Manor Lords Ox VS Horse: which animals to recruit to your stables

If you’re building Hitching Posts and upgrading them to Small Stables in Manor Lords, you’ll be posed with one big question: should you be buying oxen or horses to take up space in your stables? It’s a tough question, especially since the benefits of each animal aren’t immediately obvious. They both have their uses, but one is better than the other.

In this guide we’re breaking down why you need both oxen and horses in Manor Lords, and which you should be investing in to help develop your town. But with all of this ox and horse hype, you shouldn't forget about how to get sheep.

You can buy oxen and horses via a Hitching Post or Small Stable (upgraded Hitching Post) once per month.

Each animal has some unique uses, but one is better than the other depending on which stage of development your settlement is at.

Horses are primarily useful for trading with other towns. Horses can make your dedicated trade routes move faster, helping to ship your Major Trades. This is the primary use for horses, so you should make sure to buy a few once you open up trade routes.

Oxen are multi-purpose animals, but are primarily useful for dragging logs and other materials from place to place. Even if there are families available to help with building and development, they will not be able to actually work if they don’t have materials available. Oxen can also speed up farming tasks, making them a near-essential feature for your settlement, and the more you have, the better.

While horses are unquestionably useful once your settlement has developed and trade becomes important, oxen are important all the time. In the early game an extra ox can speed up your settlement development drastically thanks to the ability to transport logs faster, helping to build burgages and more. 

If you want to choose one, focus on oxen for the early game, and then invest in a horse or two once your trade routes are becoming a bigger focus. In short, oxen help build your settlement, and horses help build your wealth.