I like having horses in the game, but the implementation of them was rather poor. From AI to overall functionality, they leave something to be desired.

A very strange problem they have is attacking all hostile enemies, even dragons. This problem alone makes horses a pain in the [censored], because they require constant babysitting to not be killed by strong opponents.Their AI should have been to flee, not fight. I don't know if it's just the horses I've used, but so far they all go on suicide missions against dragons.

Another problem is that you can't ride in first person. This isn't a huge problem, although I see no reason why it wasn't implemented. The more options, the merrier.

What really gripes me is the fact that you can't look behind you unless you completely stop moving. This makes checking for that cave bear chasing me frustrating.

Finally, they seem a bit slow. I don't notice an appreciable difference in my travel times when I compare a journey on horse vs a journey in light armor and sprinting.

What do you guys think? Discuss!

I agree horses are a complete Failure.

I disagree. I can climb mountains on my horse.

True, but you can also climb mountains by spamming the jump button.

Horses are cool, only people doesn't seem to know how to use them.

See an enemy from afar? Dismount.
Want to go off the road, which is possibly going to be a lot more dangerous? Dismount.
Lost your horse in the middle of nowhere? Go to the nearest landscape and fast travel. Tadaa, there's your horse.


Only problem I have is that you cannot talk or use items while mounted, that's pretty annoying.

Nah the problem isn't the enemies from afar, it's the enemies that come at you at the least second. Like the damn wolves at every meter. You can't just stomp them, you HAVE to dismount.. And the [censored]ers will NOT let you go no matter what you do.

THAT'S the problem.

Actually, I forgot to include another tip.

Wolves, bears other monsters attacked you from behind?

Gallop away. You are faster.

No horse can do things jump button can't.

On the whole I think its better than not having them at all, especially on a PC where you can mod them for extra speed (which actually makes them a lot of fun, if your computer can handle it.) There are a lot of things I'd improve though, in addition to speed, all of which have probably been mentioned dozens of times before in dozens of other threads.

1st person
return to player after running off once fight is over
run away once health drops below half or so
horseback combat
Ingredient picking/talking/spell casting
some kind of leaping dismount or something equally fun would be a lot better than the painfully slow "I don't care if this bear mauls me to death, I'm going to be dignified" animations that are currently in place
saddlebags
horses for followers, or at least let them ride tandem

Horses are definately faster than running. I don't have much trouble outrunning my companions without even galloping. But that is sort of another problem with horses. My companions can't ride one of their own, so it's either don't ride or it's pause until they can catch up. Or go to a spot on the map and fast travel. Then they usually appear. Either way, it's an inconvenience caused by riding a horse.

Didn't even read the OP, I just want to know what's Star Wars got to do with this

I find that fast-travel makes horses pointless.

Palpatine is at it again.

Fast travel isn't always an option.

And you can get off the top faster with Whirlwind spri.. I mean Become Ethereal.

Kill all enemies. Fast-travel.

You can't use horses unless outside anyway.

You can only fast travel to locations you've already been to.

Are you seriously fgonna keep spamming these forums with these threads ...

Then enjoy the nice radiant encounters while walking, instead of wasting money on horess. It's more immersive than seeing yourself in third person.

Horses could definitely use some more combat options if they're going to go crazy on everything, but either due to weird pathing or just dumb luck... I have seen them run away a few times.

Unfortunately dragons always seem to go right after them, but it does provide a certain sense of urgency in combat to say the least.

As far as fast travel, mountain climbing and jumping...

I prefer riding a horse for the most part, really gives you an opportunity to see just how detailed Skyrim's environments are. Spamming the jump button is not only inefficient, its a terrible waste of time. A horse can ride full speed up an incline that would take five times as long to jump up, run diagnoal and then jump some more. Only down side to mountain climbing are the jaggies and walls that disappear only to magically re-render.

I will say one thing though, these horses have some seriously weak legs. Every time I climb down a mountain I am on pins and needles, crawling down the mountain hoping that I don't drop and cripple my horse to death.

On a related note, the thrall/raise undead spells should work on horses too.

I agree horses need some tweaks.

like i've stated on previous posts, all skyrim had to do was use what 2worlds1 implemented and advance it a touch. 2worlds did it very well: 1st or 3rd, horse combat (once mastered was very fun), whistle ability, packrat, a.i. did not exclusively attack horse, when dismounted the horse would continue to run a bit and clear itself from the battle, horse did help on a limited basis, horse was quite fast (no ridiculously short sprint time), and, there were many horses throughout the world and they weren't all considered thefts.

what happened to horse armor or was that just a rumor

The ability to destroy a planet make logical tags is insignificant next to the power of the Force my love for Star Wars movies.

Horess are like Vampirism and Marriage. They're all pointless side activities that one can undertake just for doing so.