Many Red Dead Online players are experiencing a very fitting glitch that unleashes ghost riders across the American heartlands--or rather, ghost horses. These phantom horses are appearing seemingly at random and causing all sorts of trouble throughout Red Dead Online.
The ghostly horse problem started about a week ago with Red Dead Online's latest update, Blood Money, suggesting that the update may be connected to the glitch. Whatever the case, the world of Red Dead Online is currently being plagued by mysterious horses that appearing without warning, sometimes racing at top speed and sometimes lying dead on the ground.
Some players are being hit by these fast-moving horses, which are decked out in fancy tack like player-owned horses but cannot be ridden by players. This limitation is what gave them the nickname ghost horses, even the ones that appear to be demonstratively alive. Ghost horses may not seem like they play a part in the crimes and robberies featured in Red Dead Online's Blood Money update, but they are proving to be a real hazard.
YouTuber MB recorded a video titled "Red Dead Redemption 2: T-Boned By Player's Horse" showing a player riding around, completing a quest, and promptly being hit by a riderless ghost horse that raced into them at incredible speeds. While the video is over 2 minutes long, the ghost horse only appears after the 2-minute mark and rapidly hurtles in front of the player, sending them flying.
The fact that these ghost horses feature customization options usually reserved for player-owned horses appears to be evoking some curiosity from players, especially since Red Dead Online features enough customization options to create Homer Simpson. Players have reported the ghost horses displaying a variety of different behaviors ranging from running at high speeds for no reason to immediately dying to simply standing around, doing nothing.
Several theories that could explain the ghost horses have developed. One is that the horses may belong to players who have disconnected from the game and somehow left their mounts behind, which would explain the fancy saddles and why other players can't ride them. Another idea is that the ghost horse bug is connected to a cutscene bug in the stables, as some players have reported seeing their horses running out of the stables as the cutscene begins.
Either way, it will be interesting to see what Rockstar does about this glitch, or if the developers will simply work the ghost horses into the game. Red Dead Online already allows for NPCs to attack griefers, so odds are good that the company could find a way to implement ghost horses properly.
Red Dead Online is available right now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
Source: TheGamer