Does a horse really make you significantly faster?

[SwiftDeathSK]

I've wondered this myself. I've never owned any other horse besides the Paint Horse given to you by the monks at waynon priory at the beginning of the main quest. Personally, I find the horse rather useless and sluggish at best. Being a speed / agility based character, I tend to run faster than I ride it seems, so I've basically abandoned my horse and go everywhere on foot (if I don't fast travel).

[tek5828]

My Dragon beats all your puny horses :D Fast, fun, great views, enemy and terrain isnt a problem,

Akatosh Mount

[BlackerrR]

I find horses useful until I become level 40. They become very slow, but Akatosh Mount mod makes it a lot easier. :whistling:

[SwiftDeathSK]

Well, for us lower leveled players, horses can make a difference. At least black horses do. I just purchased one (currently playing Oblivion while typing this up in steam), and I'm baffled at the speed difference.

[MidbossVyers]

But with a horse, you can't take shortcuts, like up steep hills, etc.

[Olurum]

Most of the times horses are slower than my character...

 

But I used them when I first got the game and noticed that horses actually have an easier time at climbing steep hillsides and mountains. There is the 'keep-jumping-when-on-foot' technique to get up a few hills, but the very steepest are only scalable by horse. You need to ride at an angle towards the hill to get up them.