Skyrim talk:Horses/Archive 1

This is an archive of past Skyrim talk:Horses discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page, except for maintenance such as updating links.

Crazy Fool Horses

Is anyone else annoyed by the behaviour of their horse? I now don't ride mine because of its stupid behaviour. If you are riding and then spot an enemy a good deal away you dismount and go to sneak attack it or whatever but your stupid horse thinks its the dragonborn hero and charges past you to attack the Giant or flame atronach or whatever else it wants to get killed by. They are stupid annoying and get in the way, and they arent that fast either, i'd much prefer to walk or take the silt strider.

Agreed on the horses - I play a sneaky sort, so when I fast-travel to a stronghold or camp full of hostile NPCs, my horse follows and sees me, basically rendering me visible even if I'm sneaking when I arrive. Makes it impossible to sneak in unless you go the long way. It'd be nice if there was a way to stable your horse away so it wouldn't follow you everywhere! Fallimar 11:15, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Agreed, and I play a warrior primarily. I didn't bother buying a horse until level 33, and now I wish I'd saved the thousand. I'm considering just killing mine for the soul, to be honest, and running everywhere. Since I usually have a companion, it doesn't help, and when I'm alone I find it to be a hindrance. --Quillan^Talk 15:59, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Yes! Although the horse's ability to detect me doesn't seem to affect the ability of other NPCs to do so, they are impossibly annoying during fights, fast travel, etc. Honestly I didn't even want a horse, but during the Frost quest I just had to have my cake and eat it too... only that was under the assumption I could stable it! — Unsigned comment by 24.247.177.201 (talk) at 21:59 on December 8, 2011

(←) I just tested Frost, and he has noticeably more endurance for sprint, than my regular horse. — Unsigned comment by 80.243.96.21 (talk) at 01:08 on November 21, 2011

Yeah, I was going to mention that. It appears to be true at least. Mackal 23:17, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

I used to run everywhere, but now I almost always use a horse. They aren't faster, but they climb WAY better then people. They go up rocks, steep inclines etc with no problem so exploring overland is much easier. I also have a follower and she often gets lost behind me, but she also shows up again withen moments of stopping. I also think the whole point of using a horse is that you don't need to stop for every. single. annoying. make-it-stop. encounter. Clearly this is a difference in play style, but I think you should give horses a second chance. -- Neondrmr 18:00, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Horse Death

If a horse dies, is it gone for good? And does no other horse become purchasable at the stable you bought it at? SpeedBurner 01:17, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

Yes your horse is dead for good when it dies; However, I feel like since they're so stupid it's not cheating much IMO to resurrect them. Just open the console, click your horse and type resurrect and hit enter. They may be still laying on the ground when you do this. Just mount it and it will be back to normal. Another method is to make them essential. There is a mod on skyrimnexus.com that does this.

To answer your second question, if you for example purchase a black horse and it dies, you CAN still go back and buy another. I went thru 3 black horses before I decided to say screw it and started resurrecting them. — Unsigned comment by 166.147.126.50 (talk) at 14:28 on 12 December 2011

The stupidest horse I have had so far chased a dragon WHAT was it thinking lol it runs up to the dragon the dragon fry's it boom 1000 gold gone. So far i have gone through 15 Horses who were either killed by dragons or walked into my swords. Now I walk or fast travel. — Unsigned comment by 75.142.18.227 (talk) at 20:35 on 17 December 2011

Ok i just bought a horse the bay with white and it got killed imstantly by a ice wolf even though it took like 2 hits. I was playong on novice when that happened but i usually dont play that easily cuz my character isnreally strong

Is there a reason it died? — Unsigned comment by 108.20.225.26 (talk) at 23:17 on February 17, 2012

Horses walking away?

Has anyone experienced this bug? Every horse I buy, tends to walk away slowly from me when I dismount him. It is not a big deal when I visit locations that have to be loaded, since the horse will spawn in front of them when I exit, but visiting outside camps(like the imperial or stormcloak camps), the horse will wander off and I have to chase him around. — Unsigned comment by 93.143.132.171 (talk) at 14:52 on 14 December 2011 (UTC)

Yes I believe it is a glitch. I have had several horses, but only one consistantly walked away after dismount, it even walked off a hill once and died. I resurrected it several times but still had the same behaviour. In the end I chose a nearby horse typed setownership in the commands - this horse did not wander off after dismount. I'm not sure what will fix it other than acquiring a new horse and hoping it doesn't have the same behaviour. Perhaps a quick save before purchase of a horse would enable you to reload and re purchase the horse if it displays the odd behaviour. (2.96.89.0 17:32, 6 January 2012 (UTC))

I've experienced this, but I don't think it's a bug. I was traveling to Silverdrift Lair when I found a brown horse alone, with its rider dead next to it, a Bandit Thug (random encounter). I took the horse for a ride (didn't count as stealing) the rest of the way to Siverdrift Lair and was attacked by two Bandits guarding the place. After the fight (the horse didn't assist), I saw the horse walking off down the cobblestone path. Not sure if this was because I don't rightfully own the horse and its owner is dead or not, but now he's gone. Breetastic 03:15, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Only time I've had this happen is with stolen horses. Thuraya Salaris 13:33, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

I dont think its a bug. This happened to me afew times so I followed the horse all the way back to the stables outside Solitude. All the horses there are not mine but none are marked as stolen. I think I helped pick potatoes or somthing. I can ride them and they will also fast travel with me, but every time I dismount they start walking back to Solitude. Same thing happens with other horses that I dont buy but havent stolen either. They just seem to keep walking back to where they came from. The only horse I stole which was from Cicero at the side of the road also walked back to him aswell when dismounted. — Kimi the Elf ^{(talk | contribs)} 01:36, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

More than one horse?

What if I wanted to buy another horse, or a horse for my follower? Do I keep my old horse or not? Can you say to a follower to mount a horse?--93.87.232.102 00:46, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

Followers can't mount horses, or even mount the same horse as you. All they are able to do is attack and kill the horse. Maybe a future mod will add this feature. (99.136.224.214 19:37, 25 December 2011 (UTC))

If you buy 2 horses, you get to keep both. I've found that they'll just both be at the stables waiting together.211.30.234.20 13:52, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Horse wont run while mounted

I play on the 360 and recently Shadowmere (have not tried other horses yet) will not run. Anyone else have this problem / know how to fix it? Update, resolved the issue by saving, killing Shadowmere and looting body then reloading and re saving . I looted an ebony arrow off the corpses so it seems she took a stray which somehow hobbled her. Wakbag 07:56, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

Could be a glitch, but I wonder if the arrow had a "Damage Stamina" effect? Perhaps she couldn't run until the effect had worn off. I don't know if anyone's tested poisons on horses. Perhaps the re-load cleared the effect, or it happened to wear off with the small amount of extra time. --Amsuko 20:50, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

Speed

Horses seem helluva lot slower than in Oblivion and don't seem to differ in speed due to their breeds. Is there a specific breed that moves faster, or are we just SoL in this respect and have to move slower than in Oblivion? Thanks~. --Ravage 18:15, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

They're all the same, but with different colours. Shadowmere is the only one with extra health but she has the same speed as the others. --Sencilia 04:08, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

And Frost has more stamina. However, when you got around 200 stamina, you can sprint for longer than any horse, so they become useless pretty fast if you're making a warrior-type character Elakyn 22:20, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

She? I thought Shadowmere was a boy in this game? They refer to Shadowmere as a "him" in the dialogue. — Unsigned comment by 67.71.140.174 (talk) at 23:18 on 14 January 2012

The game data says Shadowmere is male in Skyrim too. – Robin Hood↝talk 00:09, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

Command a horse to wait

Well, i got frost from the quest but i dont want him to fast travel with me everywhere i go, sometimes i fast travel to places near dragons, and can get killed easily, can anyone tell me, if its possible to command a horse to wait like a follower? even with the pc console? - Jor

Shadowmere is a he or a stallion in correct terms. All the other horses are a she or mare. Except frost i think — Unsigned comment by 108.20.225.26 (talk) at 23:14 on February 17, 2012

Rearing/That Stupid Wheelie Thing

Does pressing the jump button while standing still have any practical use whatsoever? All the horse does is back up a bit. It isn't an attack, is it? (Now if it allowed the horse to turn in place, THAT would be of some use.) 74.162.83.132 23:30, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

That "stupid wheelie thing", as you call it, is the only way to avoid your horse's death, and probably yours, when you're too close from the edge of a cliff, or a mountain. 82.243.194.53 10:11, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

^ Hmm.. No not really. 1) The horse doesn't actually move when it rears up, it's purely cosmetic and the horse is in the exact same position upon completing the animation. And 2) Unless you've made a point of getting the horse as close to the edge as is physically possible, then it's well within the realms of possibility that you will be able to move it away from the edge simply by turning it around.

It's there for the sheer hell of it. It looks cool. Other than that it has no function or purpose.--62.30.162.142 21:39, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

I have to disagree with the unsigned comment and the above comment. The horse clearly backs up when doing the rearing animation. This is on the Xbox. Just watch the horse. It rears up, but when it comes down, the front feet are placed where the back feet were. This makes the horse move back the exact distance of: "the distance between the front and back feet of a standing horse." In addition, it can be difficult to make the horse "rotate" in place. Generally, pushing the stick in a left or right direction, even slightly, causes the horse to move FORWARD and turn. This may be something that only happens on the Xbox, perhaps PC players can rotate the horse in place. For Xbox players, just turning around could cause you to fall off a cliff because the horse also moves forward. Although not as useful as Oblivion's ability to walk a horse backward, it is definitely the only reliable (safe) way to make your horse move back. Although, I agree that it was probably designed for show. The fact that the horse moves backward may be an unintended coincidence. Real horses can walk backward, slowly, just like the animation in Oblivion, which I was quite impressed with (they included correct head movement and a pulling on the reigns, just like a real "walk back" command given to a horse). The fact that they left this out of Skyrim horses may mean they did not intentionally make it so a horse could walk backward, and the rearing animation just "happens" to include backing up. Since the Skyrim horses seem to defy physics anyway, I would gladly trade the "rearing" feature for some kind of "horse attack" feature! --Amsuko 20:34, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

It does back upon the Pc. clearly, and the only way to back up from a ledge without falling. — Unsigned comment by 173.244.107.171 (talk) at 13:37 on 7 July 2012

horses

I had a horse for quite awhile, but then it just ran off. It had run off before, but had to run down the road to get it. Then I can't find it anywhere. I went back to the original place I bought it. There was a horse there that looked like my horse & I could ride it, but it never stayed where I stopped. Found it again @ nearest city stables. Then it just said "ride" horse, not "ride" w/ my character's name on it. Silly horse.... will run fight a dragon, but run away if a bandit attacks it. Geez, where's my #%@* horse? — Unsigned comment by 67.168.84.46 (talk) at 00:17 on January 18, 2012

You may have mixed up your horse with a horse of the same color. Some horses are not owned, thus riding it is not a crime. However, you don't own the horse either, so it will not stay with you. You might have just randomly run into some dead NPC's horse. Now that you've ridden the "public" horse, it might have dismissed your purchased horse; I'm not sure. --Amsuko 20:43, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

When I first visited Dawnstar and dismounted from my (purchased) horse, my horse started walking away. I spent some time doing things in town, and then couldn't find the horse. Since then, when I fast travel, a horse identical to the one I owned appears near my location, and I can mount it, but it is just named "Horse", not "[PC name]'s Horse". FoolishOwl 22:14, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Speed...2

It says in this article that the movement speed for player characters and horses are the same, but it really seems to me that this is not true. Followers and chasing enemies are quickly left in the dust when riding a horse, even when not sprinting! Maybe the 'walk' speed is the same, but run and sprint are definitely not. — Unsigned comment by 72.234.104.68 (talk) on January 17, 2012 17:30

Stables for special horses?

What are the stable procedures for Shadowmere and Frost? Does Shadowmere just stay at the Sanctuary if you ride a new horse? 99.48.202.40 23:48, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

They will both be in the same location you left them. They will move a bit, as the Skyrim program doesn't seem to hold their "placeholder" perfectly in the savegames. --Anubis Priest 20:37, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

Fast travel no faster than unmounted

I don't know if this is a new glitch or not but I'm sure that fast traveling while on a horse is supposed to cut the travel time down. I just tested it while mounted and on foot and they're the same. Solitude to Whiterun: aprox. 10 hours. From what I remember, mounted should cut that time down to about 5 hours. Is this a new glitch introduced by the 1.4 patch or am getting early alzheimer's? Foubister 22:13, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Perhaps you're mixing Skyrim with Oblivion. I've tested this in 1.3.10, and nothing I tried would change travel time, other than changing the timescale. Though I hadn't tried everything, for example I didn't try to see if magical slow effects would change travel time.--201.1.24.14 06:22, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Multiple Horses

To answer the gentleman above asking about parking Shadowmere and Frost, and many other questions about having multiple horses, I have done some testing and have found the mechanisms work as follows:

• I will refer to common horses, such as those that are stabled, random horses you find around the world sometimes, stolen horses, etc as "horse(s)".
• There are normally three types of horse: those that you bought (your owned horses), those that you don't own but can ride freely, and horses that you can steal. The unique horses Shadowmere and Frost can be considered a fourth type of horse.
• It seems you can buy as many horses as there are stables, one for every stable. If you try to buy a second horse from the same stable, the owner won't let you, even if the stable has a second horse.
• Normally you may only own stable horses, Frost and Shadowmere. Every other horse is not yours. You may even set ownership of a stolen horse and it will not be stolen anymore, but you won't own it. It works more or less in the same way as beds, there are those you own, beds that aren't owned and beds owned by someone else. It may be possible to use the console to make these horses actually yours.
• There are two very important attributes that horses have:

• One attribute I'll call "active horse", that all but stolen horses may have, but only one at a time as the name implies. Put simply, your active horse is the one you're currently riding or the horse you rode last. Another way to put it, is that it's the horse that fast travels with you. A stolen horse cannot be your active horse and riding one will not change your active horse. They'll never fast travel with you unless you're riding them, which will cause your active horse to appear next to you and your stolen horse when you arrive.
• The other attribute is a "return point" that all common horses have. For all cases it's likely the place where the horse was spawned. In a stables for stable horses, in the wilderness for wild horses, there's also this horse that stands by a deserted camp somewhere I don't remember, and possibly other cases. It does not seem possible to alter a horses's return point, even using the console.

• When you move a horse away from its return point, by riding it or by fast travelling with your active horse, you will be in one of the following situations depending on which type of horse your active horse is. These situations determine if the horse will wait for you, or if it will head back to its return point. In the case that you fast travel to a stables while NOT riding your active horse, it will stay put at the stables until you mount and dismount or otherwise move it, after which it will act normally. This is the only case I know that alters horse behaviour. Normal situations are as follows:

• Frost and Shadowmere seem to not have return points, so they'll stay where you left them.
• Your active horse will stay where you left it if it's a horse you own.
• If you don't own it, it will start heading back to its return point immediately after you dismount.
• If you switch from a horse you own to another, the now inactive horse will stay put for a few seconds, then it will start heading back to the stables it came from.
• Switching to and from stolen horses does not modify your active horse, thus it does not affect the behaviour of your horses.
• I believe horses may get killed while returning.

• Though they may get killed while returning, horses normally don't disappear. You can switch horses around, buy a horse in every stable, have Shadowmere and Frost, and use any of them at your own convenience. You can make a wild horse your active horse and you'll know where all the horses you own are. Stable horses will be at their respective stables and Shadowmere and Frost will be where you left them.
• There's a last funny behaviour that will affect your active horse. Fast travelling to places other than the large cities will make your horse appear next to you, but fast travelling to cities or while inside cities (Jarl's palaces, etc) will place your horse at the stables of the city. You may have even left your horse just outside the gate, if you fast travel inside the city your horse will be put at the stables. Entering Solitude through the "hidden" entrance at river level will also place your horse at the stables. If you don't own the horse, it will start heading back to its return point as soon as it's teleported to the stables, so you probably won't find it there when you go check on it.
• Lastly, if you want to use Shadowmere and also have Frost parked somewhere convenient, you'll need to buy a stable horse (if you were thinking about using the carriage, it doesn't work, all it does is fast travel you around, taking your active horse with it). Leave Frost where you want it to be parked, go to the nearest stables and buy a horse do you can ride back to where you left Shadowmere. Your stable horse will head back to its stables soon after you switch to Shadowmere.

--201.1.24.14 06:23, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

This is nice info, thanks. 71.178.115.32 17:49, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

Is there any reason why you can't just use a free horse as the bridge between the Frost to Shadowmere switch? --67.174.246.172 16:38, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

How to cure horses?

So, I was dicking around and a bear infected Shadowmere with bone break fever (-25 stamina). I could see the disease animation, checked with console to see if stamina was really down and all that. Common horses could be sacrificed, but not Shadowmere. I thought for a while how to heal him but I ended up using the console command dispelallspells on him. Anyone got an idea how I could have healed him without the console?--201.1.24.14 06:28, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

This is all complete conjecture, but... in Oblivion Shadowmere's inventory could be accessed by hitting her until she was unconscious. People who used her to store items noticed that she would use potions you stored on her. Now in Skyrim, Shadowmere isn't essential, so you can't do the same thing. But supposedly she respawns where she died about 15 days after being killed. So you could kill her, dump a cure disease potion on the body, and wait for her to resurrect. Either she'll be a new instance of Shadowmere, and therefore not have a disease, or if she's the same one, she'll have a cure disease potion, and hopefully use it. However, I wouldn't bother going to such extreme measures unless you are on XBox/PS3. Even then, you'll probably just end up with a dead Shadowmere, since some people report the resurrection is spotty. So definitely save before trying it. If you have access to the console, it may seem like cheating, but I would just use that instead. EmmBee 21:51, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

Do free horses respawn?

I was wondering whether the horses that you can borrow from Katla's farm or anywhere else usually respawn if you get them killed somehow. I got Frost but wanted to stick him in a safe place so I switched him out with one of the horses from Katlas farm, (which immediately suicide rushed a dragon.) Something like a week later in-game time, I went to Katla's farm to check on Frost and the horse I had borrowed (or one the same color) was in the dead one's stall. This surprised me and i wondered whether it was a freak occurence. I thought horses were dead forever once they died? Or does that apply only to horses that you've bought? In which case, why bother buying horses at all if all it does s basically guarantee it will never respawn if it dies? The whole wandering bit doesn't seem so bad since they appear next to you when you fast travel anyway...

--67.174.246.172 16:58, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

I think something changed in patch 1.6 because I bought a horse some time ago to test mounted combat and it was killed.

I never bothered buying another horse after that but now I have noticed that the same horse that was killed has respawned.

I have just encountered my previous dead horse walking towards the whiterun stables.

Has anyone else noticed that player owned horses are now respawing something like 30 days after death?Falnor 18:05, 25 June 2012 (UTC)

Dawnguard: Mounted Attacks

Based on the Dawnguard Trailer, mounted attacks will now be included as part of the game.

In the trailer a mounted character is seen attacking with a 1H-Axe while in motion.

Magic and Archery have not been confirmed as mounted attacks.— Unsigned comment by 24.140.113.218 (talk)

Check things again, mounted combat was released in the title update that was released before Dawnguard even came out.--Dro'Bakha 16:05, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

The mounted combat is sometimes really weird wit all but one character I can only hit enemies that in front of the horse not next to it and I can't figure out anything that could cause this. Unless race has something to do with it which it shouldn't. — Unsigned comment by 82.73.72.148 (talk) at 07:04 on 6 July 2012

Horse Death 2

Just out of curiosity, if you have more health than the horse you're riding, can it die from a fall while you survive? Similarly, can it be killed out from under you while in mounted combat? SonGoharotto (talk) 20:00, 3 October 2012 (GMT)

I've had my horse die on a fall with my character surviving.--Skyrimplayer (talk) 20:03, 3 October 2012 (GMT)

Me too...off the bridge leading to the College of Winterhold, no less :P. ⇠eshe^talk 20:14, 3 October 2012 (GMT)

I've had a horse killed out from under me while in mounted combat, and my character survived. — Unsigned comment by 71.196.239.70 (talk) at 20:19 on 2 December 2012

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