Overview
Build your Sim’s Horse Riding skill in The Sims 4 to unlock rewards and interactions. In this guide, we’ll show you how to level up the skill, train your Horse, enter competitions, and even use cheats to speed things up.
About the Horse Riding skill
- The Horse Riding skill comes with The Sims 4 Horse Ranch Expansion Pack, and is a 10 level skill.
- Elder, Adult, Young Adult, Teen, and Child Sims can all build this skill.
- Child Sims will also build the Motor skill. To learn more about how Child Skills work, check out our guide.
- Your Sim will need to max out the Horse Riding skill to complete the Championship Rider Aspiration.
- The Horse Lover Trait is useful for building this skill, as these Sims share a strong bond with Horses. They’ll have an easier time socializing and caring for Horses than other Sims.
How to build the Horse Riding skill
There are multiple ways for your Sim to build the Horse Riding skill. Some interactions are only unlocked when your Sim reaches a certain level.The best way to build this skill is to mount up and get riding—first up, you’ll need a Horse! Make sure you buy or adopt either an Adult or Elder Horse, as Sims can’t ride Foals. Once you have a Horse, select them and choose Go for a Ride. Choose between Go for Relaxed Ride (advised if you’re new to the skill) or Go for Energetic Ride. The Go for Intense Ride is grayed out until your Sim reaches level 2.Horses also have skills, which impact how easy they are to ride, as well as how they perform in competitions. The skills are:
- Open the phone and choose the Home app > Call Ranch Animal Exchange. You’ll have the option to Rescue or Purchase a Horse.
- Add a Horse to your family through Create a Sim. Select Add a Sim > Add Pet > Add Horse.
- Temperament: Horses with a high Temperament buck less often, get along easier with other Horses and Sims, perform better at some Community Jobs and Championship competitions.
- Agility: Horses with high Agility are better at using Horse Barrels, completing some Community Jobs, and Championship competitions.
- Jumping: Horses with high Jumping skills are better at using Horse Jumps, completing some Community Jobs, and performing in Show Jumps.
- Endurance: Horses with a high Endurance skill become fatigued less often, perform better at some Community Jobs, and in the Endurance Race.
To check in on a Horse’s skill level, open the Relationship Panel, choose your Horse, and select Open Profile. To increase your Horse’s skill level, keep training with them, or use the Community Board in Chestnut Ridge to send them for training.
Buy Horse Jumps and Barrels from Build Mode to level up your skills and your Horse’s skills, making it more likely to win at Championship competitions.Don’t want to invest just yet? There are spots around the world of Chestnut Ridge where you can use Barrels and Jumps without needing to buy them.
- Heritage Vintage Horse Jumps
- Champ Certified Horse Jump
- Heritage Vintage Horse Barrels
- Champ Certified Horse Barrels
- Travel to Red Roan Field (in the Rider’s Glen neighbourhood), they’re just off the Lot.
- Travel to Duke’s Hall Park (in the New Appaloosa neighborhood), they’re at the back of the Lot.
- Travel to The Cozy Corner House Lot (in the New Appaloosa neighborhood), they’re just off the Lot to the right.
- Outside the Hay Now! Equestrian Centre, you’ll find Barrels and Jumps.
- You’ll find multiple around the Galloping Gulch neighborhood - travel to the Big Sky Reach Vacation Rental and explore the surrounds to find them.
- 1Get to the Hay Now! Equestrian Centre by travelling to one of these locations in the New Appaloosa neighborhood:
- Duke’s Hall Park
- The Rusty Horseshoe Nightclub
- or The Oak Barrel Bar.
- 2Select the Equestrian Centre and choose Enter Competition. Competitions are split into five categories:
- Barrel Racing
- Endurance Racing
- Show Jumping
- Western Pleasure
- and Ultimate Horse Championship.
Reading skill books will work towards building skills, but is slower than other methods. Books will only get you as far as level 9 of a skill. To buy skill books:The skill books are:
- 1Select a bookshelf and choose Purchase Books.
- 2In the pop-up, select the drop-down at the top-left that reads Show All.
- 3Choose Skill and scroll through to find the book you want to buy. These will be added to your Sim’s bookshelf.
- Horse Riding Vol 1: Get Off Your High Horse, You’re Still a Beginner
- Horse Riding Vol 2: Jockey Jargon
- Horse Riding Vol 3: From Pedestrian to Equestrian
If you own The Sims 4 Jungle Adventure Game Pack, the Peace and Quiet Lot Trait helps your Sim build skill faster when reading skill books.
If you own The Sims 4 Discover University Expansion Pack, your Sim can attend skill-building classes. These are rabbit-holes, so your Sim will leave the Lot for some time and then come back when the class is over. Note: Skill Classes are only available between 9a.m.–9p.m.
- 1In Live Mode, select your Sim’s phone.
- 2Open the Business app (the briefcase icon).
- 3Choose Sit in on Skill Class (§250).
- 4In the pop-up menu, choose Horse Riding. Your Sim will leave the Lot and gain the Horse Riding skill while at the class.
If you own The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies Expansion Pack, your Sim can learn or teach the Horse Riding skill using the Sharing is Caring Whiteboard. You’ll find this in Build Mode.
Horse Riding skill levels
As your Sim builds the Horse Riding skill, they’ll unlock new abilities and interactions along the way. A green progress bar will appear above your Sim’s head and gradually fill up as they’re building a skill. You can also check their progress by:- 1Entering Live Mode.
- 2Selecting the Sim Panel (bottom left).
- 3Selecting the Skills tab. Here, you can check how many skills your Sim has and what level they are in each.
This level unlocks:
- Go for Relaxed Ride
- Go for Energetic Ride
This level unlocks:
- Go for Intense Ride
- Canter Here interaction unlocks when on a Horse
This level unlocks:
- Direct Horse to Practice Basic Jumps and Practice Advanced Jumps by themselves at the Horse Jumps
- Direct Horse to Practice Barrels and Race Barrels by themselves
This level unlocks:
- Discuss Horse Riding interaction
- Less likely to get bucked off a Horse while riding (Horses are less nervous around more experienced riders)
This level unlocks:
- No longer becomes Tense when riding
- Intensely Train option now available on Horse Jumps and Horse Barrels
This level unlocks:
- Higher chance of getting the Confident Moodlet when riding
This level unlocks:
- No longer get bucked off a Horse when mounting or dismounting
This level unlocks:
- Share Horse Riding Tips interaction
This level unlocks:
- More likely to get the Very Confident Moodlet when riding a Horse
This level unlocks:
- Iron Works Signage: Horse Riding Item—find this in your Sim’s Household Inventory and is also available in Build Mode.
Horse Riding skill cheats
When using skill cheats, type in the number of the level you want to reach. For example, putting stats.set_skill_level AdultMajor_EquestrianSkill 7 into the cheat bar will get your Sim’s Horse Riding skill up to level 7.PC and Mac
PlayStation®
Xbox
- 1Press Control + Shift + C to open the cheat dialogue box.
- 2Type testingcheats true and press Enter to turn on cheats.
- 3Type stats.set_skill_level AdultMajor_EquestrianSkill [skill level] and press Enter.