Honest Review of The Sims 4: Horse Ranch 

The lack of a “tumble in the hay” woohoo spot is genuinely disappointing.

as an actual equestrian who lost her horse 4 months ago I will be playing with this pack with my sim self and my horse with aging off and we will live forever

Rattlesnake death would have been perfect. They actually wouldn't have even had to animate that much - stick your hand in a log to get a frog and surprise- snake bit.

Consumed by the flies on the horse manure after not cleaning it for days would have been a great new death type! And a nod to the sims 2 consumed by flies death !

Fun fact about goats and horses. Some horses that are anxious or lonely actually are given a "companion goat" that functions as an emotional support animal. Horses, being highly intelligent and emotional, can become VERY attached to their goats. Other animals like ponies, sheep, cats, and dogs are also used as emotional support for horses, but goats are the most common to my knowledge.

kayla painting the side of the horse a hotdog caught me off guard but i loved it 💀

I think the unicorns should have powers, there should be pegasuses too. They'd be perfect for Realm of Magic!!!

Really wish we got woohoo spots, a couple of rabbithole careers and the corn, squash and bean plants for the chilli recipe. Maybe also a child horse aspiration of some kind

I'm disappointed they didn't increase the household number from 8 to at least 10, like they have in previous animal related packs. It's not going to be easy to have a family in addition to a ranch full of horses, cats, and dogs.

I think some deaths they could've added was getting bit from a rattlesnake and having to make a type of drink or maybe a secret type of wine to heal poison and i also think they could've added getting killed by bats in the cave with getting a question wrong.

One of my favourite things from the sims 3 pets was running out at 1am to find the unicorn and try and tame it, I’m kind of sad they didn’t bring that back

I was hesitant about this one, but now it seems like an excellent combo if you have cottage living, pets, and seasons combined with this pack. The more chores and outdoorsy stuff, the better for me!

I plan on starting a Pancakes lagacy with this pack, because Eliza seems like that one person that sees 5 horse posts of Simterest and uproots everything to move to a horse world 😂😂

SWATCH CONSPIRACY: Everyone on the sims team is secretly colorblind in some way AND different people work on different build items, leading to not having matching swatches EVER. LOL

Imagine connecting the cave quest thingy to if you get lucky/do everything correct a unicorn will come out of a cave that you can befriend and adopt if you have X amount of horse friends already

i feel like all the gals in town having the same hair checks out- it’s giving small town where linda’s the only hairstylist and only knows two cuts

SO Excited for "Can You Get Rich From Just Horse Poop"!!!!!🤩🤩

From what I’ve seen, the animation is spot on. It’s incredibly impressive to animate horses to look natural. I’m excited to play, but definitely not excited about the price.

This pack turning people into “horse girls” is so funny to me, as a horse girl, I fully support y’all 😂

The release of this expansion pack immediately shot me back in time to 2011 when I was 17 and obsessed with TS3 Pets. I used to listen to Flo Rida - Good Feeling on repeat while building my dream ranches with as many horses as possible. I’m now 29 and I can’t wait to buy this pack - and you know I’ll be listening to Flo Rida just for the nostalgia 🎶

Also an idea for a rags to riches (or rags to ranches) challenge. Stanley should sell nectar that he made and see if he can get rich quick. The end goal should be that he gets a horse and build a ranch. Just an idea though.

I remember someone telling me once and it made so much sense that baby horses will always be born very afraid of humans because horses by nature are prey animals. So you have to be very handsy on them to earn their trust! I’m glad they carried this over in the game

I love that you pointed out how they made things to do near the lots so they feel bigger than they actually are bc that’s one of my biggest issues with the sims 4 - lots always feel very isolated and lonely, especially when you play with only one sim 🙈

something i noticed while playing tonight. Male horses pee differently from female ones, as in real life. It's a tiny thing but it shows how much attention to detail there is in this pack

It would be so fun (depending on how easy it is to level up horse skills) to have your sim be like a horse trainer in this pack. You could have them rescue or buy horses with no training and then level up all their skills and sell them, so it’s like the real life profession where horse trainers are paid to train peoples’ horses.

I don't love that there's no cross pack compatibility with Cats and Dogs for the Vet... I think it bothers me more because the horses are members of your household, it makes sense to me that would be part of the gameplay. That's the biggest downside in general to me of the medical features of this game being locked behind packs. I am excited to see actual gameplay in the coming days vs just hearing about it too - so ready for that!

The biggest loss of Sims 4 is that you can't play as your animal, I loved that in the past sims games, ESPECIALLY in the sims 3..this is the only thing sims 4 misses rn tbh.

I love that the horse actually gets a belly when its pregnant and then goes back to no belly once the foal is born

LilSimsie: Alright I know we're all here for horses so let's move on. Me: *here for the nectar making so I have more lore activities for my vampire Sims* 😳

I'm still disappointed that they didn't take the opportunity to call this pack "Horsin' Around". I understand it might not translate well, but still a missed opportunity.

James Turner talked about the swatch issues on the kitchen cabinets too. I doubt it will happen, but it would be great if they could push out some updated colors.

But besides horses…. What other meaningful gameplay is there. Like cats and dog had the vet career. It just feels like I’m getting scammed if I get it. Also they said they’ll have indigenous representation, but like, it doesn’t feel like they incorporated that at all besides build mode and cas.

Really rough timestamps 1:06 - New CAS items for Sims 2:13 - Horse CAS 3:51 - Build & Buy 6:41 - New World (Chestnut Ridge) 8:38 - Townies 10:30 - Horses! 12:38 - Tournaments, horse manure... 15:11 - Nectar making & Vitality nectar 16:41 - Free roaming Goats & Sheep! 17:18 - Ranchhands 17:54 - New events (Ranch Animal Day & Ranch Gathering) 18:50 - Explorable Cave 19:28 - Prairie Grass 20:00 - Disappointments (No Unicorn abilities, no new Death/Woohoo spots, Bad horse genetics) 23:37 - Is it worth it?

When lilsimsie showed the pack better than that prerecorded gameplay livestream sims did

the trailer really did the pack no justice, i was so worried but it’s actually kinda good

This pack in combination with Cottage Living and Cats And Dogs is going to be amazing, I'm so excited for it. I loved playing with all the animals in Sims3, it was my favorite thing to do. All of my households had horses back then. I love that horses are finally in the game♡

I think the "just mom" or "just dad" foals make sense since horse colour actually don't mix that much. For example you will never have a chestnut with distinct dots

I thought it would have been really cool if they added a new horse related career. The two branches could be equestrian or rodeo riders. You'd have to max the riding skill for the top level of both. The equestrian career might require level 8 in charisma, and the rodeo career branch could be level 8 in either comedy or, maybe, mischief (not entirely sure on that one). He'll they even could have added a new sort of feature where the horses were also required to level up in 1 or 2 of the new horse skills to progress in the career. Like equestrian career horses might have to focus more on agility, and the rodeo horses might focus on endurance. Both horse might have to level up in jumping, and temperment until the sim has to pick a career path. I was so excited, and since it was an expansion, I thought it would come with a new career like that. I'm incredibly disappointed it doesn't.

I am not interested in horses at all but this is one of the most beautiful worlds in the Sims and I am so excited to play a Native American family! What a gorgeous world!

I'M SO RELIEVED we can get milk and wool from the goats and the sheep! They didn't mentioned that in the videos, I was thinking they were just adorable pets.

You and Plumbella have me feeling slightly less worried about the pack. The unicorn frustrates me bc they could have so easily gone the “Golden Chicken” route and had some sort of rare craftable treat to turn a horse into a unicorn with some sort of powers plus more gameplay. I do still feel like there was a lot of missed opportunities for this pack especially with the household/lot sizes (having half your household slots be NPCs is not exactly fun to me) and new wahoo/deaths but I am more excited about playing it.

I was a horse girl who stopped riding irl both for financial reasons and out of fear of injury, so this pack definitely feels like it's for me

I’m not done yet, but I am hyped about the cave thing. I would love if they refreshed Jungle Adventure and Werewolves and similar packs with rabbit hole adventures. The riddles remind me of Demon Doors from Fable.

i can FINALLY put my Arthur Morgan and Jack Marston sims I downloaded awhile back to good use. i honestly can't wait, i wanna have the whole van der linde gang and their custom horses riding around and causing a ruckus. and i wanna make Valentine. and their Horseshoe Overlook camp. i'm getting ahead of myself here but i am just REEEAAAALLY excited for this pack hahaha.

As a rare creature who loves Strangerville, my only complaint was the small world size, so I’m thrilled this is an expansion pack with a full sized world.

I can’t wait to live out my posh rich girl horse fantasy in windenburg-

I haven't even looked at the horses. I've been too busy playing with the mini sheep and mini goats! They're just too cute to exist! I love how the goats will scream and faint if the fox alarm goes off on the chicken coop! It's adorable and hilarious!

I feel like you mostly focused on the positive, which most times is good, but in this case where we are spending a lot of money I think that the review lacked a bit of transparency, maybe I´m worng tho idk haha.

the fact that this shows more content than the official 1 hour "deep" dive live

Im so excited for this pack, just i wish that you could take care of sick horses with the vet skill from Cats & Dogs. I think it would have blended nicely

Ok so in the sims 3 I had a sim (I think she was a gardner, I remember a very big yard with plants) and with this sim I got 5 unicorns that would walk around setting every neighboor front yard on fire I played that save for the only purpose of setting shit on fire with my unicorn army of doom and I'm very sad I won't be able to do that in sims 4 (Unless someone makes a mod idk)

The fact that the sims made CUSTOM SHUTTERS just made my day! I've been waiting for this moment. For so long!!! (I literally started crying)

Can we all just applaud Kayla for the adorableness of this shirt on her? The colour, the collar, the buttons? Come on

simsie making a hot dog horse while Stanley chilling in the back is goals.

Honestly, as a horse owner I was a bit skeptical of this pack but I'm really pleasantly surprised at how realistic they were able to make it

Just a hunch as an interior designer I’m pretty sure the barn doors meant for the outdoor use are the ones that match and that first one seems like it’s got the hardware on the top like you would see on an indoor barn slider

not @ how kayla drew a hot dog on the horse 🤣 a perfect companion for Stanley 💕

I've never clicked anything faster. 🐴🐎 this is so cool and I love it already 🐎🐴

Simsie, I love you, but the excuse "horses are hard to do" may be adequate when talking about an indie developer, not a company that's worth almost 40 billion dollars.

This pack reminds me so much of my childhood, growing up in texas on a horse ranch. I love it!

This looks waaaaaay better than I thought, I just can't wait for tomorrow

Kayla, why did the sims team have you guys hold off on releasing and videos until 24 hrs prior to release? This is very unlike previous packs and super surprising since you've all had this for an entire week?

22:43 translation: I got given it for free so I don’t care if y’all have to pay $40 or $20 dollars , suck it up

Sorry but this EP is just lacking. No new career, lot type, woohoo location, death type, no pool tables, mechanical bulls, no other crafts (e.g. pottery seems to fit in this pack), not enough Native American representation. And you can’t have multiple generation families with cats/dogs and horses, because of the 8 sim slot. I hope they fix at least that in the base game!

they will probably release a kit of riding clothes because the cas is so small😩

Wait the horses have baby bumps when pregnant???? that is SO adorable i'm gonna cry

As someone who grew up very yeehaw I really want this pack but I’ve seen so many people have glitches and I don’t want to spend my money on something that doesn’t even work

$40 IS a bit steep, but over all I think Im gonna get this one... but I might wait a couple of months to see how much it is during like black friday sales.

I'm assuming the embargo for the pack only lifted today, which is why everyone is posting their reviews, but I really think EA has shot themselves in the foot leaving it so late. A lot of people have been unimpressed with this pack so far and showed concerns over the level of content for the price of an EP. But I think the marketting has been exceptionally poor. Why am I just learning about all these little details now? This should have been shown off a week ago! That 'live'stream was a complete waste of time and I think actively harmed this pack's reputation even prior to release.

i was going to purchase this pack regardless of the review, i want horses THAT bad, but seeing this makes me so much happier. Seems to be a lot of stuff to do, im so excited

I kinda wonder how an apartment horse let’s play would go? Definitely not something that could or should happen irl.

If they solved the color wheel for that, I can't imagine why they didn't do it for literally everything. They did in in Sims 3.... it is not that big of a business... it is like stepping back 2 steps, without open world and color wheel..... :D (And it is just top of the iceberg of what problems we have. )

It would be dope if 2 sims could ride on one horse! It would be rlly romantic

I'm here for the hot dog horse I always expected to basically have a unicorn horn as a hat addition so the fact it glows and sparkles is a bonus to me. Im excited to play

If I get this pack freely, I will also think it is fun and worthy LOL But 40 USD... Holy moly. I rather buy other 3A game not a GP pretended to be an EP

We had a leapord Appaloose that actually changed colours as she got older, we sent her to horsey heaven last year and I am so excited to be able to create her in the sim world right down to her attuitude. I know she will take me hours to create and I will be so happy to share her with others so she can live on jumping in sim world

I’m a horse girly so I’m so excited for this pack! I had so many horses growing up, but now I only have one and I’m in college so I don’t get to see him much. I don’t normally buy expansion packs unless they’re on sale but I’m getting this one asap

Okay okay okay. IM IMPRESSED! As an equestrian the foal and mother dynamic is cute and really nice, the weaning is a great addition and new. I love this so much. I’m actually pleased rather than disappointed. Thank you for sharing these details! The live stream did not share any of these details. Okay I’m pleased with this pack and can play with it a lot!

I appreciate you taking your time on this Kayla, it's nice to see more of this new pack with an actual review. I, of course, got it being a horse girl myself and I am stoked to be able to play it :D

Diligently watching every lilsimsie review knowing full well I’m buying it no matter what

this is like my whole aesthetic. i'll be using all the CAS and build stuff in like all my plays now lmaooo

I am very VERY excited for horse breeding and you can train horses and sell for profit. That is VERY realistic!! Edit: future irl riding vlog!?

so no careers, one level of aspiration, no unique woohoo spot, no unique deaths, the riding competition is a notification and not interactive, can’t control the horses but they take up a household slot, no cross pack compatibility with the vet skill or cottage living, no secret world or unicorns, no collectables, no new lot type, no new kids activities… but at least the animations are cute

Please use critical thinking skills to determine if a product is being pushed by someone with a bias. Sure, one may not be getting paid by EA directly but they are being given packs for free and use EA to make their livelihood. No hate, just reminding people to consider multiple sources before spending money.

YESSSS! I’ve been waiting for Simsie’s review!!!🎉

the breeding is kinda realistic, you do tend to get clones of the parents, or a completely different foal from the parents, don't tend to get a *mix* of them both but I liked that about the sims 3, that they kinda mushed the parents together to get the foal

Recently got into horses and I’m right now doing riding lessons, and this pack makes me so happy! Horses and horse riding are something I’m excited to do in the sims, hopefully my sim can get better then me, since I’m still learning so much!

My boyfriend used to live in San Diego and he would ride horses over there all the time. I was gonna buy this pack mainly for the CAS stuff but once he said that he’d buy it in exchange for making our sim selves live on a farm with horses and goats, I got excited to get the pack. Especially when they mentioned a new fear of horses. I’m terrified of them, but also have a lot of respect for them. I wonder how bad my sim’s anxiety will be 😂

First pack I preordered because I love historical gameplay and I was getting nervous because I’ve seen so much negativity after the livestream. However this review got me excited for it again. So glad there seems to be minimal bugs and a lot of content.

saying the rabbit hole equestrian center is “so much better” than the sims 3 is just further proof that Kayla is an EA shill… the level of delusion is scary

I understand you saying this wouldn't fit as a Game Pack but let's not forget that Werewolves is a Game Pack and that has a tonne of stuff in it. It's great that they included a bit of the Native elements, which makes it so much more disappointing that it's "yeehaw" - reminds me of a 'Cowboys and Indians' situation which didn't work out so great.. probably would have been best to not include it at all? Kind of like the Unicorns..

There is no way this should have been an expansion pack. There just isn't enough game play. And not really anything is being expanded.

I love how Simsie says 'Im becoming a horse girl' with a tinge of a fearful tone. xD Welcome to Horse Girl Club, you cannot escape ever. c:

Loved the nectar making in sims 3 I think it came with the pack that you traveled in France! So glad they brought it back

I was also worried about amount of content, but it seems really similar to snowy escape - one giant new gameplay feature (horses vs. skiing/snowboarding) and a few other smaller gameplay features, but the real selling point of the pack (at least for me) is the world/environment. I wasn't planning to buy this pack but after seeing early access content I preordered it today! I'm looking forward to it a lot

Thank you Kayla for your review. I always watch pack reviews before purchasing a DLC. I appreciate your insights about the pack ❤

Sorry, but it still sounds like a Game pack

As someone who works at a stable, I'm so excited to buy this pack. Thank you for letting me know that I'll enjoy it

I'm sorry but the end of this review sounds like an EA script! "This had some much content! There were noooo bugs!" She was literally checking off all the problems people have been talking about...don't trust it

Disagree that Horse Ranch has more content than Cottage Living when the latter has llamas, cows, bunnies, simple living challenge, village fairs, canning, cross-stitching, village quests, oversized produce and more. Horse ranch has horses, goats, sheep and nectar-making but has no new deaths or woohoo spots, nothing for kids other than a reskinned dollhouse, no new careers, no way to create custom obstacle courses, etc. Not saying the horses aren't in-depth but the pack is lacking smaller details that even TS3 Pets managed to include.