horse and the rider need instruction before you can use an ability.

Horses can only be taught by Rangers, although Rangers must first learn two abilities, JOUST and WAR from a Paladin before they can be taught to a horse. Other guilds can teach some abilities to you directly.

To teach an Adventurer: INSTRUCT <player> <skill>

To teach a horse: INSTRUCT <horse> <skill>

To review what skills you have available to teach either players or horses, simply use the INSTRUCT verb by itself.

Skills Taught to Adventurers

Skill	Who Teaches It	What it Does	Who Can Learn
Basic Horsemanship	Stablemaster	General Horse Knowledge	Everyone
Prepare	Stablemaster	Prepare spells on horseback	Spell Casters
Load	40th Circle Barbarian	Ability to load ranged weapon on horseback	40th Circle and above (Barbarians at Circle 30)
Grab	40th Circle Bard	Ability to grab things off the ground while on horseback	40th Circle and above
Bareback	20th Circle Ranger	To ride a horse without a saddle or padding	Everyone
Combat	30th Circle Paladin	Ability to stay on horse while fighting	30th Circle and above
Joust	50th Circle Paladin	Ability to joust with horses.	40th Circle and above (Paladins at Circle 30)
Mount	40th Circle Paladin	Ability to mount horse while in combat	Unknown (Paladins only?)
Advanced Riding	45th Circle Trader	Ride faster, even along "curves" if there are no intersections	40th Circle and above (Traders at Circle 35)
Target	30th Circle Warrior Mage	Ability to target creatures from horseback.	40th Circle and above

Taught to Horses

Skill	Ranger Level Required	What it Does
Lead Rope	20th	Horse stays calm while having a rope or bridle on.
Saddle	30th	Horse stays calm while having a saddle on.
Kneel	30th or 40th	Teaches horse to kneel so smaller races can mount.
Beg	40th	Trick
Jump	40th	Trick
Spin	40th	Trick
Sit	40th	Trick
Prance	40th	Trick
Rear	40th	Trick
Magic	50th	Teaches horse not to fear magic being cast atop it.
Race	50th	Teaches a horse not to be afraid of animalistic races (Prydaen, Rakash in moonskin)
Joust	50th	Teaches horse to perform a joust (Ranger must first learn from 40th Paladin)
Combat	50th	Teaches horse to go to battle
War	50th	Horse will fight with you (Paladins only!) when you are in combat. (Ranger must first learn from 50th Paladin).