The Riding Outfit in Crimson Desert is one of the few gear sets built entirely around your horse rather than your own combat stats. Each piece stacks +1 Horse EXP Gain, which means faster Trust and Bonding Level growth with your mount. That matters a lot if you want to get the most out of horse racing, taming, and the open world of Pywel. The catch is that none of the five pieces drop from the same place, and three of them require you to actually win races first.
The Riding Outfit cannot be refined and does not support Abyss Gears, so treat it as a dedicated horse-leveling set rather than a combat armor option.
What does the Riding Outfit set do?
The full set spans five slots: hat, chest, cloak, gloves, and boots. Four of those five pieces each provide +1 Horse EXP Gain, and the chest piece (the Riding Attire) trades that bonus for a unique Whip ability (triggered with L2+R2 on PlayStation or LT+RT on Xbox) alongside reduced Horse Taming Difficulty. Wearing the complete set gives you a meaningful advantage when grinding horse levels, and the Lightning and Ice Resistance bonuses are a small but real defensive upside.
Full Riding Outfit set stats
Here is a quick overview of every piece and what it offers:
Where to find the Leather Riding Hat
The Leather Riding Hat is a straightforward purchase, but there is a trust gate standing between you and it. Head to the Saddlery in Demeniss, located just before the north gate out of the City of Demeniss. The merchant Fiona sells it for 37.18 Silver Coins, but she will not deal with you until you hit +100 Trust with her.
To build that trust, gift Fiona ores, materials, and books. There is no shortcut here, so start collecting those materials early and work the relationship in parallel with the rest of your Demeniss activities.
How to get the Riding Attire
The Riding Attire is the chest piece and the only slot in the set that does not give a Horse EXP bonus directly. Instead, it unlocks the Whip ability and cuts Horse Taming Difficulty, which is arguably more useful in the early-to-mid game.
To earn it, you need to win the Darkhorse Grand Prix at the Golden Plains in Demeniss. Speak with the Host at the event to enter, then win four consecutive races. After your fourth straight victory, the Riding Attire is yours as the Grand Prix reward.
Before entering the Darkhorse Grand Prix, make sure your horse is properly geared. The races are competitive enough that an undergeared mount will cost you wins and force you to restart the streak.
Where to find the Riding Cloak
The Riding Cloak is the most recently documented piece of the set, and its location is a bit out of the way. You need to visit the Back Alley Shop at Saddlewind Ranch, which sits east of the Hill of No Return.
The shop is run by Sunmore, and just like Fiona, she requires +100 Trust before she will sell to you. The fastest way to reach that threshold is by gifting her x10 Garnet. Epiodte, Diamonds, and Azurite also work as trust gifts. Once you clear that requirement, the Riding Cloak costs 76.88 Silver Coins.
How to get the Master Trainer's Touch Gloves
The Master Trainer's Touch Gloves come from a Faction Quest rather than a shop or a race event. You are looking for the "Race in Hernand" Faction Quest for House Serkis, found north of the Howling Hill camp in Hernand, near Bloomwood Ranch.
This quest pits you against a Noble and his horse in a direct race. Win the race, and the gloves are your reward. These are the only piece in the set that also carries an Attack stat of 11, making them slightly more useful outside of pure horse-leveling contexts.
Where to find the Riding Boots
The Riding Boots round out the set and are also tied to a Faction Quest race. Look for the "Horse Fair Races" Faction Quest for House Byron in Demeniss. The quest starts at the Demeniss Horse Fair, north of the "N" in "Demeniss" on the map. Speak with the Apprentice Rider there to kick things off.
The quest requires you to race the Apprentice Rider. Win, and the Riding Boots are yours. Like the gloves, the boots carry an Attack stat of 11 and Movement Speed Lv 1, which gives them a bit of utility beyond the horse-leveling niche.
Both the Darkhorse Grand Prix and the Faction Quest races require a competitive horse. If your mount is not properly leveled and equipped, you risk losing and having to reattempt. Sort your horse gear before committing to any of these events.
Is the Riding Outfit worth collecting?
For combat, no. The Riding Outfit cannot be refined and does not accept Abyss Gears, which puts it well behind dedicated armor sets for actual fighting. For horse progression, though, it is the most direct way to accelerate your mount's growth. The four pieces with +1 Horse EXP Gain stack up, and the Riding Attire's Whip ability plus taming reduction makes early horse interactions noticeably smoother.
Think of it as a farming set you swap into whenever you are focused on horse activities, then switch back to your main armor when heading into combat. That approach gets you the benefits without the defensive tradeoff.
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