i am sorry, that cracked me up.. almost sig worthy...

I wouldn't be surprised at all if Bethesda made the horses slower for game performance reasons. Remember that they had to get this game to run on aging consoles and low end PCs. If the game had to load the distant environment at a much faster rate it could result in more lag for some players.

I didn't mind the horse riding in Skyrim, since I don't use them much. The horse riding is better in other games anyways.

If you want to ride fast horses, go play Red Dead Redemption. Best horse riding mechanic in any game I've played.

I agree that's why I use this mod, but only when playing vampires....which is all the time...http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/15775/?

Op go play red dead if you want realistic-ish horses. I love how they added horse combat as a free update it needs work but who cares they tacked that feature with other updates FOR FREEEEE!! they didn't have to do it. But they did thank you beth.

This. Exactly this. I hate to say it but as a console user sometimes when I sprint with a horse the world just doesn't load quickly enough and it leads to lag and ennemies spawning problems. They thought of a "good" excuse with the "Skyrim horses are slower" thing.

I am going to approach this from the console side of things because mods make horses of Skyrim much better. I like Skyrim horses but, as many have already pointed out, they have a death wish. Shadowmere is the only horse that has a chance of survival. That is probably my biggest issue, and second is the fact that followers cannot ride, which has also been pointed out. Even though mounted combat was a nice idea, I didn't really care for it.

My wish for the next TES if it has mounts:

1. make a way to call your horse

2, make the hoof beats sounds vary according to terrain

3. make them a little faster

4. make them a little less aggressive or give them more health (like Shadowmere)

5. make it possible to name our horse

6. make it possible for followers to ride/have mounts

The horses really don't bother me as I've never felt inclined to use them, I much prefer walking/jogging.