Last updated: 21 July 2026

KCD2 Horse Guide — Stats, Bonding, Best Horses & Care

Your horse in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is transport, storage, and a combat partner all at once — and unlike the first game, KCD2 lets you permanently upgrade your two free starting horses just by riding them. This guide covers the four stats that actually matter, how the bonding perks for Pebbles and Herring work, the wider horse roster, and the practical stuff players constantly search for: stealing horses without getting caught, keeping your horse clean, and getting it back if it wanders off.

01The Four Horse Stats

Every horse in KCD2 is defined by four stats, visible on its info screen:

• Speed: how fast the horse moves across its three gaits — Trot, Canter, and Gallop.
• Stamina: how long you can hold a gallop before it runs out. Push a horse past empty stamina while spurring and it will buck you off.
• Courage: resistance to being spooked, especially in combat. Low-courage horses bolt when fighting starts, which makes them close to useless as a mount during a fight.
• Capacity: how much weight you can store in the horse's saddlebag inventory — separate from Henry's own carry weight.

Spur (hold to push into a gallop — PC: Left Shift) burns Stamina; once it's empty, you risk being unseated.

02The Bonding System — Pebbles and Herring

KCD2 introduces something the first game didn't have: a distance-based bonding system tied to your two free horses. Ride either one far enough on normal riding (not fast travel) and it permanently transforms into one of the better mounts in the game, at no cost beyond the riding itself.

• Pebbles — Henry's horse from the first game. Found early at the Semine stables; you can get her free with a successful persuasion check, or pay a fee if it fails. Ride roughly 35 km and she receives a substantial, permanent stat boost.
• Herring — obtained for free during the main quest "Back in the Saddle," which becomes available after "For Whom the Bell Tolls." Talk to Kabat, the stable hand at Trosky Castle, who offers Herring to Henry. Ride roughly 50 km and Herring gets a comparable permanent upgrade.

Exact post-upgrade stat numbers vary between community sources (likely due to patch changes over time), so treat the improvement as "substantial" rather than relying on a specific figure — check the horse's own stat screen in-game once you've hit the distance threshold.

Two additional hidden perks exist, both unlocked through the "Horses for Courses" quest at the Nomad's Camp (introduced in Patch 1.3 alongside free horse racing): Airgiyn Tav (+10% ranged damage while mounted, tied to Mikolai's side of the quest) and Equestrian Explorer (slower stamina drain, better fast-travel vision, from Bibrek's side).

03Buying and Stealing Other Horses

Beyond Pebbles and Herring, a full roster of purchasable and stealable horses is spread across grooms and camps in both regions:

• Best all-around late-game pick: Pisek Lad, sold by Groom Hanniker in Kuttenberg — strong across all four stats.
• Fastest: Kincsem, one of the highest-Speed horses in the game, bought from Groom Hanniker in Kuttenberg. Gringolet, stolen from Sigismund's Camp during the Lost Honor questline, is also fast and one of the best horses worth stealing.
• Best cargo capacity: Erdel and Mark, both with large saddlebag capacity, from Groom Hashtal (Maleshov) and Groom Hanna (Grund) respectively.
• Best combat courage: Erdel and Kasztanka, both from grooms in Maleshov/wherever listed above — good picks if you plan to fight from horseback.

Any unattended horse can simply be mounted and ridden away, but you don't legally own it until you register it. If an NPC witnesses the theft, it's reported as a crime and you'll be Wanted. To actually keep (or sell) a stolen horse, ride it to Horse Handler Mikolai at the Nomad Camp west of Trosky, or Stoia west of Kuttenberg, and pay a fee based on its value to register ownership.

04Horse Care: Washing and Feeding

A dirty or bloodied horse isn't just cosmetic — it makes Henry easier to detect (NPCs notice the smell) and applies a penalty to stealth and persuasion-adjacent checks. Wash your horse at any horse handler for around 200 groschen (haggling can bring it down), which takes about an hour in-game. Handlers are available at the Nomad Camp west of Trosky and in southwest Kuttenberg.

Feeding is an undocumented mechanic the game never explains directly: open your inventory and drop fruit or vegetables (carrots work) near your horse, and it will walk over and eat them. There's no confirmed stat or bonding bonus beyond the animation itself — treat it as flavor rather than a mechanical requirement.

05Equipment: Saddles, Bridles, Horseshoes

Four equipment categories let you tune a horse's stats further:

• Saddle: increases carrying capacity (with a small speed penalty at high loads).
• Bridle: boosts stamina and speed, with a minor defensive benefit.
• Horseshoes: raise top speed.
• Caparisons: torso armor that adds Courage and physical protection, at the cost of Speed and Capacity — not purely cosmetic.

The horse's own saddlebag inventory (opened the same way as Henry's own inventory) holds extra items and isn't a separate equippable slot. Saddlers carry the best equipment selection, though grooms, tailors, and general traders sell horse gear too.

06Calling and Recovering Your Horse

Tap the whistle button (PC: X, PlayStation: Triangle, Xbox: Y) anywhere outdoors to instantly summon your horse — it appears near you rather than physically running across the map. The same button, held instead of tapped, summons your dog Mutt instead.

If your horse goes missing entirely, check the nearest named settlement first — it typically ends up near a trough or tavern. Patch 1.5 specifically improved this: horses now wait significantly longer in the holding area next to a horse handler after a transaction, reducing how often they seem to disappear.

07Mounted Combat and Horse Racing

Henry can fight from horseback with swords, axes, and maces. The Horsemanship skill tree (18 perks total) governs how effective this is — the Knight Training perk in particular reduces stamina cost for mounted melee attacks and makes you harder to unseat. Low-Courage horses will bolt mid-fight regardless of your own skill, so pick your mount for combat with that stat in mind.

Horse racing was added as free content in Patch 1.3 (alongside the paid "Brushes with Death" DLC) via the "Horses for Courses" quest at the Nomad's Camp. It introduces racing-specific Horsemanship perks (Head Start, Ride Like the Wind, Roadrunner, Wildrider, Final Stretch) and is also the source of the two hidden bonding perks mentioned above.