Although The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild usually only allows Link to have five horses, there appears to be a hidden game mechanic where he can gain a sixth. Horses are important companions in exploring Hyrule - BOTW has a vast open world, and Link often needs to traverse long distances that would take far too long to cover on foot. Horses follow the road automatically, so the player can appreciate the scenery while proceeding from point A to point B. They're also necessary for a handful of puzzles and minigames, including dressage time trials and mounted archery challenges.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild includes a stable mechanic, where the player can catch and tame wild horses, then board them at one of 15 stables dotted around the map. One problem with horses in BOTW, however, is that stables apparently only allow players to store five horses at a time - if they want more, they'll have to give one up. However, there's a workaround that players can use to claim a sixth horse.
BOTW Has A Hidden Slot For Unregistered Wild Horses
As YouTuber Wolf Link demonstrated in a recent video, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has a secret sixth slot for unregistered horses. To claim a horse in BOTW, players normally have to tame it, ride it to a stable, name it, and pay a fee. Although most objects that players leave behind disappear whenever a loading screen appears, registered horses remain where the player left them. However, BOTW also saves the horse that Link most recently tamed as if it were one a registered horse, and won't despawn it - even if the player turns off the console. Whether this is a glitch that affects BOTW horses or an intentional mechanic, this mechanic can be extremely useful.
There's One Downside To BOTW's Secret Sixth Horse Slot
However, this advantageous hidden mechanic comes with a few drawbacks. The player can’t name horses in the sixth slot or revive them if they die. It’s also easy to get the sixth horse stuck. In BOTW, registered horses can respawn at any stable. However, this doesn't apply to sixth slot horses - since the secret slot doesn't appear on the stable menu, players can't select it to respawn the horse. If a unique horse gets into a spot the player can't ride out of, like at the bottom of a steep cliff, it's stuck there - the game will almost always respawn it in the same location.
However, there's a fairly easy fix for this. If the player manages to get one of BOTW's unique mounts like the giant horse stuck, all they'll have to do is hop on any other mount - wild or not. This new horse will then occupy the sixth slot, pushing the stuck horse out and, upon loading, respawning it in its original location. This appears to work even on some of Breath of the Wild's unregisterable mounts as long as they can be soothed, like Stalhorses or bears. It's a little bit of a hassle, but at least it's not a permanent lockout.
Five stable slots seems like a lot, but with two registerable unique horses that many players will want to keep (the white horse and the giant horse - unfortunately, iconic Zelda horse Epona isn’t in BOTW unless players buy the Smash Bros. Link Amiibo), Breath of the Wild's stables only leave room for three procedurally generated horses. Although The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild only had space for five horses in its stables, along with a secret sixth spot, hopefully its upcoming sequel Tears of the Kingdom will have even more.
Source: Wolf Link/YouTube