To store items on your horse in Red Dead Redemption 2, you stow them by type: long guns Arthur is not carrying stay on the saddle, animal carcasses and pelts go on the horse’s back with the Stow prompt, and spare hats and outfits ride in the saddlebags. To see what your horse is carrying, hold D-pad Right beside or on it to check its cargo, or hold the item wheel button (L1, LB or Tab) and tab to the horse section. Below we cover each kind of item, how much the horse holds, and the everyday supplies that never leave Arthur’s satchel.
This guide covers Story Mode in the current build of Red Dead Redemption 2 on PS4, Xbox One and PC (Steam and the Rockstar Games Launcher). PS5 and Xbox Series X|S players run those versions through backward compatibility, so the console buttons are identical, and as of this writing Rockstar has not announced a native current-gen version.
What Your Horse Can Carry
| Item | How it gets on the horse | How you get it back |
|---|---|---|
| Long guns | Any you are not carrying stay on the saddle | Focus on the horse and use the weapons option |
| Carcasses | Carry one over and use the Stow prompt | Take it off to sell, cook or donate |
| Pelts | Skinned pelts go on the horse’s back | Sell or deliver them at a butcher or the Trapper |
| Hats | Your spare and lost hats live in the saddlebags | Item wheel, horse section |
| Outfits | Saved to the horse from a wardrobe | Item wheel, horse section |
Launch-era control lists describe the two buttons that open all of this. D-pad Right, held, opens “satchel or horse cargo” on foot and checks horse cargo in the saddle. L1 or LB, held while mounted, lets you “view weapons stored on mount”.
How to Store Carcasses and Pelts on Your Horse
Hunting is where most players first run into the horse’s storage.
- Kill the animal cleanly and decide whether to skin it or keep the carcass whole.
- Skin it or pick it up. Launch-era control lists put skinning on the interact button (Triangle on PlayStation, Y on Xbox); to keep the carcass whole, pick it up from the on-screen prompt instead.
- Carry it to your horse and press the Stow prompt that appears beside the saddle.
Capacity is limited. Per the community wiki, a horse holds up to two medium carcasses and one large carcass, while small animals such as rabbits hang from the side of a saddled horse. Big game is a different story: the wiki says bears and similar animals are too heavy to carry whole, so you skin them, and only one rolled-up large pelt fits on a horse at a time. Medium pelts, such as deer hides, lie flat across the horse’s back.
Two warnings from the wiki and player guides. First, carcasses rot over time and lose value, so skin them or sell them promptly. Second, standing your horse on top of a body before you skin it, or trampling it, can drop the pelt to poor quality. Our guide to perfect pelts covers the clean kills and where to sell.
How to Store Long Guns on Your Horse
Arthur carries his sidearms and up to two long guns on his body; every other rifle, shotgun and bow you own stays on the horse automatically.
- Stand beside your horse and hold the focus button (L2, LT or right mouse button).
- Choose the weapons option from the prompt list to see what the horse is carrying.
- Pick the long guns you want on Arthur. The rest stay on the saddle.
From the saddle, hold L1 or LB to view the weapons stored on your mount. Player reports add a shortcut: while riding, set the long guns you want in the weapon wheel, switch to unarmed, and Arthur takes the selected guns with him when he dismounts.
How to Store Outfits and Hats on Your Horse
Your horse doubles as a travelling wardrobe, which matters because the weather can hurt you. Per the community wiki, wearing the wrong clothes for the climate makes Arthur too hot or too cold and drains his health core, and the wiki suggests keeping one hot, one temperate and one cold outfit on the horse.
To put an outfit on the horse:
- Open a wardrobe. Arthur’s tent in camp has one, and so does a rented hotel room. Clothing stores show the same outfit screen.
- Save the outfit you want, then use the option on that screen to store it on your horse. Player guides describe this as a choice on the outfit menu rather than a separate button.
To change into a stored outfit in the field (per player guides):
- Stop your horse with R1 or RB, and stay mounted or stand right beside it.
- Hold L1 or LB to open the wheel and press R1 or RB to tab to the horse menu.
- Find the outfits at the bottom of the horse wheel, scroll with L2 and R2, and release to change instantly.
Hats work the same way. Player guides note that your hats sit in the same horse menu, so if a punch or a branch knocks Arthur’s hat off, open the wheel near your horse and cycle through the hats stored there.
How many outfits fit? Player guides put the default at three. Steam players report that the Upgraded Saddle Bags sold at stables raise that to five, and the community wiki says better saddlebags store more outfits, masks and hats, listing the upgrade at $40. There is no separate coat slot that we could confirm, so if you like to shed a heavy coat in the heat, save one outfit with it and one without and keep both on the horse.
One trap from the Steam forums: picking a knocked-off hat back up, or buying new clothes, creates a new “custom outfit” that can push your saved ones around. Players suggest reloading a stored outfit from the horse instead, and leaving a slot free.
What You Cannot Store on Your Horse
The horse is not a general-purpose stash. Food, tonics, herbs and other consumables live in Arthur’s satchel, and none of the player guides we checked describe a way to move them into the saddlebags. If you keep running out of room for supplies, the fix is a bigger satchel; player reports say the camp cook, Pearson, crafts satchel upgrades from pelts.
Also remember that everything on the horse travels with the horse. If it bolts, gets stuck or dies, your spare rifles and that fresh pelt go with it until you get it back. Our guide on how to call your horse covers retrieving a horse that has wandered, and player guides note you can strip the saddle from a dead horse to keep your saddle and the gear stored on it. For keeping the horse fed between hunts, see our guide on how to feed your horse.
Storing Items on Your Horse in Red Dead Online
Red Dead Online uses the same cargo and horse wheel controls, and outfits and hats work the same way. Players disagree about the Collector saddlebags: one Steam player says they hold seven outfits, while another who owns them reports only five, so do not buy them for storage alone. For serious hunting, the community wiki points to the Trader role’s Hunting Wagon, which carries several carcasses and pelts at once. Rockstar’s Red Dead Online page lists current discounts on tack and wagons.
For more help with Arthur’s horse and the rest of the game, browse our Red Dead guides hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you store items on your horse in RDR2? It depends on the item. Long guns you are not carrying stay on the saddle, carcasses and pelts go on with the Stow prompt, and outfits and hats are saved to the horse from a wardrobe.
How do you check what your horse is carrying? Hold D-pad Right beside or on your horse to check its cargo, or hold L1 or LB in the saddle to view the weapons stored on it.
How many outfits can you store on your horse? Player guides put the default at three, and Steam players report five with the Upgraded Saddle Bags from a stable.
How many carcasses can your horse carry? Per the community wiki, two medium carcasses and one large one, plus small game hanging from the side of a saddled horse. Large pelts from bears and similar animals fit one at a time.
Where did my hat go? Open the item wheel near your horse and tab to the horse menu. Your stored hats are there, and a wardrobe at camp or a hotel also has them.
Can you put food or tonics in your saddlebags? Not as far as player guides describe. Consumables stay in Arthur’s satchel, and the way to carry more is a satchel upgrade.