You also get horse riding skill from the community job “train neighbor’s horse” - and of course there’s a book. But that’s fun to know you can try actually riding a horse without owning one.
Might be fun to make a household as a neighborhood stable - give them multiple horses, with just one or two Sims as stable owner/workers, and just build a big barn. Then visit and “rent” a horse!
@PipMenace That's a great idea! So, if you don't have enough money for a big lot and all the extra horse stuff or already have a house full of sims, you can just visit the "neighborhood stable". :-)
@PipMenace I've been enjoying the neighborhood stable I made in the game!
For anyone else who wants to try this, make sure that your horses aren't locked behind a fence. I noticed that the "lock for all horses" persists when I play other households and send them to the lot. In one instance, two of the horses weren't able to leave their paddock because the gate was locked. The only way to disable the lock is to play the household that owns the stable.
I use this idea when I'm creating my family networks too. So when I start out with a household that will later be split into say 3 households of relatives, I add 1 or 2 horses. I leave them with one of the households but family who say, live in a small lot without stable room can just pop over to their family's home and take one of the horses out riding. Or if it's someone's busy family and their horse doesn't get out much or is an elder horse that just gets the occasional trot outside, one of the kids visits and takes the horse out every now and then.
