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Has any one noticed insane behavior in the horses and/or suicidal tendances in your housecarl or helpers?

When wolves or a bear attacks, I dismount to fight it while my horse runs to a safe distance away but when a dragon suddenly appears & I put the horse some place safe & run towards the dragon, my horse suddenly streaks past me to attack the dragon & die! What kind of horse would be terrified of wolves & bears but would instantly attack a fire breathing dragon?

Many times I'll be fighting a dragon & go to use a shout & at that very instant Findel streaks between me & the dragon, catching the full force of the shout & dying with the dragon. And Delphine loves to jump in front of me in narrow tunnels when 5 or so enemies attack & I use the voice on them, also dying with the enemy.
I've tried putting them some place safe to "WAIT HERE" & they do UNTIL I shout again, then they're back in front of me dying any way.

I've actually had to part company with them, fight the battle then go retrieve them to resume the quest.

Does any one else have problem(s) like this?

i think this is the reason lots of people decide to go it alone. I especially hate walking past a trap, just KNOWING my follower will step directly on it.

AI needs alot of work still. I find it better to go it alone. Stupid Lydia would go chase mobs that were not even near us. We were going down a road and it crossed a river and on the other side was a bear fishing. She went after it even though the bear was running the other way. I had to wait for her dumb butt to get back to me.

Some else should test this. So far if I cast Magelight on the trap to set it off my bumbling oaf of a follower will not step on it. Problem is you can have three or four pressure plates in an area.

With me it seem hit or miss. Sometimes I'm sure that Lydia or whomever will step on the traps, but she doesn't. Then there will be sometime with I'm not thinking about them and all the sudden I'm full of poison darts with Lydia standing back there saying "Did I do that?".

I have finally stopped using sidekicks. Early on they may be needed if you are running out of carrying space for loot, but once your Stamina is up and you've got a place to store stuff, companions are nothing but trouble.

I never use companions unless forced to, simply because I hate sharing kills, I want to be the one that takes the enemy out.

Send your follower ahead of you so they can reap the rewards of their own stupidity.
If they miss stepping on the trap, do them a favor and step on it for them.
PAY BACK!

When this happens, put your weapons away, walk up to Lydia (or whoever), punch them in the mouth and say "Oops! Did I do thar"?

(It may not help but it feels good)

If you are on the PC, Cowardly Horses will make horses sane (you can optionally also make them essential too): http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1522

After a fight, I'll sometimes have to hunt around a few minutes to find where my horse ran off to, but at least its alive and acting the way I want!

Hah, I KNOW my follower will step directly on the trap. I go into command mode and order them to.

This is actually really useful for the pendulum traps. If you can see the pull chain from where you are, you can order your follower to pull the chain on the other side.

Followers are disastrous for stealth builds. You're better off just announcing to every enemy in the area where you are. And I swear followers just enjoy getting shot in the back.

I *just* had Shadowmere run up to the very top of Valtheim Towers to attack the archer up there, then fall to his death.

Followers make the game 20% better, but you have to realise that until they are developed they are going to be a lot of trouble to keep alive. But once you get them good gear and theyve levelled up, they can look after themselves.

Marcurio was great with my Nord warrior, and Cosnach is a beast right now with my High Elf Mage. I think picking them up in the late 20s helped and so does sending them home now and then

99% of the time Cosnach avoids the traps. I just cast ice spikes when he's close quarters because there's no blast damage.

I had Faendal for quite a while, until I stopped paying attention and he was dead and gone. I just left him dead and moved on. Now I have Janessa, and I keep closer tabs on her. I think I'm leveled up to the point where she isn't a necessity, but it is nice to be able to use her as a pack mule.

At least with the companions you can get them to wait. Stupid horses always get themselves killed. Only if not for the benefit of quick travel on a horseback when over the carry limit, they'd be salami on my table.

I had Marcurio as a companion to my high elf battlemage and he had some interesting comments, but I just got Kharo because I needed a good archer/swordshield but I think I'm going it alone for the dark brotherhood quest. My elf is very stealthy and I don't want issues. I'm not doing the thieves guild. Did it twice and really didn't think it was all that great.

Huh. I never thought of that.

Also fun -- followers don't need Lockpicks to open locked containers and doors.

this is not an fps

I dunno, using darkelf Jennassa, i've had none of the irritations peeps have mentioned here about their humanoid followers.

But then again when it comes to Horses, they can be hard to keep alive. When wolves attack them in packs when u are going up a high mountain trail, u can not shoot arrows at them from your horse (which would help) so since u have to dismount to fight , as soon as u jump down to fight one in that split second another has killed your horse, the only hope seems to be outrunning them staying mounted on your horse, but on steep mountains curves...well u get the idea..sigh... i want the Pinto Horse bad but i want to wait till i can be safer with him/her ..if ever..It might be ok. if u could leave them at the stables and still fast travel to someplace near the more dangerous quest (when not in the mood to walk, which is fun too) but if u fast travel back to a cave u have marked on your map, there is the horse there too and (instead of waiting at the Stables) it appears outside the cave and is in danger from bandits outside..does that happen to everybody? It seems the only way to get it to wait at the stables when u do not want it in the wild with u on a certain non-city quest, is to walk the whole way..

Are Dogs easier companions to keep alive than Horses? Thinking about trying a Dog soon too. Any tips to keep them alive?