the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim
I'm pretty disappointed with my horse. He wasn't cheap — 1000g — but he just doesn't seem that fast. To make things worse, he's a bit of a wolf magnet and every time I get attacked I have to tediously dismount, blast the wolf, and then remount.
Is the speed of a horse actually significantly faster than normal running speed? If so, how much faster?
Look for the stables outside of the major cities. You can buy them there.
You can see where the stables are in relation to you (if there are any nearby) by keeping an eye out for the following horseshoe icon in your HUD compass:
They also show up with a similar icon on your map:
And finally, here's what the stables look like when you're in visual range:
You can also steal horses (found at stables or in the wild), but there's a 50 gold bounty placed on your head each time a guard is made aware of you mounting one. Stolen horses also run away when dismounted, while owned horses stay where you leave them.
If you have a high enough Illusion skill, you can use the Calm or Fear spells or their higher-level versions to prevent your follower or horse from attacking.
The mod Better Horses, can set horses to flee at the sight of combat, rather than getting involved and killed. This can be set to all horses except Frost and Shadowmere, or to all horses, including the mentioned two.
The Better Horses mod can also set your horse as 'essential' (i.e. unkillable) or increase your horse's health, preventing or lessening the chances of your horse getting killed. It also has other useful, optional horse-related features.
The mod, Better Stealth AI for Followers, claims to prevent followers from rushing into combat:
This mod improves the stealth AI for followers, so they don't rush into combat before the enemy has fully detected the player. Followers will also unequip torches while sneaking.
The mod Better Followers or Ultimate Follower Overhaul will allow you to set your NPC follower as essential, preventing them from getting killed.
Note that Better Followers and Ultimate Follower Overhaul will work for Permanent followers only and Quest followers may not be affected. Most quest followers are already set to be 'essential' though. Just be careful with those not marked as essential (see who is not set to be 'essential' here).
You could also use the setessential console command to set your horse or follower as unkillable.
Best Answer
Not only is the horse faster (not even considering their higher base stamina -- Horses can sprint much longer than a stamina-light Dohvakiin!), but they can be ridden while encumbered.
So if two Dovahkiin (Dovahki?) were to race across a flat plain, one on a horse and the other on foot, the horse-bound hero would win every time. Horses are marginally faster
So what about when you're not traveling in a straight line?
Turns out, the horse will still win, as, despite their cumbersome turning, horses flaunt a blatant disregard for physics that can quickly turn into an incredible timesaving path.
Consider: When you're on foot, you must run around any mountains in your path.
Horses, on the other hand, have no qualms with running straight up the mountainous slopes.