All these years later, Skyrim is still alive and kicking. In fact, it’s even thriving because of an active player base that keeps creating mods to improve and extend the experience. Although vanilla Skyrim can’t be discounted for its huge contribution to open-world fantasy games, your time as the Dragonborn can be vastly more robust with the right mods.
There’s a mod for practically everything you can think of these days, and that includes your trusty and noble steed. Though Skyrim’s horses are naturally hardy and can somehow climb mountains at impossible angles, their implementation could be a lot handier with a few well-made plugins.
Not all horse mods for Skyrim are compatible together. Make sure you read the Description and Pinned Posts on their respective pages to check for any conflicting files.
It’s also a good idea to double-check which mod version is compatible with the build that you are running. Version 1.5.97 is the last Skyrim Special Edition build that works with the majority of Nexus mods, while the Anniversary Edition carries Version 1.6 onwards.
10 First Person Horse
Get First Person Horse by SomeWelshGuy
Vanilla Skyrim puts the game into third-person mode automatically whenever you ride your horse. Although this works well if you like to play in the third person, the transition can be jarring and cumbersome when you use first-person on foot. This simple mod just adds a hotkey that allows you to switch between first and third-person while riding your horse.
It works with popular options like Immersive Horses and Convenient Horses, so you shouldn’t lose access to the additions from those mods (like talking to NPCs while mounted) while using the new view. That said, it should be noted that combat is disabled when using first-person mode.
9 True Directional Movement
Get True Directional Movement by Ershin
True Directional Movement is one of the best mods you can get to modernize your gameplay as a whole. It allows you to move your character in every direction, including when you’re in combat. It even features head tracking, projectile aim, and target locking, so you can achieve, well, true directional movement.
This mod comes with mount features that vastly improve the horse-riding experience, too. First, it disables that weird vanilla camera lock that changes your view angle when mounting a horse. It also allows you to move the camera around while riding, so you’re not just stuck facing forward. Finally, it also comes with a patch that makes mounted archery a real gem.
8 Horses Simply Turn Better
Get Horses Simply Turn Better by LokiWasTaken
This is a mod that works best when combined with True Directional Movement. As the title suggests, this makes Skyrim’s horses turn more smoothly, at a better angle, and with better speed. Considering how awkward switching directions on your mount can be in vanilla, this just makes your horse a much more viable form of transportation.
This modder is currently taking a break from actively modding, so any compatibility patches will likely be found on the page of whatever other mod you’re pairing it with. You’re not likely to run into major issues, though, as this mod doesn’t affect the movement variables on your horse.
7 Immersive Horses
Get Immersive Horses by sevencardz
If you’re looking for an all-around overhaul of Skyrim’s horses, then a popular choice to go for is Immersive Horses. The biggest improvement to be found in this mod is the ability to permanently keep any horse you encounter, be it via buying, quest encounters, or theft. From there, all your horses will be part of your herd and be available for summoning.
You also get a list of commands for either your entire herd or individual horses. This includes commanding horses to follow you, wait, return home, open their inventory, and change their personality (which affects their tendency to engage in combat). Different holds also carry their own breeds with varying stats. Finally, you get to talk to NPCs while mounted and check on your horse’s health, stamina, and speed.
6 Horses For Followers
Get Horses For Followers by Umgak
Sure, you may feel that whoever is the Dragonborn’s horse is immediately the best horse ever to gallop on Tamriel. That said, wouldn’t it be great if your follower could also have their own mount? It seems awfully inconvenient to have them running after you through all your adventures, after all.
This mod basically lets you buy another horse that can be used by your follower. They will automatically follow you on their own mount when you ride your horse, but you can also command them to ride ahead and meet you at a hold capital. This mod is intended for users that aren’t using big mods like Convenient Horses but still want that cavalry experience.
5 Faster Horses
Get Faster Horses by mz07
This horse mod is simple. You just add it to your load order, and it immediately makes all the horses in the game faster. This covers all of their movement, including swimming, sprinting, running, and walking.
It’s a very light plugin and just makes traveling on your steed more efficient. If you’re really feeling the need for speed, then you can even adjust its parameters in SSEEdit.
4 Convenient Horses
Get Convenient Horses by mitchalek
Convenient Horses is one of the most robust Skyrim horse mods you can get because it’s so well-rounded and offers a lot of inter-mod support. You’ll see many huge mods adding patches with Convenient Horses in mind, such as Bruma and Technicolor Alchemy.
With this installed, you actually need to think about your horse. They can be trained, equipped with items, and encumbered. With those added concerns also come plenty of benefits, like improved mounted combat, harvesting ingredients and NPC interactions while mounted, horse calling, stabling, and naming, and follower horses that also allow them to engage in combat.
3 Horse Armors SSE
Get Horse Armors SSE by amoveve
Who says cosmetic mods aren’t just as great as the others? Since you’re going to be looking at your game a lot, you might as make it as gorgeous as it can be. Deck your horse out in the best gear Skryim has to offer by adding this mod to your list.
This should work well with other texture mods, in case you’re worried about having assets that look less HD than others. An important thing to note is that this has incompatibilities with major overhauls like Immersive Horses and Convenient Horses, so only get this particular mod if you’re using other lightweight horse mods. Many other mods listed here will also tweak particular horse behaviors or add features you might be looking for.
2 Simple Horse SE
Get Simple Horse SE by tktk1
Get Hide Whistle Lesser Power by mistaabushido
This is a lightweight mod you’ll want if you simply want to be able to call your horse with a whistle. It also comes with an MCM that lets you allow mounts for your followers and adjust your horse’s aggression. It also makes dismounting much faster and has optional tweaks for quicker dismounting and horse fleeing.
It just adds that extra touch of realism without being too much. If you don’t want this mod to show up in your spellbook, you can install the optional mod to hide this power.
1 Carry My Stuff Horse
Get Carry My Stuff Horse by GiraPomba
Skyrim is a game with an unrealistic inventory, considering how you can haul hundreds of gold bars, various outfits, and weaponry and be totally fine. Let’s chalk it up to protagonist powers. Still, you could be hauling a lot of stuff at any given point. Encumbrance is the true enemy of the Dragonborn.
Good thing this mod lets you turn your horse into a pack mule! Now, anytime you mount your horse, your horse will display your weapons, animal carcasses, bounties, and miscellaneous items.
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