He sure is, I use him to tank dragons for me

The most annoying thing for me is that I love alchemy and I can't help but collect every mat I see. It's super hard to collect on a horse, and it takes forever to dismount and get back on over and over.

Agreed! This is the only reason I've ever bought or stolen a horse. Climbing mountains by simply running straight up them has gotten me to some awesome locations, some of which weren't intentionally accessible. Otherwise, they're useless. I can pop stamina potions and keep up with a galloping horse indefinitely, and I don't need a furry war pony attacking that angry Ancient dragon that has decided to swoop out of the mountains to feast on us mere mortals. I can kill it by myself, thank you very much. Also, it's much more fun to run around on foot and explore, rather than sit atop a steed whilst zipping past all the cool random stuff on the ground. And, as others have stated, dismounting during combat is painful. It's like, yeah, sure, you're dragonborn, but have a sense of urgency, will you?

shadowmere is the only good horse in the game. it is a total waste to buy horses in my oppinion

I was really hoping that a horse would stop leaving your side if you fed it carrots, so I dropped a pile of them in front of the beast to no avail. I then tried having carrots in my pocket and still nothing. All I want to do is feed my horse some carrots...is that too much to ask?

Also, most of the time that I fast travel somewhere I get bumped by some random horse when I get there, who then saunters right up to the enemies.