As of last night, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has horse armor DLC with The Champions’ Ballad. Here’s how to get the Ancient Saddle and Bridle.
Yes, of course, The Champions’ Ballad brings far more to Breath of the Wild than just some fancy horse armor, but I can’t resist making fun after the running joke from Oblivion about horse armor DLC. If you’ve purchased The Champions’ Ballad, you’ll also trigger a quest entitled EX Ancient Horse Rumors, which leads you to Highland Stable to investigate. As we all know, video game rumors are 100% true always. It’s up to us to find “a cherry blossom tree at a mountain where creatures gather” and “a mysterious spring where a horse spirit resides” so you can obtain an Ancient Saddle and Ancient Bridle to decorate your horse with.
If you’ve been a diligent explorer in Breath of the Wild, both of these locations should set off alarm bells immediately. The first, the cherry blossom tree, is located atop Satori Mountain in south-central Hyrule. It’s a large mountain that can often be seen glowing green late at night from a distance, and is the home of Mogg Latan Shrine. If you’re still unsure, the mountain can be seen easily from Central Tower, facing west pass Mount Daphnes and across the river.
Warp to Mogg Latan or climb Satori Mountain and find the cherry blossom tree at the peak. Use Magnesis to find and dig up the chest at the base of the tree for the Ancient Bridle.
Next: What to do after the final boss of Breath of the Wild
The Ancient Saddle is located at Malanya Spring, a place you’ve likely sought out if you’ve ever lost a precious horse. Starting from Highland Stable, head south toward the Lake of the Horse God and across the bridge. Keep following the path to Malanya Spring, where the Horse God that revives your deceased steeds resides. Ignore the Horse God and head behind the flower pedestal to the left, using Magnesis to spot the chest in the ground containing the Ancient Saddle.
horse armor dlc #BreathoftheWild #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/84cuyjAqYG
— Reb Valentine (@duckvalentine) December 8, 2017
The Ancient Bridle will max out your spurs with any horse, bringing them to their full potential. The Ancient Saddle makes it possible to summon your horse to you anywhere that a horse is allowed, even if the horse is far away or cannot cross the terrain to get to where you are. These invaluable items will make exploring the remainder of Hyrule even faster and easier…and they look super cool, to boot!
While there's a lot of exciting new content coming to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in December thanks to The Champion's Ballad, DLC, one little new quest has a major reward: the ancient horse armor. To get your hands on this unique horse armor you'll need to complete a new quest, EX Ancient Horse Rumors.
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Here, we guide you through how to do so. But first - why is this armor worth getting? Well, crucially, the Ancient Horse Armor has the same sort of ancient technology look about it that you find on the Sheikah Slate and in shrines - and better still, it actually comes with a new ability: it lets you summon your horse from afar no matter where you are. It also enhances your horse's skills.
When you boot up the game after downloading the latest Zelda: Breath of the Wild update, the EX Ancient Horse Rumors quest will automatically appear in your side quests - but here's what to do next...
EX Ancient Horse Rumors: Gathering Clues
The quest text for EX Ancient Horse Rumors directs you to the Highland Stable where you'll supposedly be able to find a copy of the Super Rumor Mill EX magazine with more information. The Highland Stable is found in the South of Hyrule, not far from the Lake of the Horse God, which Zelda horse aficionados may be familiar with as a way of reviving your horses.
The nearest shrine is the Ka'o Makagh Shrine, and if you teleport there you'll be right next to the stable. It's sandwiched between the Lake Tower to the West and the Faron Tower to the east.
Head into the Highland Stable - you'll find a table covered in cups that also has a green book open on it. This is the Super Rumor Mill V3. It confirms that Ancient Horse Armor is real, and also gives you clues as to where it might be:
- The bridle is south of Hyrule Ridge, beneath a cherry blossom tree at a mountain where creatures gather.
- The saddle is at a mysterious spring where a horse spirit resides.
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Simple enough, right? Well, let's go get the parts!
Hyrule Ridge and a Cherry Blossom: Finding the Ancient Bridle
The Bridle part of the EX Ancient Horse Armor is found "South of Hyrule Ridge, beneath a cherry blossom tree at a mountain where creatures gather." If you've been following our other Zelda: Breath of the Wild guides you might know this mountain well - it's where the special Lord of the Mountain mount appears - atop Satori Mountain, which is indeed South of Hyrule Ridge.
Let's take a look at it on the map - you'll find it to the West of Hyrule Field right towards the very middle of the map in a very central location.
The nearest shrine is the Mogg Latan Shrine, and this is indeed the mountain that sometimes glows brightly at night - that's all part of the Lord of the Mountain quest.
Once on the mountain you'll want to clamber to the top. If you fast travel to the Mogg Latan Shrine via teleport, you'll be able to climb up behind the shrine to get onto the plateau of the mountain. Practically 'inside' the mountain in a little crater there's a clearing with some water and a cherry blossom tree - at certain times of day, the Lord of the Mountain appears here.
Once you get here, look at the base of the cherry blossom tree with your Magnesis Rune equipped - you'll see the chest glowing bright red, sticking out of the ground. Target the chest and drag it up from underground, and inside you'll find yourself the Ancient Bridle! We need both parts to get the full benefit, however, so it's on to find the saddle...
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A Mysterious Bridge where a Horse Spirit Resides - Finding the Ancient Saddle
The Ancient Saddle clue is a lot easier to get around - it wants you to find a horse spirit, and there's only one of those in the game, the Horse God that's used by Link if he wants to bring a horse that has died in his service back to life.
The Horse God is found not far from where we found the magazine earlier - it's just south of the Highland Stable, so take yourself back to the Ka'o Makagh Shrine. The Horse God Bridge and Shrine are marked on the map, so just follow that to find them. It looks like a great Fairy Fountain if you've never been there before, with the same flower motif, like so:
The chest containing the Ancient Saddle is found behind the Horse Fairy Fountain, buried against the wall at the very back of the area. Once again, use your Magnesis Rune to drag it up out of the ground and claim your prize!
How to change horse gear, and why the Ancient Horse Gear is worthwhile
In order to equip the Ancient Bridle and Ancient Saddle just do the same thing you'd do to equip any horse gear in Zelda: Breath of the Wild - travel to a stable and look for the stablehand characters - NPCs that feed horses at the stables. They'll let you change your settings, but keep in mind not every stable has them. The Highland Stable is an ideal place, since you've already visited it twice during this quest.
The Ancient Horse Armor can be equipped on any horse other than Epona and the Giant Horse, and it adds two extra spurs to their stamina meter. That's a big buff indeed, especially on horses that already have five spurs to begin with.
In addition to this, the Saddle can be used to teleport the horse to your side no matter where you are in Breath of the Wild's enormous take on Hyrule - so long as it's an area where a horse can be, it'll be there for you. This saves a lot of time, and so picking up this gear is highly recommended.