So i figured id buy some cheap transportation so i buy a horse for 1k septims.. Yeah why not, 12 minutes after my purchase I'm dismounted in the northern Ice patches west of Windhelm. My horse gets gangbanged by 2 icewraiths and a saber cat before I can even draw my weapon. Yeah, So im never wasting that kind of money again. Anyone have any ridiculous stories of pissing septims away?

this.... is why i prefer shadowmare

I hired Belrand once. Idiot kept throwing himself in front of my sword and got killed in our second fight. Against a troll. (First was a wolf). 500 gold down the drain.

Fortunately, this was at the point in the game when money really isn't an issue any more.

Exactly

I dont use horses. It takes too long to dismount plus they only get in the way during combat. I love ya Shadowmere but i want to handle this dragon by myself ok?

One of my early characters used all her gold to buy a horse at the stables in Whiterun. We headed off in the direction of Valtheim Towers. Shortly before Valtheim Towers we decided to see what it looked like when the horse jumps. There is a downward incline in the road right at that point and it turned out to be a little too high. We took a tumble. I stood up, dusted myself off. There was my brand new horse in the road, dead. I'd just bought the thing not two minutes ago. Now my character was flat broke and did not have a horse. I didn't bother to buy another horse for a long, long time.

My horse has never died...

Horses should be like toilet paper - soft, strong, and disposable.

i think thats why horses are so cheap in this game, 1k gold really is not a lot of gold. My character is on his 2nd horse at level 13

At least it's not like in Oblivion where the black horses run you 5k.

Since my horses had a bad habit of running suicidally into bears and trolls I had the idea of using the Ice Form shout to put it into a sort of crynogenic freeze while I battled the monster before it got in the way.

It didn't work.

exactly

I'd say just download the Playable My Little Pony mod once it's out (no, seriously, it does exist) if you really want a horse.

The closest we've got to a horse is accidentally shooting someone else's...

The only horse I ever owned (well, sort of) is Frost. After a while he annoyed me so much (WHY can't we fight from horse-back???) that when he got attacked by a sabre cat, I just let nature take its course.

Though in Oblivion I always used a horse.
In Skyrim I have had a horse exactly once.

Now dont get me wrong, I think it would be a poorer game without horses. I like seeing them around. I think they look beautiful, really fitting of a northern climate.

But I will not ride one, ever.
Apart from that, unlike Oblivion, you dont go much faster than on foot there is the immensly annoying 3d person perspective.
(Which is why Im also never a werewolf, ever.) It really breaks my immersion to see my character like a clunky toon from a point just behind him. Its ugly, its clunky to control and I just very much prefer seeing the gameworld as if its from the eyes of my character.
(Which brings me to an unrelated annoyance, an Altmer apparently looks out of his nipbles. Seriously, thats just lazy programming. Previous installments could do it, why does Skyrim have one fixed viewing height?)

Then there is that horses are suicidal and cant walk backwards.

Im glad they are in the game, because as I said, I really think they fit the environment, but Ill never ride one.
Shadowmere can stand at that lake for all time.

Horseback is for when I can't be bothered to fight, but dont want to fast travel. This is rare, mind, but it does happen.

If my horse happens to get killed underneath me, the culprit will then have to deal with its now very angry rider. Funnily enough I'm usually in a fighting mood after that

As others have said, that's why I like Shadowmere. Once we traveled to Falkreath while it was being attacked by two frost dragons, one regular and one Elder. Shadowmere got himself stuck between a tree and a house and was taking the occassional dragon blast. I killed the regular dragon a little outside of town and was focusing on the Elder. He eventually landed in the middle of town with just a sliver of health. We were walking toward each other down the main road like it was high noon. I drew back my bow to finish him off and as time slows down I see Shadowmere come up on my right and rush head first towards the dragon. With a quick snap of his jaws the dragon drops Shadowmere like a flailing sack of bricks right as I let loose the final arrow. Stupid horse.

Yeah, same story, less time. I bought a horse and dismounted 10 meters away from the starting point, when I realized I'm two times faster than my horse.

I had a horse in Oblivion that was slaughtered when I fast-traveled to It was horrifying and I never had a horse again after that. That was on PS3. When I switched to PC, I got a mod that made horses essential so now if I want one, I don't have to worry.

About the only thing I can think of that I might have wasted gold on was a spell tome and then I'd go to a dungeon and find a free copy.

Ugh, I ALWAYS do that in my Final Fantasy games, store gets updated, I buy the new stuff, and then find all that stuff in chests, basically around the corner.

Fixed.

And yes. Shadowmere is a boss. Easily one of the fastest horses in Skyrim, and he's just as tough in a fight as a Follower (but Shadowmere doesn't take a knee. ).

Every time I create a new character even if it's a rare one who is nothing like an assassin, I'll still do the DB quests until I get Shadowmere as my horse.

I've had similar experiences. Who thought it would be a good idea to make a hooved, unhorned beast of burden aggressive anyway? The dumb things should head for the hills at the first sign of danger when you're dismounted. Then you should have to call/whistle to see them again. (See Red Dead Redemption.)

Now if I want a horse before I get Shadowmere, I visit the Stormcloak and Imperial camps. After a while, some of them will allow you to borrow the 2 horses they always have parked there. ("Ride horse" caption in white, as opposed to red "Steal horse".) These will wander off as soon as you dismount them, but you can get them back by fast traveling, even to wherever you are already.

I didn't think the horses in 3rd person would bother me that much but now I would like to ride one in first person just because it bothers me now.

By the time you've exited the town, found the stables and mounted your horse for a journey, you could probably be well on the way there on foot. Unless at a full gallop, horses are not much faster than being on foot Then you have to dismount before combat and mount again after so it's too much of a PITA for 0.5% extra speed. I keep my gold now thanks.