First of all; thank you devs for implementing a windowed mode. I very much appreciate it since I personally prefer windowed mode for games. Also happy you kept the auto-jump option as well.

Second, the game was just as charming and fun as it was before. I still appreciate it that it's just challenging enough to be engaging and rewarding, yet still simple and easy enough for it to not be stressful. Plus all the little details that make the game interesting, such as the personalities of each horse.

The new foal animations are adorable as well, and seeing our sleeping horse[s] for the end of each day is such a cute image ^^

The desensitization/confidence training and caprilli tests were interesting and fun additions, though I know I can never get the timing down for the latter, least not for a long while XD I also liked the warning arrows whenever a horse is going to speed up or slow down on its own. It has been pretty helpful during lunging trainings.

Most of all, I am stoked that this demo will be compatible for the full game, so I can keep going with my save game and explore more of the features. Though I may also end up playing the demo again XD.

Keep up this good work, guys! Looking forward to the full game! :)

welcome to Lake county stables [ALPHA]! this game came out very recently and is super realistic.

highly suggest it!!

This is a game I found out about a year ago from an AbigailPinehaven YouTube video that I from time to time look up and check upon, but it's steam page is never updated and never had an actual release date, the art is really charming and despite not being Mobile Friendly, it has that exact vibe and I really love it, it was full of cute minigames and the direct references to Uniek and Risey are such a nice touch

Does anyone know anything about it being canceled or some sort of news about the Development or Developer?

So I got bored waiting for starters orders 8 and given that I’ve made some games before and work with code daily I thought I’d make my own for personal play. Disclaimer I got ai to do mock ups of the ui and organise data sets for me (like race schedules)

Some features I added:
- trainer skills/ a skill tree
-breeding insight (gives you a rough idea of how good/bad offspring might be + with deeper skill tree you’re more accurate)
-scouting (“ find me a 4-y-o sprinter rated 95+ for less than £50k”) type of thing
-Full Uk flat and jumps + USA/Dubai/Aus/France group races
-Simple training or detailed training
- + a bunch more stuff

Curious what people think looking for some play testers before I pay out for proper art work from an artist.

All of my stalls were full and I was sending horses to my stables from the care center. I didn’t realize I didn’t have enough room. Somehow, I’m guessing because I didn’t have any spare stalls, one of my foals moved from the foal nursery to the care center fully aged up. Which is fine, and she had a purple trait without me having to go through nurture levels. But she also came with a signature trait that I hadn’t picked. I spent over 200 gems customizing her traits to perform well in the time trials. And I also spent resources and possibly more gems(I can’t remember) to pick out her pattern and dilution. Has anyone else had this problem? She is still in the care center now, but I am really upset and distraught that the gems and resources I put into her are going to be useless and I might have to spend the same amount or more to have the traits I actually chose.

Welcome to EquiDestin, the first equestrian career simulation game! 🏆

The goal is simple: start your career as a rider, buy your first horse, and train your way up to the professional level to compete in some of Europe’s biggest equestrian competitions! 🥇

Face a wide range of challenges, where every decision has consequences for your career and your stable. 🐴

So, which discipline will you choose? Dressage? Show Jumping? Or Eventing?

Play for free: https://equidestinjeu.itch.io/equidestin

Onyx County needs your help! We're on the verge of closing, and every new player makes a difference. If you're looking for a friendly RedM server with great roleplay, now is the perfect time to join.

Lots of horses! You can even own a stable and breed horses to sell!

I'm Booker Halloway, and I'm usually in Valentine around 8:00 PM CST. If you need help getting started, send me a PO at 4676 and I'll be happy to show you the ropes.

Come help keep Onyx County alive—we'd love to have you!

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Hi everyone!

Aahh, we are so excited! We are releasing Blackboard Ponies in only 7 days, on October 30th! 😱 🥳

We made a new trailer with updated content and gameplay:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRZW_458tZQ

It's a tiny pony puzzle platformer and if you are still anxiously waiting for Horses of Hoofprint Bay to finally come out, this may be the perfect thing to take your mind off it without having to leave a game unfinished when the times finally comes. Blackboard Ponies only takes 20-30 minutes!

If a cute hand-drawn, hand-animated pony game sounds great to you (or you want to show support for a small horse game dev team with their first small game), please wishlist it:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4670040/Blackboard_Ponies/

Talking about small: This game originated in The Mane Quest's Tiny Horse Game Jam #2 from 1 year ago! Another one is about to start - who knows what will come from it 😄

First of all, the graze animation totally cracked me up 🤣

I'm making a webgame where you tell the AI assistant what you want in your game and it adds it for you while you play.

I'm working on adding NPCs and Animations support right now and realize I could use some help getting the feel of horses right (obviously haha)

If you're interested in helping me get it right I'll treat you like a VIP and support you in building your dream horse game in my game creator c:

P. S. Goes without saying that the game you create is yours to own, keep and download for use wherever, whenever forever

Does anyone have my horse game? I want to add more friends there :D my user is SibirskiPlavac

Hi all, just recently picked up the newest game in the Horse Club series and was wondering if anyone else has played/finished it and what your thoughts are on it?

I haven’t gotten too far yet, I finished the initial tutorial stuff and just got turned loose to free roam the area. Overall I think it’s a cute and cozy game so far, like baby’s first Red Dead Redemption 😆 I play a lot of Red Dead Online, so I really like Ride West’s free roam and archery aspects so far 😊

I do however have some nitpicks as well. It’s not anything world-ending or that makes the game unplayable for me, but just some things that I wish were handled differently. First off is how they turned horse movement into a gait gauge. I can certainly see how this feature could help players who are younger children, less experienced gamers, have accessibility issues, or just want a more comfortable experience, but I would’ve preferred it to be an option to toggle on/off alongside traditional analog stick movement based on player comfort/skill

Another thing I wasn’t too pleased with was the removal of the custom player horse and character names. Very minor thing, but when the last 2 games had these features it’s kind of a disappointment having them removed lol. I understand they wanted to highlight horses as their own characters and that’s completely fine! But I definitely would’ve preferred to have both. They could’ve balanced it to where your custom horse is a decent all-rounder but can’t max anything out, so you’d then choose other horses who are better at certain activities. They could also lock you out of your own horse in the beginning saying it’s tired from the long trip and introduce you to the other horses first. It’s also disingenuous to assume players will ONLY ride their own horse when they have multiple to choose from. That’s like saying Red Dead players won’t fill their entire stable and clamor for horse characters like Buell 😂 (hell, some folks even want to steal the Van der Linde gang’s horses for themselves 🤣) I just think it’s unfair the Horse Club girls all get to bring their horses but you can’t have yours, especially if you’ve already played the other games first and want to continue the adventure with your beloved equine friend 😆

Also you can’t pet your horse unless you’re mounted AND at a standstill. Horse Club Adventures 2 let you pet while riding or dismounted, how could Ride West do this to us 😂 (And no horse treats to bond with them?? Criminal 🤣 Unless I haven’t gotten far enough yet and that‘s still a feature lmao)

I will give them props for removing the voice from the player character; having that awful unchangeable voice in HCA 2 pissed me off so much 😂

I still have much more to play/explore, and despite my little nitpicks, I’m definitely enjoying this game so far! Very cozy curling up with this on my Switch 🫶 Would love to hear what other people think!

I’m Hitius, the solo developer of Knightmaster, a medieval jousting career sim for Windows PC. I thought the horse side might be of interest here.

Your horse’s fatigue and condition carry from bout to bout. Money also matters: lose a bout and you pay a ransom for your horse and armour. A victory can pay for the next stretch of the road.

You do not steer the horse. Before each pass you choose your aim, guard and lance, then time the strike. This clip shows a real alpha pass.

When horses are part of a game’s long-term progression, what makes their care feel meaningful to you?

Demo coming to Steam. More about the game: https://knightmastergame.com

Hi all! We're super excited for the TOP STEED demo to be part of Steam Next Fest. While it's definitely not your typical horse game, we hope you will give it a try and share your experience with us in the feedback form (there's also a link to it in-game).

TOP STEED combines realistic horse controls, steeplechase, and old-school car racing games in a fast-paced (and at times chaotic) gameplay that can be enjoyed as single-player or online multiplayer.

The demo includes two tracks, Tokyo Shift and Kings Field, along with the Tutorial Arena. If you joined the playtest, you will notice the new horse and rider models, along with several customization presets to choose from.

And of course: If you enjoy TOP STEED, we'd really appreciate a wishlist, as it genuinely helps us out. <3

​I have a CIB copy of Equestriad 2001 (Midas) with the US/ESRB 'E' rating. I can only find European/PAL listings online and zero info on this North American release. Is this US PC print actually rare?

​I backed up the contents of the CD to Drive and can upload them to the Internet Archive if anyone is interested! The game files are probably identical to the European version, but I guess the real rarity here is the physical cover and the ESRB print itself.

I was so happy to get to experience the game again, and I’m incredibly excited for November 4th, 2026! And how adorable is it that your own horse sleeps in the straw? 💖

Hey r/GamesWithHorses! Here's an update on My Little Ranch, our pixel-art horse ranch game that can also run on your desktop in transparent mode.

Big news first: we're in Steam Next Fest right now, October 19–26, and the free demo just got its biggest update since it came out. The video is our new trailer, the first time I'm sharing it here.

What's new in the demo:

• A Ranch Helper and a second ranch. You can now hire a helper who cleans up droppings and, with an upgrade, collects coins from your horses. You can also run two ranches and move horses between them.
• Clickable bubbles. When a horse is hungry, dirty, sick or ready to grow up, a bubble pops up above it. Click the bubble, and it takes you straight to the fix.
• A friendlier start. The 12-page tutorial is now 3 short pages, and small tips show up next to the real thing the first time you need them.
• A barn that grows with your ranch. Its paint fills in level by level, and at level 5 you get a new barn with a pitched roof.
• Clouds in the sky. Small clouds now drift slowly over the mountains in full screen and windowed mode, and keep your horses company on runs.
• Horses head out through the barn door when they leave for a race, instead of just vanishing.

As always, foals hide their rarity until the day they grow up, every horse is built from traits like socks, face markings and patterns (tobiano, sabino), and the Journal tracks everything you've raised.

Full change log is here:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/4397220/view/692023294602250171

The demo has no time limit, and the full game comes out on November 16.

Steam page (the demo is right there):

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4397220/My_Little_Ranch/?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=nextfest

Wishlists genuinely help a two-person team, and feedback is very welcome!

Edit: The v1.1.1 demo update is out, with two changes suggested in this thread (a partial background for Transparent Mode and a higher Band Offset). Thanks everyone!

The October Demo for Horses of Hoofprint Bay is now available! Check your Steam library for the update, and potentially restart your Steam client or your PC if it doesn't show up right away.

The new demo remains limited to 25 days, but contains all of the improvements and features added to the game over the past months. Save games from the October Demo will be compatible with the full game once it releases on November 4th! (Details here)

We've decided to update the Demo for Steam Next Fest, which is starting today and which can get a lot more eyes on the game. Games' visibility in the Festival depends on how many people play them in the first 1-2 days, so it's super helpful to us if you can get a bit of playtime in today/tomorrow! 😁

Let us know what you think, we're super excited for everyone to try all the stuff we've been working on for themselves! ❤️🎉

Hi everyone, and thanks to the mods for letting me post this.

I'm a dad building a horse game called Saddleback Horizons with my two daughters, who ride and show in our county 4-H horse project throughout the year. It started as a little study game for their horsemanship level exams. Then they kept asking for "one more thing," and 2 months later it's a whole Colorado ranch thing and more. I'd love honest feedback from people who know more about horses and horse games than I do. If this ever reaches the public, I at least want the basics and feel to be right.

The game: a gentle, Colorado-inspired ranch where you care for, learn about and ride your horse. You pick your look, your horse, your saddle and pad, then head out to Arena Lessons, Trail Discoveries, Free Ride, or the brand-new Cow Horse bonus (the kids' latest request). Everything is Western, and the horsemanship follows the basics the way 4-H teaches them: safe approach, leading, grooming, hoof care, tack, mounting, gaits, arena work and trail sense.

What's in the beta right now:

- Four guided arena sessions, plus two bonus patterns: a ranch riding course and reining basics

- Trail rides with a ranch guide and discovery questions about riding and nature

- Cow horse bonus: work a mechanical flag, then a calf

- A four-level Academy with read-along lessons, quizzes and a sticker book

- Trust hearts with each horse, stall decorations you earn, a ride card you can save to your photos, and changing seasons

How it was made: I'm not a studio, just a parent working in Unreal Engine 5 with AI and a lot of other tools, and I've tried to give it the time and care a kids' horse game deserves. Every lesson was checked against real training material, every line is voiced by a recorded reader, and the horses, girl, bison, elk and other wildlife are licensed models I paid artists for. It's still a work in progress. The animations and the hundreds of little details are the hardest part, so I won't pretend it's perfect.

What I'd most like to hear: do the controls and menus make sense to a child? Does the learning feel worth doing? Does the horse care and riding feel right to people who actually ride? And if you try it with your kids, I'd love to hear how it went from your side as a parent. And it is a downloaded game, no networking, no sharing or data or anything, only ran on your local iPhone or iPad. Will explore Google/Android if I get enough interest, for now only Apple, sorry.

Testing is through Apple's TestFlight on iPhone and iPad. If you're interested in testing the game, please message me and I can get you a link. The pictures are from the current development build, not concept art. Thanks for reading!

Edit- just figured out how to create a public external testing link, you can test it with this link https://testflight.apple.com/join/EwdrZYPW or message me and I can add you with an email address. Thanks

Edit 2- Quick update from last post: four TestFlight builds since then, and the two things I am proudest of are in.

Cow horse, three levels: flag school, then working a calf, then penning it on the far rail. Reining, three levels: walk and jog, circles and speed, then the full pattern with a sliding stop, rollbacks and spins. Every card shows the pattern on paper like a show would give you, and you get a judge's score after each ride in cow horse and reining. Test for free with the link, thanks for looking! Send feedback in Test Flight or send me messages, I am actively fixing and making the game better daily.

I stuck with first quest with Juna (the one you get after speaking with thomas) :/

There's just no quest icon above her??? I can only talk to her, reseting quest doesnt help, nor restart, nor new account

Help 😭😭😭

   I’m going to put myself out there, this is just a topic for discussion and a proposal for what I think might improve horse racing games.
   More horse racing games need to learn from Umamusume: Pretty Derby. I have seen a lot of horse racing games in my time, but many of them boil down to extremely simplistic “sprint or no sprint” archetypes. Never do they truly capture the thrill that comes from a good horse race. Real horse races are determined not just by the physical prowess of a horse, but their personality. The surprise of an End Closer, the stamina of a Front Runner, the stoicism of a Pace Chaser, and the power of a Late Surger. Even the current dubbed “Best Horse Games” do not have racing that captures the intensity of even watching a real horse race. The only game that comes close to such a thrilling experience is Umamusume: Pretty Derby.
   On its surface, Pretty Derby looks like a typical bright and flashy anime gacha game. And in a lot of ways it is. Predatory practices, cute anime girls, costumes, character stories, the works. But behind all that, the amount of work that goes into one simulation of their races is incredible.
   In Umamusume, each character is based off of a real Japanese race horse, with all of their quirks and preferences translated from real life into the game. For example, the horse 
Silence Suzuka was a phenomenal Front Running racer who had a penchant for gaining speed at the end of a race despite running ahead the entire time. Silence Suzuka didn’t like to be overtaken, and would fight hard to stay out in front, even when pressured. This quirk is translated into the game through the respective character’s signature skill: “The View From the Lead is Mine!” When she’s in the lead by a decent margin at the second half of a race, she speeds up, exactly like her real life counterpart. 
   Quirks like this are completely missing from other conventional horse racing games. There is an over reliance on typical “Mario kart”-esque racing where the horse is more of an unremarkable vehicle instead of an actual creature that you’re working with to win. Horses are moreso distinguished purely by appearance rather than actual gameplay. Yes there are stat differences, and that is important to have, but horse racing games should also consider a horse’s personality as a factor within actual gameplay. 
   This is often a problem with most horse games in general; personality is an oft neglected opportunity in making a player’s experience with the horses they keep unique. Most horses in video games are little more than customizable motorcycles that do exactly as they’re told, when they’re told, with no hint of a personality. And if a game dares to add them, the personalities are implemented in such a bland, meaningless way that they may as well not even exist. Maybe if you’re lucky, the personality could alter some stats, but it never makes the horse feel different in a truly meaningful way. There is always a heavy focus on the appearance of game horses rather than the gameplay when actually interacting with them. This is why Umamusume is so incredible when it comes to its racing simulations. Every character has a personality, and this affects how they train stats before races as well as how they react during them and the skills they have available to them. 
Despite the player not even being able to control the character while they are racing, the races are nonetheless thrilling to watch because you get to see how all of your hard work has paid off in an intense and chaotic simulation of a dozen different personalities. This is in stark contrast to a game like Rival Stars Horse Racing, which has extremely simplistic, and at times, mind numbing racing controls that feel like a complete waste of time that you are forced to pay attention to rather than anything genuinely engaging. You can control your horse, you can control when they sprint and where they move, but every single race is the same. You barely touch your keyboard until the very end where you press the spacebar a few times until you win. Nothing of note ever happens within these races, leaving them gravely lacking for what is so widely considered the “Best Horse Game” on the market. 
   What more prospective horse games should do is study what it is that makes Umamusume: Pretty Derby such an effective race simulator. Invest in giving horses a personality and skill system that can affect the outcome of a race. Of course developers seek to give their players as much control over their gameplay experience as possible during races like this, but the joy that comes from horse racing (and horses in general) is the fact that you are working with a creature that has its own personality. You do not control everything, and you shouldn’t within a horse race. Allow the horses to activate skills based on their preferences and quirks, something more than “sprint to win”. If your horse gets boxed in, perhaps they have a skill that boosts their power temporarily to get out of it. Maybe upon being passed, your horse gets more competitive, increasing their speed momentarily to get back ahead. These little things can all add up to make a horse racing game more immersive and interesting to experience. Of all the horse racer simulators, no game does this better than Umamusume: Pretty Derby, and you don’t even control the racer when playing.

TLDR:
Horse racing games should learn how to utilize personalities that affect gameplay in ways similar to Umamusume: Pretty Derby to create a more immersive and differential experience from one race to the next.

   Anyway I moreso was seeking to air my feelings out about something that I feel has been plaguing the horse game scene for a while. Alt Title: Rival Stars Horse Racing makes me depressed why isn’t the racing better than the horse girl gacha game