I was probably one of the few people who liked horses in TESIV

I used them mostly as a roleplaying element and they walked faster than my character (yes I walked. Everywhere. No fast travel. Just walking.)

I too would like combat from horses melee, spells, bow & arrow etc. Also it would be nice if they were easier to control. In OB I could only stear the horse in 3rd person, always got confused a little trying to do it in 1st person. I won't say to improve animation because that would be the minimal improvement I think we'd get, that I'm pretty sure we'll be treated to.

One of the complaints many players had about Morrowind was the lack of any mounts in it, so in Oblivion, Bethesda added horses, but for all the hype surrounding them, I'd definately say that really weren't done that well, and assuming they will be in Skyrim as well, I hope Bethesda puts some work into improving them, because in Oblivion, I often just didn't bother with horses. By comparison, in games like Red Dead Redemption or Shadow of the Colossus. Of course, in the case of the former, horses were typically necessary rather than just helpful, considering many missions required using a horse, and I'd often find situations where I needed to chase or run from people on horseback, but regardless, my point is that if Bethesda wants horses to feel like a mechanic that is worth having rather than something that's just in the game to make the people complaining about their absence shut up, they'll need to do them better.

For one thing, I'd definately say that some form of mounted combat should be implemented. One of the reasons why I didn't like riding a horse that much in Oblivion was because I'd just have to dismount every five minutes to kill a wolf anyway, it's easier to just go on foot as I'm at least spared the dismounting for combat thing, and if I use sneak, I might even be able to avoid combat entirely. If there were some means of mounted combat, even if it were just with bows and spells, the player would at least have a way to kill weaker enemies without needing to dismount. And the thing with constantly dismounting to kill wolves might have been forgivable if you could actually outrun them on a horse, but in Oblivion, enemies seem to not know when to give up, and it seems that random animals will chase you halfway across Cyrodiil if they get the chance, and that's assuming you can outrun them at all, considering that horses aren't that fast, it seems like often, a character with a high enough speed and athletics skill can run just as fast on foot as on a horse. Going back to Red Dead Redemption, by comparison, even the slower horses seemed to be significantly faster than traveling on foot, and usually, I could outrun animals that tried to attack me if I was on horseback, so horses should certainly be faster, not much point in using them otherwise. And yes, the controls could do with improvement too, because they seemed rather awkward in Oblivion.



But Morrowind did have creatures from Earth... or have you never seen a rat before? Sure, they're bigger than rats tend to be in real life. And Bloodmoon also had bears and wolves, and regardless of whether you feel this was a good choice or not, I suspect that we can expect similar fauna in Skyrim to what we got in Bloodmoon, though obviously, Skyrim should have a lot more different types of creatures, being as it's a full standalone game and not just an expansion.



They walked faster than your character? That seems hard to believe, because in my experience, the walking speed for horses seemed to generally be considerably slower than on foot. When following NPCs on horses while on foot, I actually often had to stop and wait for them to get further ahead so I didn't start running ahead of them, unless you mean running. In which case, yes, the running speed of horses does seem to have faster than it usually is on foot, but with most horses, I'd say the difference isn't enhough to make them worth using, for reasons other than role-playing. And I'd say if the only reason you'd use a horse, animals that people tended to ride because its faster, more convenient, and such, then something is wrong with their implementation.

i want to see a horse with a appearance similar to shadowmere in skyrim

Guars.

'nuff said.

if its not done like warband then it shouldnt be in the game. having to get off of you horse to kill some stupid animal that is biting at your heals is just annoying.

I made a thread http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1159026-steeds-and-pack-mules. I'm in favour of a lot of things that everyone else is too. Basically all my ideas boiled down to:

• More varieties of horses; breeds, what their attributes are, etc.
  
• Let me fight on my damn horse!
  
• Make stables relevant; sell horse related paraphernalia (items, saddles, armour, item-carrying-type-stuff).
  
• Pack mules please. I want to be able to get stuff to carry my gear for me.
  
• I'd like to be able to catch wild horses and train them.

And Guars would be awesome. Sadly, they're native to Morrowind, and that had a giant rock dropped on its volcano, which promptly assploded, killing everything.

By Azura! Necromancy!

Attacking from horseback and having them move faster so it actually makes sense to ride a horse. :rolleyes:

You must not have used the faster horses then. The paint horse you can get free near the beginning was one of the slowest. They definitely make a difference when you buy or obtain something better. And would make travelling faster for people who don't like fast travel.

One thing I would like to see changed is the action of getting off of your horse. If I'm riding at a slow pace, then the character will simply dismount as he normally would, but if I'm galloping at full speed and need to ditch the horse (for whatever reason) I would like to be able to see my character throw him/herself off the side and suffer a small amount of fall damage.
Another thing that I'd like to see (if horse combat, specifically archery is included) is the chance of falling off of your horse when pulling the string on your bow. If you're stationary, the chance is zero, but if you're galloping at full speed and have both hands on the bow, but not on the horse, there should be a chance that you fall off.
Edit: To all who doubt the mighty Guars' appearance in Skyrim, let us not forget the possibility of... Snow Guars.