Lon Lon Ranch: How to Get Epona Walkthrough

Ocarina of Time 100% Completion Walkthrough20 chapters

Walkthrough overview

• Kokiri Forest and the Lost WoodsKokiri Sword, Deku Shield, both Skull Kid Heart Pieces, upgrades, Saria’s Song, Skulltulas.
• Inside the Great Deku Tree (Dungeon 1)Map, Slingshot, Compass, all 4 Gold Skulltulas, Queen Gohma, Heart Container and the Kokiri’s Emerald.
• Hyrule Field and Hyrule CastleEvery field grotto, Pieces of Heart, Skulltulas, Din’s Fire, Zelda’s Letter and Lullaby.
• Kakariko Village and Hyrule MarketBottle, Sun’s Song, Heart Pieces, masks, mini-games, shops and Skulltulas.
• Death Mountain, Goron City and Hyrule MarketBracelet, Big Bomb Bag, Heart Pieces, Gold Skulltulas, the Great Fairy, Richard and Din’s Fire.
• Dodongo’s Cavern (Dungeon 2)Every room, Dungeon Map, Compass, Bomb Bag, 5 Gold Skulltulas, King Dodongo tactics and the Goron’s Ruby.
• Zora’s River and Zora’s DomainBean seller, frogs, Heart Pieces, Silver Scale, Ruto’s Letter, Lake Hylia, Farore’s Wind and Jabu-Jabu.
• Inside Jabu-Jabu’s Belly (Dungeon 3)Carrying Ruto, Boomerang, Map, Compass, 4 Gold Skulltulas, Big Octo, Barinade and Zora’s Sapphire.
• Transition to AdulthoodThe Ocarina, Song of Time, Door of Time, Sacred Realm, Light Medallion, Sheik, age change and the ruined Market.
• Lon Lon RanchEpona’s Song, Lon Lon Milk bottle, tower Heart Piece, 4 Skulltulas, Ingo’s races, Epona and the cow.
• Forest Temple (Dungeon 4)Minuet of Forest, all 5 Small Keys, 5 Gold Skulltulas, Fairy Bow, the four Poe Sisters and Phantom Ganon.
• Fire Temple (Dungeon 5)Goron Tunic, Bolero of Fire, 8 Small Keys, 5 Gold Skulltulas, Megaton Hammer, two Flare Dancers and Volvagia.
• Ice CavernReach it across Zora’s Fountain, Blue Fire, 10 Silver Rupees, 3 Gold Skulltulas, a Heart Piece and the Iron Boots.
• Water Temple (Dungeon 6)Three water levels, 6 Small Keys, 5 Gold Skulltulas, Dark Link, the Longshot, the Boss Key and Morpha.
• Bottom of the WellDrain the Kakariko well, beat Dead Hand for the Lens of Truth, then get the Map, Compass, keys, Skulltulas.
• Shadow Temple (Dungeon 7)All 5 Small Keys, Map, Compass, Hover Boots, Boss Key, 5 Gold Skulltulas, Bongo Bongo and Shadow Medallion.
• Gerudo’s Fortress and the Haunted WastelandFree the 4 carpenters, get the Gerudo Card, win the archery prizes, then cross the Haunted Wasteland.
• Gerudo Training GroundEvery room, all 9 Small Keys, the Silver Rupee puzzles and the Ice Arrows in the central treasure room.
• Spirit Temple (Dungeon 8)Child and adult routes, 5 keys, Map, Compass, Boss Key, 5 Skulltulas, Silver Gauntlets, Mirror Shield, Twinrova.
• Ganon’s Castle and Ganon’s TowerLight Arrows, six trials, Golden Gauntlets, Double Defense, the tower climb, Ganondorf and Ganon.

Epona is the horse that makes the Field fast to cross, and she is the key to the horseback archery in Gerudo’s Fortress, the Big Poes and the shortcut across Gerudo Valley. You get her in two stages, separated by the seven years of the story. As a child you learn her song from Malon, who works at the ranch. As an adult you win her from Ingo in a pair of races. The ranch also gives you a bottle, a Piece of Heart and four Gold Skulltula tokens while you are small, so visit it as a child first even though the horse itself comes later.

Lon Lon Ranch as a child

Getting there and the lay of the land

Lon Lon Ranch is the farm in the exact middle of Hyrule Field, and you can see its entrance from the Castle Town drawbridge. Visit it after you have woken Talon at Hyrule Castle. The first building you reach is the house; Talon is behind the first door on the left. Walk through the house and the barn to come out in the field where the horses run (they are out only by day; at night crows circle overhead). Malon stands in the paddock beside a cow, and Epona is the young horse with her. A feed shelter stands on the far side of the paddock, and a storage tower is at the back.

Learn Epona’s Song

Talk to Malon, who introduces Epona, a foal that is afraid of strangers and runs from you. Keep talking until she mentions her mother’s song, and then take out your Ocarina. Malon plays the tune and you copy it to learn Epona’s Song: C-Up, C-Left, C-Right, C-Up, C-Left, C-Right. Play it near Epona and she is no longer afraid of you, though you cannot ride her yet. You must learn the song as a child, because Malon will not teach it to an adult.

If you forget this step, you cannot ride Epona until after the Forest Temple, when you can go back to being a child, so it is worth checking now. Epona’s Song also makes any cow in the game give milk when you play it near one with an empty bottle in hand.

The Cucco game and Lon Lon Milk

Go through the first door in the house to find Talon asleep at the table. Wake him and he offers a game: three Super Cuccos are hiding in a crowd of ordinary Cuccos, and you have 30 seconds to find them. It costs 10 Rupees, and a retry after a loss costs only 5. Before you talk to him, pick up every Cucco so it gets a green marker; then the three without one are the Super Cuccos. Throwing the others into the gap between the table and the stairs also helps. Win and he gives you a bottle of Lon Lon Milk, which is one of the four Empty Bottles in the game (see Bottle Locations). Each dose heals five hearts and the bottle holds two. Winning again, with an empty bottle, gives a free refill, and Talon sells refills for 30 Rupees.

Milking the cows

Once you know Epona’s Song, you can milk any cow in the game: stand beside one, take out an empty bottle and play the song. Two cows live in the storage tower. This works as a child or an adult.

The tower Piece of Heart

The storage tower at the back of the ranch, beyond the horse field, holds two cows and a lot of crates. Open the door and push the crates on the left wall aside to reveal a small hole in the corner. Crawl in, and you find a secret room with a Piece of Heart in a pile of hay. It is available to Child Link only.

Lon Lon Gold Skulltulas (child)

There are four tokens on the ranch, all child tasks. Two work during the day and two only at night. Two of them also need the Boomerang from Jabu-Jabu’s Belly, so plan a second visit.

The grotto

To the left of the paddock, outside the fence, an open hole in the ground leads down, with no item needed, but only for Child Link. Inside, three Business Scrubs sell small supplies. They only sell after you hit them with a nut, a seed or the Boomerang, or reflect their own nuts back.

Getting Epona as an adult

Ingo’s ranch

Seven years on, Talon is gone from the ranch and Ingo, who was the farmhand, has taken it over for Ganondorf. The old buildings are the same, but Ingo runs the paddock for money, and Malon has to follow his orders. You need at least 60 Rupees in your wallet (more if you lose a race), and the Ocarina with Epona’s Song learned as a child.

Pay to ride and call Epona

Talk to Ingo at the entrance and pay 10 Rupees for a one-minute turn in the paddock. Do not take the slow horse he offers. Instead, take out the Ocarina and play Epona’s Song, and Epona gallops over to you. Walk up and press A when the Climb prompt shows to get on. The session ends when the minute runs out or when you talk to Ingo.

You can also call her from anywhere in the middle of the Field by playing the song (stay clear of walls and fences). Once she is yours, she answers in the big open areas, such as Hyrule Field, Lon Lon Ranch, Gerudo Valley and Gerudo’s Fortress, and does not come inside towns or dungeons.

Riding basics

On horseback you move with the stick, and A is the dash, shown on screen as “Faster”. Each dash uses one carrot, shown in the row of carrot icons above your hearts, and they refill after a short rest. Approach a fence head-on at speed and Epona clears it by herself. To get off, stop and press A when the prompt appears. You can swing the sword and use ranged items, such as the Fairy Bow or the Hookshot, while mounted.

Practice by jumping the paddock fences. Each fence you clear during a paid session earns you a few Rupees, so you can win the fee back. When you are ready, ride up to Ingo and talk to him while you are still on her.

Race 1: Ingo’s 50 Rupee race

Ingo says he will race you around the corral twice if you pay another 50 Rupees. Accept. Press A at the start to dash, stay on the inside of the track next to the inner fence, and cut the corners tight. Save your carrots for the last stretch so you do not run out before the line. You can also block him by riding across his path. If you lose, you can pay and try again.

Race 2: win Epona

When you beat him, Ingo sulks and challenges you to a rematch with Epona as the stake. He is more aggressive this time and tries to squeeze you against the fence. The advice is the same: keep to the inside, spend carrots wisely, and save a burst for the final straight. Win and he keeps his promise.

Escape the locked gate

Ingo gives you Epona but shuts the main gate to keep you in. Turn her round, build up speed and jump the closed gate, or jump any of the low walls around the ranch. After you leave, the ranch goes back to the way it was, Ingo is humbled, and Malon is in charge of the ranch again. Malon tells you that Talon will be home soon.

Malon’s obstacle course (cow for your house)

Go back in and talk to Malon (with Epona). She offers an obstacle course: two laps round the corral, jumping every fence. Clear it in under 50 seconds, keeping your carrots for the big gates and approaching each fence head-on, and Malon has a cow delivered to your house in Kokiri Forest, which gives you free Lon Lon Milk forever (play Epona’s Song next to it with an empty bottle). Beat your record again and she gives a Purple Rupee (50 Rupees).

What Epona is for

You can finish the game without her, because the Longshot gets you across Gerudo Valley as well. For a 100% file she is required for the horseback archery in Gerudo’s Fortress (a Piece of Heart and the Biggest Quiver), for Big Poes (shoot them from her back; see Big Poes) and for this obstacle course. She also makes the long runs between Kakariko and Lake Hylia in the Biggoron Sword trade (see Biggoron Sword Trading Sequence) shorter.

Where to go next

In the story, the Hookshot is next: go to the Kakariko Graveyard and win Dampé’s race (see Kakariko Village). The scarecrow Bonooru at Lake Hylia lets you invent your own Scarecrow’s Song, which you will want for several later puzzles (see Ocarina Songs). Then head for the Forest Temple.

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