Ok I am planning some epic big mods for Skyrim like Unholy Darkness vampire overhaul or a marriage overhaul including romance, etc..... like I did for Oblivion. But to warm up my Skyrim modding skills I think we need to address a few of the smaller issues the game has, like HORSES.

Here is what I think they absolutely need:
First person support
Make them flee to safety when attacked by anything a lot tougher than them or if their health gets below 70%. Then have them return to the PC once the threat is removed or no longer pursuing them.
Make various speeds of horses (maybe there is already, but it doesn't seem like it)
Be able to stable them so that when you fast travel they don't teleport with you. You need to walk to the stable, get on them THEN fast travel. When you arrive at destination, you are still mounted, not unmounted.
Maybe a whistle to summon them if they are nearby. If it fails a message says they are too far away to hear you or something.
A notification if they die.

Here is a list of optional features that would be nice:
Horseback combat(if not full combat, at least spell casting or archery)
Horseback harvesting and talking to NPCs (don't think you can right now?)
Able to activate an NPC while on horse back and new topic "get on" is there if they are a companion in follow mode that doesn't own a horse, allowing them to ride behind you.
Add saddle bags
Add ability to buy a horse for your companion and they ride it when you ride.

Am I missing anything? Is anyone else planning a horse overhaul?

saddlebags and hitching and a whistle are a definite must. whistling in particular shouldn't be OVERLY difficult (endgame spoilers!!)

my biggest problem with Skyrim's horses is the ridiculous low-gravity jumping they're capable of doing. it's worse because the act of just riding around actually feels great and responsive and tight and smooth. adjusting that so it feels better (or maybe disabling it completely?) would be great.

also i think pseudo-anolog horse speed adjustment like in Mount & Blade would be neat and would work great with the new animation blending, since i'm sure those animations are already in the game for gamepad players. maybe coupled with the rearing up animation if you slam into an obstacle, with a chance of bucking the player off.

i think related to a horse overhaul it would be nice if hostile spawns were pushed a ways back from the main roads. it's impossible to go from one city to the next on horseback without having to get off every thirty seconds to kill a wolf. bandits are different since they're obviously going to want to waylay people traveling along major roads but it doesn't really make any sense at all for animals to be so common on them.

saddle bags, would be a great idea, there was a mod on oblivion that allowed you to store stuff on your horse, and it was well, one of my favourite mods

1. Horses already engage in combat now, would it be so difficult to have them rear up and beat something down with their hooves if you're on their back?
2. Yes you can.
3. Might cause some awful model clashes. Better to make NPCs have their own horses.
4. & 5. Oh gods yes please!

One thing you missed which would be helpful is a Horse Stamina bar. Right now you can walk, canter or gallop. Galloping with your horse uses its stamina like it does your PC but unlike your PC, you can't see any indication of when you're running out or when it's recharged. You might also think about allowing certain threats allowing you to be thrown from your horses back. To some extent the animation is already in the game from when your horse dies beneath you.

I personally think horses should be faster. Horse sprints feels just a fracture faster than your charater sprints, you don't get a sense of speed. They are nowhere as fast as werefolf at sprinting and sprining when in werewolf form feels great.

MM, you nailed down a lot of what I would suggest.

I'd also like the ability to smith enchantable horseshoes. If there's horse armor, the shoes would be additional and separate, like a ring would be for our character.

Horse Shoes of Blinding Speed (only Morrowind players will get this most likely)

OT: this mod sounds great! I've never used horses before because I don't like to be forced into third person, but when I received a certain quest horse yesterday I had no reason not to try it out... and I love it. I do... they're just so slow and constantly having to dismount is so annoying and... well, you've already said it all.
This mod has my full support ^-^

Basically it should be something like AC's or RDR's horseback riding. And saddle bag + companion's horse, please!

I fully support this mod. Horses need a lot of improvement! I'd also like to see some sort of health indicator for your mount. I can't tell if that big jump is going to kill or just hurt them, and I have a bad habit of riding horses to death.

(The only thing I don't really agree with is harvesting plants from your mount. Most things are pretty low, so unless you're picking apples, it doesn't make much sense to me.)

Horse summoning / whistle + saddlebags are one my greatest mod wishes so far.

Then I would actually use my horse.

cant wait to see what you can do MM. I think ill take a stop by your forums to see what you got going over their as far as vamps go. And from what i hear the romance of skyrim is very lacking, so i'll probably be looking into that as well.

but on topic

I havnt rode a horse yet but its on my to do list. but from what i do know of horses in skyrim all those features would be a nice add on. I would definately love to at least get horse back archery so i can run from/chase dragons and shoot them down. although the biggest head ache i see from that is controlling the horse while you in shooting mode.

Heh, I have a whole horse mod all fully planned out and detailed on paper. Just waiting for the Creation Kit to make it. It would feature basic commands, and options to change horse behaviour in various situations. Companions using other horses is a must.

In addition, I also hope to include an anti-lemming mode, so horses no longer blindly gallop off cliffs without a care in the world. But mostly, I just want to disable mouse steering and enable a first-person view mode.

Hurry up with that Creation Kit, Bethesda!

Personally, I'd just be content with greater horse variety and use. While there are definitely a few random events out there that include a horse rider, most folks in Skyrim -- including those sissy non-Nords -- appear to walk everywhere they go. The opening for the game suggests differently, with the way you ride into town in wagons (as opposed as walked in), with guards on horseback, and even a moment where it shows the general and a high elf on horses. Beyond that, I wish there was something else out there besides a super pale palomino, blacks, bays, and the uber-rare paint.

'saddlebags and hitching and a whistle are a definite must'
I couldn't agree more. Especially the saddlebags and the whistle.

Jumping is a bit of a joke right now, and I don't use it, at all. If it can be fixed, great. If not, oh well.

I would like to when standing still be able to turn 'on a dime' so to speak, and not take a semi-wide turn as it is now. That and/or, back up a bit. If when out and about riding down narrow mountain paths, one for example could get the really bright idea of riding out to the edge of a narrow cliff to look at the magnificent view, and then when trying to turn to continue, the bloddy glue-factory (horse) would not turn tight enough, and could not back up. Then the horse, and the poor fella on top of him, could instead plummet to their death far, far below. Now that wouldn't be so fun, now would it. Not that I could see that anyone would ever be such a nimrod as to get that far out on the narrow cliff on horseback. Just saying...

"but it doesn't really make any sense at all for animals to be so common on them"
Yes it makes perfect sense. Back then, "traffic" wasn't quite as dense as today, and for the animals in an environment like Skyrim's, the road is just another piece of the land. Nothing more, nothing else. So it should be as common to see them on roads, as it would be to see them anywhere else, outside settlements.

lol that is a 100% must. lets run off the cliff to get away from the wolves that my master can one shot.

I don't have it on P.C but here are some of my suggestions.

The ability to command your horse, just like you command a companion.

You can tell it to wait somewhere, you can store items in Saddle Bags, and you can tell it to follow you when off foot. As well, you can ride your horse.

Also, the ability to feed your horse certain foods to make the stamina on the horse go all the way back up while on the move. All you have to do is open the inventory on horseback, press a certain button to feed the food to the horse, and walla it would Regen its stamina, or health.

hows the stamina burn on them for full gallop? if needed it probably should be decreased so the horse can gallop longer distances. though keep in mind that these are draft horses and are not meant to be marathon runners.

I was thinking of eliminating horse stamina all together or buff it big time. Maybe you can give them wheat or something and it buffs their stamina for a long trip. But a general buff without feeding anything special will happen for sure, and the stamina bar will show when you gallop the horse.

Yep, I'm planning on several types of horses like Oblivion. 5k for a fast one.

That's a cool idea, maybe just a new saddle you can enchant.


Well you could in Oblivion. Maybe not everything but some of the taller plants I remember you could harvest mounted. You can't activate anything while mounted now in Skyrim. That means you can't even stop to talk to someone on the road. BS.

Well mounted combat could come later. I want to get some easy stuff in right away that at least makes them as functional as modded Oblivion horses then we'll see what can happen after that for future updates. Right now I hardly ever use my horse cause it's pretty lame to have a horse with limited stamina and with the crowded roads where you have to dismount constantly... what is the point?

Hurr, durrr I'm a hoerz.

I honestly don't understand why they're so afraid to have mounted combat. It would honestly add so much to the game.

Imagine how cool it would be to get assaulted by steppe bandits on horse back. Or to ride on your horse shooting arrows/fireballs at a passing dragon.

My 2 cents:

- Faster gallop for all the horses. I kind of like them all being the same speed, but it's not a big issue for me; making them different speeds is okay.

- Only fight if attacked. I hate it when I jump off my horse to go fight a bandit and my horse runs ahead and attacks the bandit for me.

- Higher jump. Horses can jump over obstacles a lot higher than humans can.

- Saddlebags of Holding (That can hold unlimited amounts of stuff).

- Set player-owned horses to essential (Yeah, I know I'm probably in the minority here).

- Ride in 1st person.

- Return to the controls for the horses in Oblivion (WASD instead of following the camera).

- Buy horses for companions.

Edit: One more thing: The ability to have the horse follow while I walk.

- How about enemy AI, generally, targets the player (who is likely standing there firing arrows into their heads) instead of the horse. Although not as bad as Oblivion, it's still pretty prominent behaviour. I believe there were mods which corrected this in Ob.

- Only fight if attacked, definitely, for all horses. I have seen stable horses running 50m to join a fight against bandits.

- Infinite saddlebags might be a bit of a cheat for some, I'd release two ESPs/include a customisable menu to toggle it if this was to be included.

That would ruin balance. It's stated in one of the loading screen messages that although Skyrim's horses are slower than those of Cyrodill, they make up for it by being hardier. I don't like the idea of galloping everywhere, gallop should just be to get you in to or out of trouble fast, not because you want to get from A to B faster than you will at a Canter.

Madmole - hey

There was http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1279638-req-mounted-combat-barding/ asking for suggestions on horse modding. I see you posted in it so you are aware.

I guess then I can http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1279638-req-mounted-combat-barding/page__view__findpost__p__19352561.
Specifically the functions of http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=8766 and http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/topic/3553-betahorse-management/

As I also mentioned praise for Mount and Blade (the best horses in video games) and made reference to Merp and Blade oblivion mod. I then asked over there if they planned to port to Skyrim and http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1136004-wip-merp-blade/page__view__findpost__p__19388062. Basically yes with an emphasis on horse combat if they can.

If you want to see their work videos are linked in the first post of that thread.

I myself would really wish for a way for the horse to be a separate creature from the character no cut scenes. That you could stable the horse and not have it fast travel. That it had better more realistic animation and not look like a floppy puppy with its new legs.

thanks for considering/reading

Hello, madmole.
I enjoy your Oblivion mods, hope to enjoy your Skyrim ones as well.
Horses - my favorite mode of transportation. by far.

I would add some minor features:

Summoning stray horses.
Better horse animation for rear walk. It's ridiculous that when I try to walk the horse back, it goes forward
Adjustable readiness to fight. I think the Skyrim horses are too willing to take away all fights from me.
Horse markers in case they get lost.
IMO the ability to turn on/off my horses essential is better than just keeping them essential. I mean, it's cool to have immortal horse but immersive role-playing would not accept that, right?

Of course, you already have the really important ones on the list (1st person animations, fighting, spell-casting, harvesting etc.)