One of the first things I did when I got some coin was buy a horse. But I've found it very clumsy to operate, it's 'slow', barely going a little faster than I can run. I've gotten to the point where I just go on foot everywhere now.

To be honest no the horses tend to be a pain to use

I like my horse. The controls and movement is fairly fluid to me, better than the vast majority of games. The price isn't too steep, and it has a lot of use.

Nope I'm an alchemist i'm always picking something up, horse would just slow me down.

Every time I've gotten a horse, it's wound up dead at some point on my way to whereever it is I'm going. Complete waste of money.

If I had one wish for things to change in Skyrim, it would be to make horses a 100% neutral NPC.

Every [censored] horse I find runs into battle with a stupid wolf, then gets blown away when I inevitably launch a fireball at the wolf. Seriously, can a mod make these horses chill the eff out!? They don't last very long at this rate, so not worth the money.

Horses are kinda pointless when you have Fast Travel and Carriages at your disposal.

Nope, I bought two horses and they both died within 5 - 10 minutes of use. So no more horses for me!

From what I understand, horses like to jump into combat like they are some sort of guard dog. If that's actually the case, I won't be using them. I haven't found a need for one yet anyway.

There's horses in this game?


Seriously, though - horses were so terrible in Oblivion that I only used them once, and it put me off ever thinking of using a horse in a Beth game.


That too.

I bought my horse almost first thing and he's been around forever. He definately helps for traveling long distances as his normal trot is about as fast as my sprint. His gallop also helps get away from encounters I don't care to deal with where I wouldn't have been able to on foot.

One thing though. I hate how my horse is so aggresive. He attacks anything within 50 feet even if they haven't noticed him yet. Reason being if my fireball's aoe hits him he bee lines it to attack ME after the enemy has been killed. I can even mount him and ride around but as soon as I get off he goes right back to trying to kill me. Only way I could get him to quit is to zone into an instance for a bit and that reset his aggro...

I feel like I'm the only one on the forums who has used a horse vigerously. I got Shadowmere on day one of release and he's been everywhere with me. I'll just slowly gallup along and enjoy the view. I try to locate enemies early so I can park him and then go chase after them.

I haven't been recently, and I think I like traveling better without it. I like to stop and pick every herb I can so it's more convenient when I'm on foot.

I find a horse is detrimental. They're slow and you have to mount and dismount every time you run into a fight, or wish to loot, or see someone you want to talk to. In fights they're aggressive and serve as nothing more than yet another piece of bad AI that gets in the way, then they run away and you're stuck playing Where's Waldo? with your horse. Things that would make me use a horse are an increase in speed, saddle bags for storage, a method for calling the horse so it comes to you and a way to force the horse to be passive and, if anything, run away to avoid dying.

One time I was fighting outside a fort. The enemy was on the wall, we were exchanging arrows and spells... when suddenly the damn horse is on the wall trying to kick them. Give me a break.

I suspect there might be something regarding horse aggressiveness and stable purchased from.

My horse from Whiterun was aggressive and attacked anything. However, my horse from Riften is a tremendous wimp and runs a gazillion yards away, usually to hide in the middle of a dense forest where it takes forever to find him, at the sight of a skeever...

The land of skyrim is really amazing, I haven't wanted to use one yet so I can enjoy the landscape more wile I'm walking.

DO NOT BUY A HORSE!!! I REPEAT DONT WASTE YOUR GOLD!! I made the mistake of buying a horse for 1,000 gold and it ended up dying to a pack of Frost trolls!! Then did the quest for the Frost horse and ended up with Frost as my own and a pack of bandits killed the stupid horse!!! In my opinion exploring is a pain with a horse and your companion seems to be left behind when using the horse!! Ditch the horse and just walk it, beside if you need to travel long distance just fast travel!!! I wish the horse system was like Red dead redemption where u just whistled for a new one but that why i love Skyrim because it realistic!!

Not worth the money so I just kill hunters and steal their horses... worth it for long commutes like the one to the greaybeards

Frost is tougher than the store-bought horses, and can hold his own in battle unless you 2h him in the face like I've done a few times. However the fact that your horse demands to join you in battle needs to be changed. Too many times has my sideways power attack left both my mount an my housecarl dead at my feet.

Edit - and in case you guys didn't know, as long as your horse is alive it will fast-travel alongside you. It's actually really nice in places like Dawnstar where to reach the other side of town is something of a trek.

I had one until I decided to attempt a stealthy night raid on a bandit for only to have it charge in.

It survived. Until I killed it moments later.

Stupid horse.

I use horses all the time... mind you I steal them so, it's not like it's a major investment for me.

They are useful if your exploring, but really nothing else.

Yes same here. I use it all the time especially when I am doing quests that require fast travel on foot. A horse will just get me there faster, especially if I have not discovered the location yet.

Bought one once. Took a heroic tumble off a cliff while attempting to help me fight the dragon. It was a good horse, loyal. After that though I found them to be more of a money sink. Felt too much like Red Dead Redemption. Climb on horse, climb off horse, pick flowers or mushrooms, back on horse, wolf, climb back off horse. Now I only use them if I find them and I can ride them as opposed to steal them. Last one I found at a camp where both hunters were killed by Horkers. Got off the horse and couldn't find it again.

They are far more annoying (pretty much every reason has been mentioned already) than they are beneficial. If they could, for example, move about 1.5x to 2x as fast as they do now (or have a MUCH longer stamina for galloping) then I might consider getting one again, just for the benefits of getting around. Don't care that it might not be realistic (Though I'm no horse expert - perhaps they are too slow compared to human jogging in this game), they are eye-candy at best and at worst they will wreck your saves when you jump off your horse, quicksave and don't realize your horse is too close to enemies you didn't want to get into a fight with...

I'm on my horse all the time whenever I just have exploring to do. If I have a specific purpose or place to go then I usually leave him somewhere safe and go on foot. As many have mentioned, they are too aggressive in combat. Real horses are not like that 99.9% of the time. They'll flee from a plastic bag that happens to blow by them. One of the first things I do when that CK comes out is toning down that aggression and making my horse essential.