Thank you PilotMZC! This was exactly my problem - I posted to the IHSS forum but no luck, you pointed the way... Guys i am pleased to tell you that i have found the solution to this problem, after many days of messing with files and what not, the problem is a very simple one, this mod (Footsteps Sound Overhaul) is known to clash with The original horse sound as well as the IHSS (Improved Horse Step Sounds) Mod, to get the horse sounds back simply untick (Footsteps Sound Overhaul.esp) in your nexus mod manager under plugins and there you have it, the original horse sound and IHSS mod should be set back to normal, at the loss of (Footsteps Sound Overhaul) mod, its entirely up to you in which mod you prefer, just wish there is a patch to fix this so we can use both mods. If you are still encountering any problems with horse sounds than it is probably clashing with other mods or mod, i really don't know of any other problems resulting this. Your other best bet is to move some mods either higher or lower in load order in mod manager it sometimes works. I wish this helped. until then happy Skyrim.. :D