I admit being very disappointed with the horses in Skyrim to the point where I haven't yet bought a single horse. I do think the animation is better, especially when they go uphill or downhill, and I can appreciate that. However, they seem slow, have only one speed (as opposed to Oblivion where they had a sort of canter, trot, run), can't go backwards, are fearless in battle, and don't listen a whit to your instructions. Also, the controls are nonsensical. I press the backward button ('D' on my PC) and it goes forward. Depending on mouselook, I press left, and the horse runs right. Did I mention there was only one speed ("IMMA HORSE, RUN!!!")?

Here are my suggestions:

• Start out with the horse from Oblivion. With this horse, we can a) interact with people and objects, get first-person view back, c) use it as a pack horse, d) upgrade it with various magical stones stored within the saddlebags, e) have more than one speed (walk, trot, run, etc.). (Optional: use the model of the Skyrim horse, animations and all.)
  
• Offer two (or more) types of horses. I thought this could be incredible self-evident, but a) regular old rider; trained warhorse who has a range of abilities and commands, including fighting whilst you ride it. All types of horses should be able to follow simple commands, like "wait here til I come back"!
  
• Implement combat on horseback. How hard can it be? Ask Mount and Blade how they did it. It's good.
  
• Would someone give my housecarl a horse please? Give companions a horse for the sake of Talos. What would people think of me if I ride a horse and make my servant belabor the wilds of Skyrim on foot? Besides, if my housecarl can keep up with my horse, it makes me look bad. Why do I need a horse, then?
  
• Craftable horse armor. This is really a secondary thing. Most people don't want their horse to fight I guess.
  
• Horses are expensive for what little they offer and how easily they die. I think it is hilarious to watch my horse fly tens of feet into the air when a giant stomps it, but my mirth is soon destroyed as I realize that is 1000 septims floating above the giant's lofty melon. I would say add most of these improvements (1-2 at least) and then the gold will be worth spending.

I would like to see a Riding and/or Follower perk tree.

Being able to train Riding/Follower at Trainers, and the option to stable followers of any type...as well as giving them the option to level up and their own perk trees.

That would be fun.

Agreed. Copy and paste. Especially the War Horse from the RDR DLC.

Horess should cost less money, if they die so easily.

/shrug

Pretty easy to shoot a gun from a horse.

Not exactly anologous.

1) naming would be a nice feature, I agree.

2) interacting is fine, but talking to it? A bit much. Maybe let us tie it up someplace so it doesn't roam off.

3) Upgrade the horse, no. Purchase things like saddle bags so it can carry things? Yes. Maybe better horseshoes or tack. But not upgrade the horse itself.

4) Agreed completely. No point, IMO, putting a horse in this kind of game if you can't fight from horseback, even at a reduced level. I'd be fine with that being a skill, something you need to train and imporve, but anybody should be able to swing a sword while on a horse, or fire a bow, especiialy when standing still. Let being on horseback effect accuracy and such, but stop putting horses in the game if you can't fight from them at all.

5) I'd like this for all companions, too . . . hate not being able to see when they're about to go to one knee.

Basically, my feeling is, horses in Skyrim are there because it seems cool. In practice, they serve no purpose. Let us load them with loot, or fight from them, then I'll care. Otherwise, it's just fluff.

I'd like to see more than just horses as creatures to ride.

It's a freaking fantasy game.

Why can't I summon some antroch beast to ride?

Bigger sadle so your companions can jump on the back.

Fist-person view, PLEASE, first-person view!
And make them fast enough to actually be a viable travel option.

-The ability for any NPC to ride a horse. Why does everyone in Skyrim walk?
-Melee, Archery and Spells from Horseback.
-The ability to send Shadowmere home. I think I'll be avoiding the DB questline after grabbing their gear in my next run... it is like Shadowmere is the new annoying fan. By Azura, Shadowmere! I'm trying to be stealthy here.

I seriously hope in the next Elder Scrolls it would be possible to breed horses. You know, like mix two certain breeds with similar traits to create a secret super class horse, with highly improved speed, health, agility, and better behaviour. Kind of like Alchemy, in a way...

The ability to walk on water too?

For all the hate on FF, man those games used to have some incredibly deep features.

Something like this would be cool, but I think it would be a step backward for their intended purposes for Skyrim, unfortunately. They got rid of the physical attribute stats for the player altogether (no more strength, agility, intelligence, athletics, etc.). What you are suggesting here, I think, would require horses to have their own stats (speed, endurance, agility, maybe intelligence for behavior). While I think it would be a great idea, I am not sure they'd go for it.

I am still torn about getting rid of all the attributes. It makes for less meta-gaming (maxing out benefits and minimizing disadvantages) but accounts for less character diversity.

I agree with naming the horse and first person view while riding. Fighting on horseback isn't as important to me, but it would be nice if my horse could have armor and gallop a little faster than I can run onfoot. I just want my 1,000 gold worth.

Also, why does my companion have to run behind me? Can't they hop on the back of my horse? Seriously!

Whilst a stolen horse running away is annoying, it is realistic. I'd like an option to tie them to trees and stuff.

I'd just settle with a couple things.

1. Not having my Horse try to attack everything I'm attacking, heedless of the distance of me and the target in the first place. Too many times have I had my horse knocking at my back when I'm in the middle of combat because it wants in on the action!
2. When I dismount to fight something. I'd love to just turn around and see my horse standing there instead of finding out that it had just ran off into the woods in some random direction, leaving me to spend the next five-to-ten minutes looking for it.

Although, these two points might just be my own bad luck, but jeez. It sure does make my fur stand up on end!

Besides that. A few new mounted game mechanics might be kinda' neat. Although, I'd love some horse armor! Mainly just to put my mind at rest. I don't want to have to walk back up the stable master to explain why I keep going through so many of his horses per'week.

I would love to be able to fight on horseback, that's definitely a needed addition. I thought for sure they would've included that after it wasn't in Oblivion.

Also, horses need to have first person!!! I hate playing in third person, why am I forced to whenever I want to ride my horse??

Lastly I agree you should be able to give your horse orders to some extent, like not attacking someone, but it should be based on a skill, so if you aren't very good in horse training (or whatever you want to call it) the horse would be less likely to obey you.

And you should be able to buy saddlebags, for some extra gold, so your horse can transport items.

Well i many times have i said this. Previous topics and .. can't even remember.

No DLC for Horse Armor please. Why? This should have been included in the game already. It should not be another DLC. Unless they can release it, but .. make it free. Again, i think something that a previous game in the series had, should have been added to the current game.

Hehe, played UO for 11-12 years before i finally got sick and tired of all the speedhackers/dupers/scripters that EA let run rampant. UO definately had the "Pet" aspect down, one of my hobbies in it was training pets.
One game that definately has some badass mounted combat though, is Darkfall Online. You move faster and hit harder while on a mount, but are also less agile/maneuverable, and it took alot of practice/experience with it to get good at.

Hopefully SkyCaptain comes back around for Skyrim and implements Mounted Combat in it too, the mounted combat in Oblivion from Deadly Reflex 6 was pretty good.

I think Skyrim could use a lot of things from UO, like many of the non-combat skills. UO is one of the rare games you could enjoy and succeed for a long time without killing anyone. Some of my favorite characters were miners, fishermen and tamers.

I doubt this will ever happen. I have noticed BGS is slowly phasing out naming things in game. They killed spellmaking all together, so you can not name spells. No more naming potions, and you have to think quick to name enchanted items. Because you have a lousy 30 to 60 seconds to use the enchantment potions. BGS IMHO does not care about our immersion any longer, just the almighty profit margin, sad isn't it!?!? I have noticed alot of subtle things in the game that will probably be completely phased out of TES by the next game. I probably won't even bother buying it. I am enjoying Skyrim for what is left of the series. However I honestly think the ,"STREAMLINING" is killing the game.

I would like to see my horse run off if im in a fight so it doesnt get killed. Maybe after an option in the menu somewhere to whistle to call it back? Maybe under misc, in items, or even its own heading. Also, maybe a little faster when riding.

to be honest, horses are kind of pointless. the map of any elderscroll game so far (except daggerfall) has been to small for there to be a need for fast, non-fast travel, transportation such as horses. and daggerfall was the only time that horses were practical.

horses in skyrim only seem slightly better than sprinting, which you can overcome with a high enough stamina, and in oblvion if you maxed out your speed attribute you could run much faster than any horse.

ultimately i think they should exclude horses unless they find some way to have them with out the player being a completely incapable of defending themself while riding them.

Even Ocarina of Time had it so you could shot your bow from horseback. It really isn't difficult, Bethesda just didn't bother.

As for what I would like
- Ability to name your horse
- First person camera
- Ability to tie your horse to a tree or post to prevent it from walking off somewhere
- Better AI

Are Bethesda even paying attention to this? Do they even bother reading the forum to see what we would like improved and preferably without charging us for a DLC...?

Quote Bethesda:

"We’ll continue to do everything we can to make the game better and better for as many people as possible every day. "


They give a lot of lip service but what will we see in practise?