Hah! I've only used horses like 2-3 times, and I freaking hate them. They are so useless, they seem to run into enemies and fall down steep cliffs and die. They are just stupid, I'd rather walk encumbered than bring a horse.

I have had no problems with horses. Controlling them is easy and smooth with mouse and keyboard, I only press W/alt and mouse does the rest. And my horse has died only once. I always dismount far enough away from dungeons, forts ect. and if I fast travel, horse travels with me or returns to stables.

I don't know, my horse has never died and it's done some stupid things. (Attacking a group of archers on a rooftop, I was all "how the heck did you get up there" but it killed them all... somehow). Plus, fighting Saber Cats and Snow Bears seems to be my horse's forte for some reason (this observed on Master difficulty, I switch around the difficulty based on my mood and stuff). I haven't lost it either, though sometimes I forget where I left it and I have to backtrack, so I guess a button that allows for a "call your horse to your side" would be something nice. But, then again, I got my horse for free from the Dark Brotherhood, so I don't know if that has something to do with it (Shadowmere, makes me want to go get that Nightingale Armor and ride with my soul-stealing sword in lieu of a scythe).

I never bought a horse though, I stole them here and there, and also killed bandits and took their rides sometimes (and those ones always leave, presumably to go back to their masters). It seemed like a waste when there's carriage rides (or fast travel, though some people dislike using that function). Same reason I haven't bought a house -- I have the Archmage's Quarters to stick all my crap in, along with the master bedroom in the Dark Brotherhood, though I haven't discerned whether or not the old Harbinger's room is mine as far as the Companions are concerned. Otherwise, horses can be pretty cumbersome -- largely when going up mountains and stuff.

Just my opinion.

its a love-hate thing for me. Horses have saved me a few times, and other times picked fights they really shouldn't have...I definitely won't buy them anymore though, just take em from Stormcloak camps!

Instead of raging over a damn horse, why don't you just say that your annoyed. My pixels are offended by your FFFFFF lol,

Well I understand they are crap at following you, but to be honest I with they added a command so they would ether follow you or stay still, or regroup.

Best way I get the horse to follow me is, fast travel to the place your already at, and wala it will be there.

The only game where I liked the way horses were done (for any reason/use) was Mount & Blade. Every other game I end up raging at the horse for some reason or another and turning them into BBQ. Or packmules that I'd park near towns, if the game allowed it.

They're cute in Skyrim, but foot speed while running has been plenty fast enough for me for exploring/traveling. I suppose the horse would be good for escaping/avoiding combat sometimes, but ... I think I'll skip it, unless I have to for a quest at some point or something.

On an unrelated note about horse fail, is there a difference where you buy them? Like do ones in a different town run faster or look better?

Anyway back to horse fail.. I agree about the no combat while on a horse, that is so [censored], cavalry is so prevalent in our history. Also, why the hell can I not get a passenger on my horse? On some quests I have to wait for my friggen companion to catch up to me which defeats the purpose of a horse entirely.

I don't think I follow the logic here. I thought the goal of this game was to be realistic in a sense. Now granted realism would suggest that a horse would run away from wolves etc. However, if you have a horse in real life and it dies, you do in fact need to buy a new horse. It won't respawn.

As for dragons, every time I have encountered one in this game, my horse ran away.

If you are approaching a bandit camp or fort etc. Get off the horse and walk the final 100 yards so you don't have a dead steed. The horse wont follow you in there.

You know your horse can die so stop being reckless with it

This can be annoying in an open area setting but never wait for them if you know you are going to zone like through a door because no matter how far behind they are as soon as you zone they will be right behind you. This can also be accomplished by just resting for an hour. The downtime is a few seconds and they will be right with you (usually)

My only gripes: they could be faster, and they attack stuff they shouldn't.

But other than that, is it really realistic to have a whistle that calls a horse to you automatically? Rounding up horses after a battle is a very realistic problem, and in real life it WAS a huge pain in the ass.

As for it being immortal, that's absurd.

Go realism

While traveling with Lydia, she could keep pace because I would dismount to collect herbs. She can't keep up when I travel with Whirlwind shout, because I don't lose time mounting/dismounting and running back to the horse after herb gathering.

Mine never died (Might be because of )
If it doesn't fast travel with you, it's pretty much dead

horses climb mountains like heros of spirit world tales.

magnificent.

Beth wanted to have Mounted Combat, but weren't capable of doing it properly, so it was taken out.

Never used them, don't plan to either. Useless waste of money.

It's not that simple. If a dragon comes out of nowhere and eats your horse, there's nothing you can do. If you're traveling out in the wild and come across some bandits/Foresworn, you either have to run away or dismount your horse and risk him getting hurt. Also, leaving your horse ANYWHERE is a bad idea. I went all the way through an extensive quest line to get the best horse in the game. I took him to 2 different places and he suddenly vanished. He didn't die, as far as I know(though he was suppose to be invincible)he just didn't fast travel with me one time and I haven't seen him since. It kind of negates the purpose of doing said quest line, because you don't really get anything other than gold otherwise. There's no way to get him back either. He won't be where you first got him, he won't be at the stables, and I've been all over the continent searching for him.

I havent had any problems with my horse dying on normal he's taken about 2 arrows and 4 or 5 hits with a battle axe in 1 fight and lived. Also if you can't find your horse fast travel to a town the go to the stables, he should be there

They're still faster than walking.