Beginner Survival Guide

Your first hour in Khiimori is the hardest. Here's how to survive it.

Last verified: 22 May 2026 · Early Access

1 Your Horse Is NOT a Vehicle

  • Your horse is a living creature with moods, limits, and personality
  • Ignoring care = dead horse = failed delivery
  • Think Tamagotchi on steroids, not GTA horse
  • Mood at zero = horse refuses to gallop
⚠️ Most new players kill their horse within the first hour. Read on to avoid this.

2 Horse Care Basics

  • Feed hay and berries regularly
  • Water by riding into shallow water — horse drinks automatically
  • Brush & Hoof Clean — hold the action until the progress bar fills!
  • Treat injuries and poison immediately — they tank mood
⚠️ Clicking care actions and walking away does NOTHING. You must hold until the bar fills completely.

3 Choose Your First Horse

  • Ferghana — High Strength, best for heavy cargo (Recommended)
  • Akhal Teke — High Agility, best for fast light deliveries
  • Mongolian — Balanced stats, good all-rounder
  • You can sell your starter horse later — not a permanent choice

4 Cargo & Saddlebags

  • Balance left/right saddlebags — keep the arrow in the green zone
  • Unbalanced load = faster exhaustion + trip risk (broken legs)
  • Don't pick up everything — weight adds up fast
  • Quest items cannot be dropped — plan before picking up
⚠️ If the Drop key is greyed out, it's a quest item. You MUST deliver it to clear inventory.

5 Dismount Safety (AI)

  • Don't leave your horse on steep slopes while gathering — it may climb and injure itself
  • Avoid ordering drink in deep water; shallow puddles/rivers while mounted are safest
  • If the horse won't move forward on flat ground, it's often terrain refusal (cliffs) — dismount, pass the obstacle, then whistle (Q)
  • Make camp at designated campsites before long herb runs — autosave triggers on camp and dismount

6 Essential Controls

Q Care wheel / whistle
O Horse profile
F Mount / Dismount
Shift Speed up / gallop
Ctrl Slow down
Scroll Cycle gaits
I / M / C Inventory / Map / Craft

Controls & Saves

Keybinds, autosave rules, camera fix, and storm FPS tips.

🔧 Mood Stuck at Zero? Fix in This Order

  1. Clear debuffs first — injury, poison, dirt (hoof/mud). Healing tonics/bandages from settlements.
  2. Feed + water — hay/berries; ride into shallow water while mounted for auto-drink.
  3. Complete care bars — press Q → brush and hoof care; hold until each progress bar fills (walking away does nothing).
  4. Pet after the above if mood is still low (petting has a cooldown).
  5. Check traits — e.g. Lazy hates galloping; Wind Spooked hates open storms. See Traits and Routes.

✅ 30-Second Pre-Ride Checklist

  1. Check in-game weather for the route (blizzard vs heat changes everything).
  2. Pick the horse with the right stats + traits for that biome — not your fastest horse every time.
  3. Balance saddlebags (green arrow) and craft cold/heat tonics before mountains or desert.
  4. Stock hay, berries, bandages — use the village storage chest (by your tent) instead of overloading bags.
  5. Plan stops at campsites, not straight-line GPS across the steppe.