in the new horse ranch expansion pack for the sims 4 it looks like child sims can ride horses unlike in 3, this has got me wondering does 4 now having that functionality mean it might help modders figure out how to do the same for 3?

Well it's not really a matter of figuring it out. What's being done there could have easily been done for TS3 as well. It's a lack of dedicated animations and the accompanying interactions for them more than anything.

Though while animations can be imported from TS4, I don't think it would work well in this particular case. So they'd have to be created from scratch.

alright and thanks for the explanation, i'm no modder myself( i tried dabbling with it a long time ago and it's just over my head) so i wasn't sure if the new sims 4 expac might help or not.

This was a project that I had been working on since 2018, and that I gave up on not too long afterwards but then picked it back up again last year. The main "issue" with this kind of mod is the amount of animations having to be remade or converted (I think there's over 200) plus having to figure out the technicalities of it too. So far I'm about halfway with it, but still won't be ready any time soon as I also have it on hold for now. However there's no coding involved (apart from some xml tuning) so I guess that's one good thing about it!

Of course this thread would not be complete until some wiseguy asks this:

Which half of the horse animations have you completed thus far, the front half or the rear half?

Once it's finished I'll love you forever! Lowkey though, I think I have almost every single mod of yours so at least I'll know where to look to LOL!