You haven't altered your ini to get nicer looking shadows?
Nope, in order for them to look nice you have to drastically cut their draw distance and that's even worse. As long as you don't stare right at shadows they're fine. Not having the shadows from trees show up from afar makes the scene look like ass.
It's a case of reverse ice fishing. It's when people hide under the ice, carve a hole, and capture land animals, like that horse. It's not too common in Skyrim, but it's still illegal. I hope you killed the offending poachers.
Had the same thing happened. Was climbing up a mountain and half a horse came rolling down. A dragon was hunting me at the time so it must have bitten it in half? lol