Emma’s Adventureswas a monthly column created for Eurogamer Supporters that ran throughout 2023.

We’re now slowly opening these articles up.

And there’s one of her adventures ideally suited to the present day - to the Olympics specifically.

A woman stands in front of a horse, bedecked in 19th century dressage gear. It’s dry and dusty all around. It’s the world of Red Dead Online.

Can she bring the spirit of the Olympics to Red Dead Online?

Until recently, I knew very little about the world of dressage.

In the past couple of weeks, however, all that has changed.

A lady riding a horse through the dust at a ranch in Red Dead Online.

You might have figured that out from the headline.

Some players were taking things a step further, and organising their owndressage competitions.

The notion that players were clubbing together to host competitions also intrigued me.

A horse stands in front of a stable. It’s got speckled brown colouring and an expensive looking saddle.

The first step was, importantly, acquiring a horse.

I wanted to ‘train one up’, and bond with them in the process.

Handily, it’s also a breed that’s available in Red Dead Online.

A lady stands in front of a stable, looking at the camera, in a long tailed black riding coat and white trousers and high black boots. And a black hat. She looks very smart.

With the horse sorted, it was time to buy some clothes.

My dressage coat alone was $192.50.

On top of that, I needed a new set of tack to make Allegro look smart.

A lady on a horse in the 19th century Wild West, piaffing - which is to say having the horse jog on the spot. It’s a dusty and dry place.

Disclaimer: many digital people and animals were hurt in the making of this dressage routine.

The upside of this grind was that I was able to spend plenty of time bonding with Allegro.

“It’s very unique…

A lady on a horse in a dry and dusty yard, moving sideways with control. It’s a bit like a sideways moonwalk. But on a horse.

Finally, Ruppert gave me some parting words of wisdom to help with my performance.

With the routine selected, I went back into Red Dead Online to do some location scouting.

Ideally, I needed a place that would resemble the rectangle of a dressage arena.

A desktop computer with Red Dead Online on the screen, and some papers on the desk and on the wall around it.

I settled on MacFarlane’s Ranch: a massive cattle farm with a large circular pen.

As would the random NPC who sometimes spawned in the yard, normally when I was practising my pirouettes.

We had a couple of close calls there.

A lady in dressage wear riding a horse in a dusty, arid landscape. Another lady looks on, possibly in the horse’s way, which could be ugly.

Next I had to practise the routine, and boy was this a steep learning curve.

I spent a great deal of time on YouTube just learning the names of all the moves.

YouTube now thinks I’m a horse girl, and my home page is full of equestrian videos.

An animated gif of Emma jogging on the spot in her garden. All you can see are her grey and orange trainers going up and down on grass.

I then had to figure out how to perform all of these in-game.

I initially struggled with simple things such as changing gaits, or coming to a halt quickly.

It’s actually a very tough workout, I’ll have you know.

Cover image for YouTube video

At last, I was finally ready to perform the routine - but alas, disaster struck.

There were also a couple of transitions that I felt could have gone a little smoother.

She then diligently watched the performance and marked it, giving me detailed feedback on every movement and transition.

A score card filled with columns and writing, and some blue-pen marks, explaining Emma’s dressage routine and scoring it.

“I had a lot of fun judging your dressage test and you did so well!”

(For reference, the highest Grand Prix score at the 2020 Olympics was 84.379 per cent.)

But overall, she was impressed by our effort, giving us a full 10/10 for general impression.

A score card filled with columns and writing, and some blue-pen marks, explaining Emma’s dressage routine and scoring it.

Each move was precise with little error.

Collection was well done as well, using the slower trots in the game’s animations to show that.

She did really well making it look effortless.

A score card filled with columns and writing, and some blue-pen marks, explaining Emma’s dressage routine and scoring it.

Every move I would rate between 8-10.”

Weirdly enough, the process meant I formed an extremely strong emotional attachment to my digital horse.

I normally feel quite fond of my Red Dead horses, but this is something special.

A female-presenting character in black boots, white trousers, black tail coat and black hat, stands in front of a handsome horse in a dusty, arid landscape. They have competed in a dressage competition in Red Dead Online.

A partnership forged in the dustbowl of MacFarlane’s yard.

Perhaps strangest of all, I’ve now developed a thirst for dressage.

And as for the mystery of why Red Dead Online has dressage mechanics in the first place?

I still have no idea.

Some equestrians are best left unanswered.