Ocarina of Time Epona Quest

Ocarina of Time Epona Quest

Games	Ocarina of Time
Prerequisite	Acquire the Master Sword
Start	Acquire Lon Lon Egg
Rewards	Epona's Song Epona Link's Cow

The Ocarina of Time Epona Quest is an optional quest that spans the child and adult portions of Ocarina of Time. The primary rewards include learning Epona's Song and acquiring Epona. This will also open a mini-game where Link can win a Cow.

Learning Epona's Song

After Link first visits Castle Town, acquires the Lon Lon Egg from Malon, and wakes up Talon, this will trigger Malon to return to Lon Lon Ranch in the center of Hyrule Field. During the daytime, speak to Malon who is in the center of the corral at the ranch. Chat with her multiple times until she mentions a song that her mother wrote. Then pull out your Fairy Ocarina and Malon will teach you Epona's Song.

Return to Lon Lon Ranch

When you return to Lon Lon Ranch as an adult, Talon has been kicked out and Ingo is now in charge. Malon is still around, found in the stables, sticking around just to make sure that Ingo doesn't mistreat the animals.

During the daytime, run up to the corral in the center of the area and speak with Ingo. He offers a little pony ride you can partake in for 10 Rupees. Fork over the goods and you'll appear inside the corral. Ingo will explain to how to ride a horse. Don't take the horse he offers you, but instead play Epona's Song. This will cause Epona to come up to you, so jump on top of her.

Ridge Epona and use her to jump both of the fences by pressing A shortly before you reach them. They'll give you 20 Rupees in total, earning you back more than what you paid to ride in the first place. After time has expired, pay Ingo to ride again. This time target him while riding Epona and he'll offer a chance to race him around the corral for a cost of 50 rupees. Accept his challenge to a race when you think you're ready. You have to do this while riding Epona, as the other horses are just too slow to beat him.

Horse Race

Ingo will cheat and start the race a second early. Despite this initial advantage, Ingo is not a great racer as he tends to take the corners pretty wide, giving a chance to slip ahead. Use A to speed up, but don't use all of your carrots until the very end of the race. There are two strategies to beat Ingo during this first race.

• Right from the start, use many of carrots to try and get ahead of Ingo. Then stay on the inside, blocking him from passing, and just try to keep your space advantage.

• Alternatively, you can just try to keep pace with him, saving many of your carrots until the end. Then, when you're near the end, you can speed past him by continually using carrots.

After you defeat Ingo, he'll challenge you to a second race, this time offering you a chance to keep the horse if you win. This time he's a little more vicious and will try to cut you off as soon as you get close. Just wait until you see a good chance and run by him. I recommend trying to take a lead early and keep your pace in front of him.

References

1. ↑ "My mother composed this song. Isn't it nice? Let's sing together." — Malon, Ocarina of Time.
2. ↑ "Approach the horse quietly and stand by its side. Press (A) to mount up. Use the (+) to make it run. Once it starts running, press (A) to tap it with the whip. It will speed up! When you want to jump over a fence, accelerate and hit it head on! If you try to jump over a fence at an angle, the horse won't like it, and it won't jump. After the horse comes to a complete stop, press (A) to dismount. Now, have fun!" — Ingo, Ocarina of Time.
3. ↑ "You're getting better! How about a little race with me? One lap around the corral with that horse. Let's make a little wager, say 50 Rupees? Do it Don't do it" — Ingo, Ocarina of Time.