Quick question please?

I'm liking the few assortment of horses in this game. But I have Lydia as my companion, and it seems somehow awkward to include a horse as my companion cannot keep up. If you have enough to pay, is it not possible to buy 2 horses? (1 for you, and another for your companion)
That would be very handy I think.

Does anyone have a horse and a companion too? If so, how do you handle that?

I came across Markarth for the time yesterday and noticed that I could buy a dog near the stables there.
Seems like a handy pet companion to have on your travels. But again, I don't think it could keep up if I had a horse,
and I'd be worried where it's got to if it ran into trouble. I would have liked the dog to jump up on my lap every time I
jumped up on my horse. That would save me any worry. I'm guessing the game mechanics don't allow for such though, right?
Unless.....
I'm just wondering if any mods have been made (for the PC though, I know) to allow anything like that?
I guess not for the possibility of the dog thing, but is there one which allows a companion to ride a horse along with you?
Just wondering out of curiosity really.

No, the followers won't ride horses, unfortunately. I've never tried buying a 2nd horse, but I'm pretty sure if you do the 'other' one just despawns. I fast travel everywhere and have only used a follower like twice - I rode and fast traveled and Lydia was right there when the loading screen finished.

I would think a dog could keep up though.

Buckom is right about followers not being able to use horses, but if you buy more than one horse, then the one you mount/ride is your "traveling" horse that goes with you whenever you fast travel. Any other horses after that one that you buy just stay at their respective stables where you first bought them.

Dogs keep up a bit better than followers but still lag behind. Also worth noting that the dog you buy near Markarth stables is technically a rental. Like human followers, you pay the dog's handler to rent it out to you, then if you dismiss it, he'll go back home and you can rent him again etc. Still, I'm wary about using a dog myself because they tend to leap right in front of me as I attack and they end up getting one-shot then I just feel the worst person. ;o;

So if you buy subsequent horses will you have several of them at the stables and have a choice as to which one you can ride?

Yeah, I'd feel badly if I killed a dog follower or even if it got killed while fighting for me so I avoid them. I even reload saves when I accidentally kill Shadowmere on my 2nd character or my 'normal' horse dies on my 1st character.

You don't have several at one/all stables, you have one horse at each stable. For example in Whiterun, your black horse is housed there. In Solitude, your golden-haired horse. Etc.

Yeah dogs weren't so squishy I'd keep one with me all the time. Shadowmere is pretty legend so I'm okay with him. I was always heartbroken when my horse died in Oblivion but I'm okay with it in Skyrim. Shadowmere is a game-changer though, and he hasn't died once on me yet but if he does, he's deserves a reload. :X

Interesting. I may buy one of each on my dude.

So far only I've killed Shadowmere. I'm sorry, Charlie Murphy - it was a accident. I was havin' too much fun.

Edit: Thanks

I felt horrid when I killed Shadowmere to check his respawn time and his corpse locations with the moveto command, and his corpse contained masses of nearly every type of arrow in the game.

Buying horses in Skyrim works the same as it did in Ob. You can have 1 of every type (color) in the game each at their own stable. Frost just stands where you leave him though.

If they implement the mounted combat thing, then maybe some changes could be made about followers riding too? I've never had any trouble with followers keeping up, but that's because I think they just morph to you once you get too far away from them.

@Buckom: Yeah Shadowmere, from my experiences, is on God Mod 24/7. In Oblivion he fell off a mountain and was waiting for me at the bottom. I don't think he can do that in Skyrim anymore but hey close enough. Also no problem!

@Abrinth: Ahhh, I didn't realize it worked like that in Oblivion. I just used the horse you got for free at the little monastery early in the Main Quest, saved up for a Black Horse and bought it, then just stuck to Shadowmere once I got him.

Also yeah I've never been too reliant on having my companion by my side so I just kinda run off into forever and hope they catch up. I've lost them for days at a time and they turn up once I go back to town.

Thank you for the helpful replies guys.
I also feel rather wary of buying the dog at Markarth. It's not like the type of companion with any good fighting skills like the human ones.
Feels like it could get killed easily. :-/ Think I may give that part a miss.

Shadowmere is a horse you can buy, right?
Think I may have to leave that part out too. But I do find running very handy in between, and lots of fast travels once I have found the locations on the map.

The one thing I do like about the dog's fighting style is that, instead of human followers, it's just like "THE HELL WITH IT I'M GOING IN /CHARGES." ...Which probably contributes to all the accidental dog deaths I have to reload around but it's still pretty cute.

Shadowmere is a horse that you obtain toward the end of the Dark Brotherhood main quest. It's like the third-to-last quest in the DB line. But hey it's free, looks hardcoe, and it can gallop/sprint twice as long as any other horse. More fighting power, too.

I'm always grateful that my dog stays at home and has never died. Vigilance (the hired dog) has an evil owner, so hiring him and getting him away from there might be a good idea. When it comes to killing stuff that's pretty much my job, and I get a tad moody if anyone gets in my way. Kyne's Peace shout and a powerful mage follower who always stays at range have mostly fixed my mood swings these days. Shadowmere gets too indignant on my behalf though. Have to leave him at home as well most of the time.

I'd be so frustrated playing this game without a horse, I take them everywhere with me. I get most upset when they up and die because then I have to go buy a new one.

And yeah, I might need to park Vigilance somewhere. I'm remembering that Banning feeds the Jarl's dogs human meat sooo yeah. Maybe that's why Vigilance is such a good war dog.

Then entering an loading door followers usually enter with you, if you fast travel they always show up with you, one tricks is to fast travel to your current location if they get lost.

And best of all, respawns if she dies. I think it's 2 or 3 weeks later, on the spot where she died.

I believe I've seen a mod on the Steam Workshop which will allow your companions to use horses. Ah, here, found it: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=13706&searchtext= I have no idea whether it's good or not, I didn't try it out yet.

Ouch. Creepy. That's some Festus Krex $*** right there.

Haven't played Oblivion yet, but will most likely buy it soon.

I think he's level 50 always and his health regen is crazy fast. One time when I could actually see his health bar when he was being attacked by something it went back up really fast - like the opposite of being 1-shotted.

Really?

I felt so bad cos he's obviously taken a lot of hits for me (and never died)

I don't think he minds being (temporarily) dead though. After all he's at least hundreds of years old and rose up out of a tarn like a mount ready for the Apocalypse... And you call me creepy.

If there's any DLC involving mounts, I'd like to see a more OB model added. Skyrim is cold, so there should be heavy horses, but if you want grade A fantasy you need destriers as well as palfreys.

Not you. The fact that he was pincushioned is a creepy image.

Because your follower does not automatically use a horse, I don't bother.