In 2016, I downloaded a new game on my laptop that reminded me of one of my favorite tiles from childhood, Harvest Moon. This new farming game was a clear homage with its farming mechanics, romance options, pixel art style, and the importance of petting cows, chickens, and dogs. But there was one animal that noticeably didn’t get the same attention in Stardew Valley: the horse.
In most of the Harvest Moon games, the player-character receives a horse for free from someone in town—perhaps an old man who no longer needs it or a livestock farmer, the same person who sells chickens and cows. In comparison, in Stardew Valley, the horse is only attainable by building a shed from the town’s carpenter, Robin, for a whopping 10,000 coins and a significant amount of materials. Furthermore, while you can name the horse in Stardew, it’s the only animal you can’t pet and build a relationship with.
This really bummed me out in 2016. In Stardew Valley, increasing your relationship with your animals means they’ll produce higher quality products (like eggs) or bring you goodies (like your dog finding a rare artifact). It’s been several years since Stardew‘s original launch. These days, I play it on my Nintendo Switch (the ideal platform, in my opinion).
While ConcernedApe has done an amazing job making and giving out new free content, including the excellent 1.6 update, I’m disappointed that the horse has not significantly evolved in the years since.
Why can’t we pet the horse? Why don’t we have a relationship with it? How come it comes with a stable, like an accessory, rather than from Marnie, the neighboring livestock supplier, like every other farm animal in the game? How does it know to return, no matter where you leave it, to its stable each and every night? Why doesn’t the horse run free and escape from this hell?
I assume that the main obstacle to not petting the horse is that by clicking the horse, you jump on its back. With other animals—like a dog, cat, chicken, cow, sheep, duck, or goat—there are no click-only actions other than petting. For example, to milk a cow, you have to click on the cow with your milk bucket tool in hand. You could argue that hey, it’s just mechanically difficult to pet the horse. However, I’m calling a flag on the play.
Solo developer of Stardew Valley, Eric Barone aka ConcernedApe, has acknowledged many times how Harvest Moon inspired him. And in most of those games, you can build some kind of relationship with your horse. Those games had the same click-interaction issue. However, they worked around this by letting players buy a brush and care for their horse, which served as an equivalent action to petting. Furthermore, you could often give them their certain crops, like carrots or apples, as a treat once a day to increase your relationship.
In the Stardew Valley 1.6 update, ConcernedApe has made some minor improvements toward this. Players can now give their horses carrots as a treat,* but this doesn’t build toward a relationship. Additionally, ConcernedApe introduced books and skill development. One book allows characters to move slightly faster while on horseback. Ah, so adding depth to the horse is possible. While the books are cool, faster horse riding would make sense as a bonus of building a relationship with your horse.
I’ve been thinking about the horse in Stardew Valley a lot lately. I recently started playing the truly excellent multiplayer mode with my mom and sister, and we’ve been loving our Four Corners Farm. That got me back into playing a new single mode farm, and I’ve been binging it to bring me a safe pocket of joy in this stressful world. But the horse is bumming me out.
My fervor was amped to new levels when I learned I wasn’t the only person thinking about it. I recently listened to Nathan Grayson’s new Aftermath podcast, YOU ARE ERROR, where he recently had on video game horse expert (amazing title), Alice Ruppert. The whole episode is great, discussing the rise and fall of horse games in the early 2000s and what could happen in the future. This part of the conversation, which starts around 34:00, particularly resonated with me:
“It’s not a mistake necessarily, but it’s a common missed opportunity for story-driven games to treat horses like bicycles, rather than as a character. […] Many games miss out by not letting players interact with their horse in any way other than mount and dismount. […] Giving players the chance to care for their digital steed is something that’s often missed. Can I brush the horse? Can I pet the horse? If I have a home base, can I put my horse in its stable and take off its saddle? Even with Stardew Valley, and I love Stardew, [it’s] a shit horse. You don’t even have little hearts go up every time you pet it, like you do with cows and chickens.”
Alice Ruppert, horse video game consultant, on YOU ARE ERROR podcast with Nathan Grayson
What’s more, Harvest Moon games show precedence for how players can have simple interactions with horse. Harvest Moon is by no means a perfect franchise, including with its treatment of horses, but by doing the one-click with a tool—similar to a milk bucket—and treats—like giving gifts to townspeople—are relatively simple and straightforward mechanics that already exist and build toward a relationship. Given this precedence, I can only see ConcernedApe’s lack of investment in this particular part of the game as a lack of interest in the horse itself.
And this, to me, is a let-down. In a conversation last year, several writers here agreed that the horse is the most significant upgrade in the game. Its speed is unparalleled for the ease of moving around the game’s giant map, trying to squeeze max productivity from a day. The horse is always my first big purchase in the game. In a game where relationships with other living creatures is key, Stardew Valley’s horse stands out as a strangely utilitarian machine.
Don’t get me wrong—I think ConcernedApe is a gift to humanity. He seems like a really nice guy, and he’s super talented. I am continuously impressed with his commitment to player joy and his art. But I really, really wish he’d let me pet this horse.
Check out this Reddit post from three years ago, where someone photoshopped in a heart next to their horse. That’s how desperate we are.
Please, ConcernedApe, in a 1.7 update, please let us pet—or at least brush—this horse.
*Shout-out to my fellow writer, Ben Rashkovich, for letting me know about the carrots. He also shared that you can now put hats on your horses, as well as on all your other animals. However, giving my horse a top hat does not make her love me more. Sad.
