Hi,

(Sorry for this long "tale", but I though I could give all the information that lead to the event)

First, I must say that I post this on this forum only because the title itself could be a spoiler that some people don't even want to read about, so just to show some respect. Second, I would also appreciate if any answer given doesn't include a spoiler, as I'm not asking for advanced details, just small clarification.

Also, I'm not sure this has anything to do with that "horseman ghost" thing I read about somewhere. Please read further.

Now to the point. After around 100-110 hours, my horse finally died. It was sad because it was my first and only horse, that I used to travel my first long distances, and although he faced dragons, bears, bandits, and other stuff, I guess that now at level 26 those two ice wolves were too much for him.

I though on loading the game, but I though... what the hell, let's just give this a bit of hardcoe. I continued walking, went to the city I was heading, did some stuff there, and then took the same path back.

When I was on the area where my horse died, first thing I though was: "Oh.. I think it was around here where it happened..", but I couldn't see any corpse. Even if I was on the main path, it was a snowy area with a heavy snow storm, so I though to myself that I could also be confused.

But I wasn't, because further ahead I saw the two dead wolves there on the road. For a moment I was like.... what the... and the horse? I started walking again to continue my path, assuming just that player's horse's corpses have a different behaviour, when I hear running horse footsteps coming from behind and going past me, really near. Highly surprised and impressed I turn around trying to see what it was, while picking my bow just in case, but saw nothing. I first though it could be some guard on horse, or a noble, but was weird because they always walk, not run, and also there was noone visible on the path on either side, or on the surrounding snow.

As I could see nothing, I decided to continue again, and just a few seconds later, this thing happens that got me stop dead cold. Next to the path, there was a ghost figure. A horse. Standing there, doing nothing. I though if it could be MY horse. Maybe it was the couple of gin-tonics I just had, but having this idea in mind and while looking at it for some seconds I almost cried right there. There was nothing to interact with, and didn't react to me.. it just stood there...

I saved the game, went to Google to try find out about that (only found titles about a ghost horseman) and when loading the game again, the horse wasn't there.

So... what I'm asking here is.... is this normal? Has it happened to anyone around? In any case, can someone tell me if that was MY horse?

If it wasn't, I would appreciate not giving any more specific spoilers, as I would like to find it out myself sometime.

Thanks for any reply, and even in case you have no clue about this, I hope you enjoyed reading the story.

And no screenshot to show us?

Yeah, sorry about that. Yesterday I tried to get the link to them from Steam app, but couldn't and as it was too late I just posted this and went to bed. Now I managed to finally get to the place on the Steam website:

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198019279399/screenshot/648747634056547168?tab=public

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198019279399/screenshot/648747634056550610?tab=public

Really, I don't think you should worry about that. It's quite nice; maybe the ghost will help you in the future? Just play on, that's my advice.

Oh no, don't get me wrong, I'm not worried. I was just wondering if this was actually something "normal" after the horse died. The experience itself was really wonderful and sad at same time. I play this game as if I was part of the world, and even if riding a horse has its cons, I liked my horse, so it was a tough decission to not load the game and see it go (I knew it was gonna happen sooner or later anyway). That's why it was kinda touching when I heard the horsesteps and then saw this... being, just next to the place where it died.

This is probaly the "Headless Horseman" Horse.i read on the wikia that he can be obtained and is better than Shadowmere.Try to interact with the Horse and see if it is there's a "Steel" option on it.So i can confirm.
Edit:Nah,if you can't interact to him,so i'm sure that you find the "Headless Horseman" horse. we have 2 explanations
1-The Horseman dind't respawned on the horse(this means that the horse and the horseman are two separete Npc's)
2-Only the horse respawned,the Horseman must be somewhere glitched too.

My first horse died during a battle with ice wraith. But didn't see a ghost horse. Quit a tale, maybe there are more hidden things in Skyrim like that.

http://images.uesp.net/e/e1/SR-npc-Headless_Horseman.jpg
Also here's the mount:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJY9RTTpRbo&feature=related

The horse certainly looked like that. I posted a couple screenshots on my first reply.

Maybe it was a glitched version of the horseman, who knows. Or maybe some kind of easter egg happening after the death of a horse owned for so many game hours... Also too much coincidence to happen in the same area it died. In any case, for now I will pretent it to be my good-old-companion.

And I couldn't find a way to interact with it... it even vanished when I loaded the game..

IF it was your horse, it would be a freaky, but cool addition to the game. Horse, Dog or any other companion that would/could return as a ghost. Shame it was not interactable Maybe an idea to post in the modders section?

That would be too cool if that was your horse. Did anything wierd happen right after that? Maybe he was warning you or showing you the way somewhere...

That looks exactly like a ghost horse and rider I saw after exiting a cave. I chased them for miles but never got closer so I gave the chase up. I didn't get a good look at the rider to determine if it was headless.

I think it could be interesting under some circumstances, but not always, because for someone buying horses a lot could be as boring as the arrow in the knee. Maybe was a nice easter egg, or just a glitchet dead horseman.


Nothing happened... it just run past me, didn't see it at all, and moments later I found it there standing still. When loading the game back (after exiting to Windows to google), it wasn't there anymore... Maybe I should have just waited a bit more to see if it headed somewhere.. I will probably go back to that area some day and see if anything similar happens.

Sometimes you can see the horseman chasing his horse as if he fell off.

This is confirmed I have experience it myself and seen pictures.

All my horses have died a pitiful and waistful death. I have never seen a ghost horse other than the one the headless dude rides.

That is really neat. I'll be honest, I was hesitant to believe before I saw the screenshots, but after seeing it, I'm dumbfounded. Whether a glitch or an easter egg, it's definitely a really cool occurrence.

It could be that the Horse must meet those conditions Katixa described.
Katixa, can you tell me how he died fighting the 2 Ice Wolves though? You sounded like you can't believe he was gonna die fighting then.
Does our Horse get weaker the more we level?

Replying to your questions.

First, about the horse being weaker: When I was a newbie on this game I read on these forums a post from someone complaining because the horse was "strong" if you played on Easy or Normal difficulty and low levels, but it was just "weak" at higher difficulty levels and with high level creatures, and it was too easy to lose it constantly on every wolf or bear you found.

I can't be sure of this, neither I know if the horse levels up with you and the rest of the creatures. But after reading this, I assumed that the horse was going to die sooner or later, and I though that when that moment came, it would be better to let it go, or I would be forced in some way to load my game constantly at higher levels (bandits, bears, etc...). It was just an assumption based on that thing I read.

Now replying about the death, I hope this answers your question. I saw the 2 wolves too late (usually I unmount far away when I notice or hear something), so they were just running to me, and while unmounting, picking the bow, etc. both wolves were already strongly attacking the horse. They are stronger than normal wolves, so to be honest, I though to myself "it will be surprising if it ALSO survives this fight...". But as I almost guessed, he didn't, and died just as I killed the first wolf.

As for horse levels, I bet they are like companion levels. They are "locked" when you first meet them. Since you had that horse since level 1, it was probably still a level 1 horse by the time it met its end. Good job keeping it with you for so long

As for the ghost appearance, I think it was your horse, come back to say goodbye. I don't see a reason to look for any other explanation.