Red Dead Online glitch is causing chaos with the game’s horses

Red Dead Online
(Image credit: Rockstar)

There’s currently a Red Dead Online glitch that seems to be causing mayhem with the game’s horses. 

As spotted by Kotaku, several players have reported weird happenings involving horses in Red Dead Online ever since the game’s developer Rockstar rolled out the Blood Money update earlier this month. 

These strange occurrences range from duplicating player’s horses, ghost horse sightings, some just turning up dead, and perhaps most annoyingly many horses appearing out of nowhere and running into players at full speed - knocking them to the ground. The strange part is that a lot of these horses can’t be interacted with and aren’t even necessarily wild, with many sporting saddles and accessories implying that they are owned by someone.

So why is this happening? Well, some players have a theory and it is connected to a glitch in the stable. In the video embedded below we can see a player enter the stable riding their horse, however, once the cutscene begins the horse, not so subtly, runs back out again without its rider. Which has caused one player to theorize that the horses stay online after the player logs off or is disconnected from the online servers. 

The Blood Money update which launched on July 13, brought several new features to players, with the standout addition being Crimes and Opportunities to the game. These new missions see players commit all the crimes a cowboy would want to commit such as train robberies, kidnapping, and holdups. 

However, nowhere in the Red Dead Online Blood Money patch notes does it say anything about crazy horse behavior, meaning this chaos may soon be over with a simple fix from Rockstar. Which is unfortunate news for those who like to be unpredictably thrown off of their horse at any given moment. 

This also wouldn’t be the first time players of Red Dead Online have experienced some kind of wide-ranging glitch either, as late last year many players began using a certain bridge to catapult themselves across the map, as well as throw themselves into out of bounds areas. Which is one way to get around when your horse isn’t cooperating. 

In the market for a new hooved companion? Take a look at our Red Dead Online best horses list to make sure you pick out the right one. 

Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.  

Read more
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
If you liked Red Dead Redemption 2's ultra-realistic horses, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 devs also used a real horse in the motion capture studio
GTA Online animal locations
GTA Online animal locations for the LS Tourist Board
Helldivers 2 intro cutscene helldiver thumbs up
Despite Arrowhead trying to fix it twice, Helldivers 2 still features a chaotic bug that lets you slide around like a snake, and "it's even more hilarious" after the latest update
A Monster Hunter Wilds NPC that's entirely polygonal.
Monster Hunter Wilds' nightmarish low-poly bug is back for its second beta, but don't be too surprised - Capcom said improvements wouldn't show until launch
Monster Hunter Wilds beta and trailer screenshots
A Monster Hunter Wilds bug doomed one player to fight the 5-minute punching bag tutorial boss for a freakin' hour: "I’ve had to sharpen my weapon at least 15 times now"
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 screenshot of Henry following behind Hans Capon on horseback
The Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 best horse and how to get it
Latest in Red Dead
Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says 100-hour games are a "mismatch" to today's reality: "I haven't even opened Red Dead Redemption 2, because I don't have 90 hours"
Red Dead Redemption 2 screenshot showing the silhouette of a man with a cowboy hat on horseback, a glowing sun seen behind him
Red Dead Redemption 2's very own Arthur Morgan says he wishes that he could work with "genius" Metal Gear mastermind Hideo Kojima
Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2 modder makes "all wagons and horses travel at super sonic speeds," chaos and jumpscares ensue: "It's now a horror game"
Red Dead Redemption
Red Dead Redemption 2 dev reveals detail "99% of people never saw" that's part of "what makes Rockstar's games so good"
Red Dead Redemption
Rockstar veteran says Red Dead Redemption's PS3 version was "very hard and time-consuming" to make, but it was "easy to write for the 360"
Red Dead Redemption
After 14 years, the original Red Dead Redemption finally hits PC this month, with Undead Nightmare in two
Latest in News
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Destiny 2 Lightfall
When Destiny 2 "weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we'd seen since 2018," Bungie assembled an A-Team to put out some fires: "We needed to do something"
Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo looking at a giant key which is also a clue
Netflix is rebooting Scooby-Doo as a live-action series from the producer of Supergirl and The Flash centered around a "supernatural murder" at a summer camp
Astro Bot
Astro Bot went through 23 pitch iterations before its director promised PlayStation "happy gameplay" and "overflowing charm," though it did once end with robot decapitation that made "some people really upset"
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
AI Limit
"AI is not as effective as it might appear": Dev of AI-focused Soulslike RPG says they didn't use any AI-generated content and it can't match "genuine creativity"