Horse Games for Xbox
The first Xbox was built for shooting and driving games, and horse lovers were not much on its mind. If you use another system, be sure to check out games for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Playstation 2 & Gameboy.
This page is about the original Xbox, the big black box sold from 2001 to 2006. Its horse games can be counted on one hand, and all three were also sold for the Playstation 2.
A short list, but an honest one: one rescue and two days at the races.
Horse games
Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue (2003)
A storm has blown the ranch gate open and the horses and foals have run off. Ride as Barbie through forest, mountain and beach to track them down and bring them home.
Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships (2005)
Officially licensed racing. Ride a single race, spend a day at the betting windows, or build a career in which you breed, train and race your own horses and take on famous champions.
Melbourne Cup Challenge (2006)
Sold in Europe as Frankie Dettori Racing. Buy horses at auction, breed and train them and run a racing stable, or ride as a jockey on twenty courses including Flemington and Ascot. Never released in North America.
Japan had one more: Jockey’s Road (2002), published by Microsoft itself, in which a young jockey climbs through the racing world. It was never sold anywhere else.
Not horse games, but plenty of horses
Three more games put horses to work. The two westerns are for adults and older teenagers.
Circus Maximus: Chariot Wars (2002)
Chariot racing in ancient Rome. Each team of horses pulls a driver and a gladiator, and you race while fighting off the chariots around you.
Gun (2005)
A western in which much of the fighting is done from the saddle. Ride across the open country of the 1880s frontier between gunfights, hunts and cattle drives.
Darkwatch (2005)
A vampire western, and not for children. Its hero rides an undead horse named Shadow through chases on horseback.