Getting the lasso in Red Dead Redemption is inevitable and happens very early on in the playthrough. This is a good thing since you can then freely do whatever you want, whether it’s taming a wild horse or hogtying a rude NPC that interrupted you on a mission. Using the lasso is simple as well, and there aren’t any tricky mechanics that will trip you up anytime soon. However, your character's Honor stat may change depending on how you use it.
With that said, let’s take a look at how to get the lasso in Red Dead Redemption and how to successfully use it every time.
Red Dead Redemption: How Long to Beat (& Main Mission List)
There are 57 main missions in Red Dead Redemption, and it will take players at least a few dozen hours to finish the story.
How to Unlock The Lasso In Red Dead Redemption
Complete Wild Horses, Tamed Passions Mission
You get the Lasso in Red Dead Redemption 1 for free by completing the fifth mission with Bonnie MacFarlane (including the one where you wake up after being shot). Once you reach her place at MacFarlane’s Ranch, the Wild Horses, Tamed Passions mission will start.
During the cutscene, you will learn about Bonnie’s father, Drew MacFarlane, and hear his political thoughts toward city dwellers. Once done, you will join the two on a mission to break in wild horses. Since you don’t have a lasso already at this point in Red Dead Redemption's story, Bonnie will give you one at no cost.
Now, all you have to do is ride with them until you see a herd. At that time, you will need to break in two wild horses to complete the first part of the mission and get back home. The second part is much the same, and you will need to ride with Bonnie and her crew to corral a herd of horses. She will gift you the stallion that you tame there. The Kentucky Saddler you acquire is a rare and agile breed, a better horse than you started with.
How To Use The Lasso In Red Dead Redemption
To use the lasso in Red Dead Redemption, all you have to do is aim at a horse or a human and throw it. If you’re using a controller, use LT/L2 to aim and RT/R2 to throw. If you’re playing on a keyboard-and-mouse setup, aim with the right mouse button and throw with the left. Once you’ve thrown the lasso, make sure to hold down the aim button. Otherwise, the target will run away, and you will have to start from scratch.
If you're playing on a PC, ensure that Red Dead Redemption is optimized for your system. Since the game caps the FPS at 144 and is essentially a remaster, the gameplay can stutter. This can become a bit jarring, especially during horse-taming scenes.
In the Wild Horses, Tamed Passions mission, once you’ve used the lasso on a wild horse, quickly walk up and get on its back. Use the A-D buttons or the analog stick to maintain your balance on the horse till the process is complete, and it becomes tame.
Later on, you may also need to slow down certain lassoed horses before you can do the balance minigame to finish the taming process.
Red Dead Redemption: Best Horses, Ranked
Players should do their best to tame these particular horses in Red Dead Redemption.
You can also use the lasso on humans in Red Dead Redemption. However, note that this will bring police attention if it’s done on innocent civilians, and you may need to outrun the officials. You can also hogtie the person you’ve lassoed, which will enable you to either kill them or take them away on your horse.
The latter mostly comes into play for capturing bounties. This may seem okay enough, but if you're not playing on Normal, note that Red Dead Redemption's gameplay mechanics change based on the difficulty level. As such, ensure that you've got things in control before you break out your lasso on a person.
Red Dead Redemption
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 79 /100 Critics Rec: 73%
- Released
- May 18, 2010
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar San Diego
- Publisher(s)
- Rockstar Games
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- rockstar advanced game engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Red Dead Redemption
- PC Release Date
- October 29, 2024
- Nintendo Switch Release Date
- August 17, 2023
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Android, iOS
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Adventure
- How Long To Beat
- 18 Hours
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
