In the case of a Western-themed game such as Red Dead Redemption 2, this commitment extended to bringing actual horses into their production studio. During the "Outlaws for Life: A Red Dead Redemption Reunion" panel at C2E2 2025, Roger Clark, who portrayed Arthur Morgan, disclosed that real horses were used during production. However, Clark himself didn't get the opportunity to ride any of them.
“We had plenty of fake horses that we dearly loved,” Clark recalled. “They got all the horse animation done in 2 and a half weeks. We weren’t involved; they used the real horse wranglers for that.”
Clark also mentioned the practical challenges real horses presented, expressing his relief that professional wranglers managed those tasks.
“Looking back on it now, I’m grateful for that. I can ride, but I’m sure I’m not as good as the horse wranglers, and I’m glad that we didn’t have to deal with all that horseshit too. We sat on steel drums with saddles strapped onto them with four posts sticking out, so that it was dimensionally accurate.”
Clark highlighted the exceptional work of Rockstar's animators, emphasizing the extraordinary efforts made to create a realistic game environment.
“All of our sets were dimensionally accurate, but they didn’t look at all what they looked like in the game. That’s why the animators were so useful. They would say, ‘Okay, this is what it actually looks like,’ and point at a screen, and we would go, ‘Oh, okay.’ But the animators did all that magic. We would be stationary on set on a steel drum, and the animators did the rest.”
“They made it look so seamless, even with the bouncing, and whether it’s a gallop or canter, or what have you. The way the animators just blended that in seamlessly, you’ve got to take your hat off to them.”