After reading several topics about horses, it seems very few players actually use or enjoy them in Skyrim.

Is it the poor AI?

As a sneak archer, i hate how my horse charges into battle and will get in my line of sight, or give away my position. Anyone else dislike how eager horses are to engage in combat... and often die?


Is it the lackluster design or animations?

Skyrim is a beautiful game with great design elements. Horses, however, look ugly. They also move and behave unrealistically. Anyone who played RDD knows what I'm talking about. Rockstar's horses looked and behaved realistically (though they maneuvered too well at speed). I loved watching my RDD horse swat flies with his tail, graze when hungry, etc. Also, the forced 3rd person perspective is a poor design choice for players that want to stay in the 1st person perspective to enhance immersion.


Is it because Skyrim's horses aren't very useful?

Horses can't maneuver over certain rocky terrain and often get caught on a small rock. This limited mobility forces the player to stick to roads, which inhibits natural exploration. No mounted combat makes wilderness encounters a more tedious process, since you have to dismount to engage. Horses also have a tendency to wander off, and we can't whistle to call them back. It's also a hassle when traveling with companions, since they can't mount a horse or even sprint.

So with all of that, does anyone still use and like/love horses in Skyrim?

I use my horse all the time. Nothing you said really bothers me about them.

I hate how slow they feel. Also, I can't seem to keep a consistent sprint with them.

Edit: I do like to superhorse though. They can jump up almost anything.

I like my horse(s) and felt pretty bad when my first one died. Dragons seems to like the taste of them okay...
With fast travel they may not seem very useful, but I do actually enjoy taking a break from battle and going for a quiet ride around the countryside once in awhile.
I wish you could name them tho.

I want to stab my horse to death, I don't use him anymore. I tried to kill him but since he is freaking immortal I can't..... Being assassin on horse svcks :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :gun: :flame:

The horse is actually fairly smooth and responsive, even after playing Red Dead for 100+ hours. I use my horse in Skyrim plenty since I got him... I don't fast travel, so If I know I have to go across the map, the horse is very useful. You can speed past bears, trolls and other enemies you arent trying to encounter at the moment, because Im usually trying to go straight to my quest or town. It shortens long journeys by more than half than if I was on foot. The only issue with it is, it is a little too aggressive and confident in combat situations lol.

Yes, a sprint/stamina meter would be helpful.

I do.

Look at my horse, my horse is amazing!

Well the fact that I need to mount/unmount constantly is the killer. If it had saddle bags, if I could harvest and fight without leaving saddle - maybe .As it is now its just an annoyance with no benefits as it stands,

Wow, fast replies. I added a poll to make this thread more useful.

That basically explains why I gave up looking for my horse when a sabrecat chased it off. As an herbalist I find I can travel just as fast with whirlwind shout. Before, it was dismount, run around to herbs, run back to horse mount, get attacked by wolves, dismount, kill them, mount. Now it is whilwind shout, collect herbs, whirlwound, kill wolves, whirlwind shout.

I always buy a horse, just to say I have one, but I rarely use it. It feels too slow, there's no stamina meter (and the sprint speed is what I think the normal running speed should be.) you can't whistle for it, and it gets in the way of combat. In all, they're pretty to look at, in my opinion, but useless. I'll stick to carriages and walking.

lackluster design? have you seen shadowmere?

Not in Skyrim, yet. I'm assuming it's all black with red eyes..

I accidentally jumped off Skyreach on my horse. I thought I died (death animation), but then I stood up. The horse was dead. It must have taken the fall damage for me. Try that, but save first.

It doesn't have eyes!

Oh and I tried that jumping off with horse, I died he survived....

Ugly looking?

This isn't the wild west, these are Nordic horses, don't know the name of the breed, but they exist and mainly used in North, in more colder, more mountainous regions.

I like to explore and enjoy the world...

Takes too long to mount/dismount everytime I want to get an herb, ore vein, or what-not

Sprinting via alt key is almost as fast too

I don't fast travel, so my horse is a necessity. Yeah he dashes in thinking he's Chuck Norris sometimes, but you get used to leaving him well out of the battle area. I'm level 20 and have had the same horse since the beginning.

I don't know what you mean by the horse svcking on rocky terrain, my horse is a friggen rock climber! He scales mountains much better than i ever could...

I find the horse so useful for certain situations. He can sprint passed every mob if you not up fighting. If I'm carrying too much, I can jump on my horse and still speed back to town to sell all my loot. Even when he charges in sometimes he can be a big help to my melee/archer character simply by distracting the enemy while I beat on them.

I have no problem with how they look or there animations either.

So yeah, I think horses rock.

When having Stamina of over 500, I don't think I need a low energy horse to slow me down.

I have a certain quest reward horse that I can't get rid off, might have to try to drop it off a mountain.
I wish horses would stay were they were when you fast traveled from a location distant from your horse and they'd return to their homing point after a while. Like in Oblivion

I'm nearly 50 hours in @ level 28, and haven't mounted a horse yet. I'm sure I will eventually, but reading of some of the challenges associated with horses has tempered any enthusiasm I might have had.

I concur with an above poster who mentioned the thought of adding saddlebags.

This is a quick list of what it would take to make me interested in using a horse:
- saddlebags (beast of burden)
- ability to fight from horseback
- tweak horse's combat a.i.
- horse whistle

Wishlist for horses:
- option to add a stable to your house
- ability to have horse "stay" in place, if that's not already in the game
- have horse level up, make choices to add points to attributes such as stamina/carry capacity, loyalty, speed, wits/survivability, etc.

I did see a grey at an Imperial outpost last night that almost tempted me, almost.

Horses are a pain in the bum. You gallop along slowly, get attacked, dismount, horsey charges in to battle, gets absolutely shredded, you're out 1000 septims.

FTS.


What's the point? Walking is marginally slower but at least you are always combat ready on foot.