What you need

To effectively use a horse for personal benefit (i.e. riding the trail) you need several pieces of gear:

• Spurs – Two versions plain (W7) and fancy (W13).
• Saddle & Bridle – Two versions plain (W16) and fancy (W19)
• Saddlebags & Blanket (W12)

If you lack these you are “riding bareback” and are at -5 on all Riding checks (see skill description).

Grades of horses – RAW

There are four grades of horses listed – poor/fair/good/excellent with wealth costs from 15 to 22. Don’t bother looking for mechanics on how one horse is better/worse than another. DHR has acknowledged that their should be rules, but they don’t exist.

Grades of horses – House Rules

We are adapting horses to the house mastercraft rules. (pg 130, 148) as follows.

There are four grades of horse – poor to excellent. They have the following mechanics effects.

Quality	Effect	Cost	Minimum WL to Purchase
Poor	Scrub ( -1 penalty on Riding & Handle Animal, Can only learn three tricks).	DC14	None
Fair	RAW	DC17	1 WL (DC15+)
Good	Easy Riding (+1 equipment bonus on Riding & Animal Handling)	DC20	2 WL (DC15+, +1 mastercraft)
Excellent	Easy Riding & one Special Trait	DC23	3 WL (DC15+, +2 mastercraft)

List of Special Traits

These bonuses are not exhaustive, and I welcome other creative ideas.

Trait	Bonus
Improved Easy Riding	Upgrades the Easy Riding bonus to +2
Mean	STR 15, CHA 5, + 1 on attack/damage
Hearty	CON 17, 3d8+9 grit, Fort +7
Show Pony	WIS 14, Will +3, Animal can learn nine tricks
Racer	DEX 15, Ref +5, Defense 14 (12 flat-footed)