| Region | Hyrule Field |
|---|---|
| Location | Hyrule Ranch: the rancher stands in the paddock by the ranch house, next to a saddled brown horse and a hay fork |
| Quest giver | The rancher (no name tag is shown) |
| Available | The first time you reach Hyrule Ranch |
| You’ll need | A low object echo to use as a step in water, such as Table |
| Reward | No item: the rancher lends you horses free of charge from then on (which opens up horse riding and the ranch’s Flag Races) |
One of Hyrule Ranch’s horses has wandered off west and hasn’t come back, so the ranch isn’t lending out mounts. You find her stuck on a little island in a stone-walled pond in Hyrule Field; build her a low step in the water with an echo, ride her out and bring her home. It’s a short quest, and the reward is the one that matters most at the ranch: free horses whenever you want them, which you need for the Flag Races.
How to Start
At Hyrule Ranch, the woman beside the silo tells you “One of our horses went missing… We looked all over, but we just couldn’t find her.” The rancher, an old man in the paddock with “Where could she be?” over his head, gives you the details: “Ah, welcome to Hyrule Ranch. I’m afraid we’re not loaning out mounts at the moment. We’re a bit distraught, see. One of our horses went and ran off.” It’s hardly out of the usual for her to gallop out west; “What’s odd is she hasn’t come back.” The whole family went looking, but didn’t find her. “If you see our horse, I don’t suppose you’d mind bringing her back here?” The Runaway Horse banner appears with a Destination marker in your log.
Walkthrough
Step 1: Head west into Hyrule Field
Leave the ranch through its wooden archway gate onto the dirt road and the area name “Hyrule Field” appears. Go west and then south through the grassy fields below the red-rock plateau, past clumps of trees and tall grass. On the way there’s a low round grassy mound with a Might Crystal on top, and another crystal hidden in the tall grass further on. Keep going until you see a small pond sunk into the ground and walled with grey stone, with a grassy island in the middle: the brown horse is standing on it.
Step 2: Reach the horse
Drop into the water and swim to the island. Its top is a round patch of grass, with lower stone ledges sticking out on its sides just above the water. Climb up and mount the horse with “Ride”. She can’t get across the water on her own, so you’ll have to give her something to cross on.
Step 3: Build her a way out
A bridge of beds doesn’t work: a row of Old Bed echoes laid from the island toward the west bank stops her at the edge, and she won’t step onto them. What does work is something low. Clear the beds and summon two Table echoes in the water on the west side, right against the island’s lower ledge, so they sit almost level with it. Get back on her (“Ride”) and ride west: she jumps across the tables and out of the pond, landing on the grass of Hyrule Field.
Step 4: Ride her home
Stay in the saddle and ride back east and north to the ranch; use Dash on open ground. Go back through the archway gate, through the paddock, and up to the rancher. “Say! That’s our horse! She’s finally back home where she belongs! I can’t thank you enough.” He can’t believe the poor girl ended up in a place like that: “She and I are both in your debt.”
Reward
There’s no item; the reward is his promise: “Tell you what, sprout. You ever need a steed, I’ll lend ’em to you free of charge.” Horses are great for getting places quickly, he adds, “You can go ahead and saddle up on whichever one you’d like.” Side Quest Complete: Runaway Horse appears. From now on you can walk up to any of the ranch’s horses and ride it, and riding is what you need for the ranch girl’s Flag Races.
Tips
- The Flag Races pay well: the middle course gives the Prismatic Music Box for beating 25 seconds and a Piece of Heart for beating 20 seconds. Talk to the ranch girl while on horseback to enter.
- Grab the two Might Crystals on the way to the pond: one on the round grassy mound, one in the tall grass near the red-rock cliff.
- The Table is one of the first echoes you learn (in Zelda’s prison cell in Hyrule Castle), so you’ll have it whenever you get here.
