Players need mounts to traverse the vast landscapes of the world of Tamriel, and Bethesda has added horses in Skyrim for this purpose. While most of the horses you get from Stables have different colors, their stats are the same. However, some special horses in Skyrim have names and are different from regular ones when it comes to their appearance and stats.
This guide will help you discover and get the best horses in Skyrim, including those from the Vanilla game and the Anniversary Edition.
Arvak
The Dawnguard DLC horse, Arvak, is obtained once you complete the “Chasing Echoes” quest and enter the Soul Cairn. This will start a new quest “Beyond Death”. Before heading further, beware that the game doesn’t provide any map for this region, and there are no quest markers to guide you further. Keep walking ahead until you meet a depressed Soul who’ll request you to find his mount, Arvak. Then, you will have to find Arvak’s Skull and take it back to the Soul, who’ll teach you how to summon the horse whenever you need it.
Arvak is not just a horse but also a loyal companion whom you can rely on no matter the place you are in. It is arguably the best horse in Vanilla Skyrim, or definitely the coolest-looking one, at least. Arvak is a level 4 horse with 289 health and 106 stamina.
Shadowmere
Shadowmere can be obtained by pursuing the Dark Brotherhood quest “The Cure for Madness.” At the start of the quest, Astrid provides it to you to help chase Cicero as he flees after killing several Dark Brotherhood members.
As considered by many, Shadowmere is one of the best horses Vanilla Skyrim has to offer. It is faster than any other horse and provides more tankiness in battle than you can imagine. Its regenerative abilities are a cherry on top of its already higher health, making it nearly invincible. However, you shouldn’t test its durability by falling from cliffs, as it can die that way. If it does expire due to any reason, don’t worry, as you can meet it again at the place of its death ten days later.
You can also use this unique mount’s higher endurance to manipulate the game’s leveling system. You can hit it with different weapons and magic spells, which eventually work toward leveling the used skills. With 1637 health and 198 Stamina, Shadowere is in the top tier.
Frost
Another unique horse in Skyrim, Frost, is accessible when you make your way to The Bee and Barb and speak to Louis Letrush there. This will start the “Promise to Keep” quest in Riften, where you have to steal the horse’s lineage papers from the Black-Briar family and return to the quest giver by riding Frost. Once there, you can threaten Louis Letrush to hand you over Frost besides the payment for completing the questline.
Frost is one of the earliest special horses that you can get your hands on, and the best part is that it comes free. Apart from being good in aesthetics, it is far more aggressive in combat than regular horses and is second only to Shadowmere as far as mounts in the Vanilla game are concerned. With higher stamina and health, it can survive longer and can help you come out of difficult game situations.
Frost has 562 health and 148 stamina, which is closer to Shdowmere.
Karinda
Karinda is not officially included in the actual game mounts. It was supposed to be introduced in “The Whispering Door” quest, where you’d see it die at the hands of Frothar. It is only available on PC by using Skyrim’s console commands. Karinda is tagged as invulnerable in the game, so once it appears in your play, it cannot be harmed by you or an enemy.
Skyrim Anniversary Edition Horses and Unicorn
The 10th Anniversary Edition of Skyrim comes with some special Creation Club horses that were unseen in the original game. There are seven Wild Horses, which adds up to eight as we add the Unicorn to the list. All Wild Horses are scattered across the plains of Skyrim, which can be tamed once you find them using maps.
Besides the tamable Wild Horses, the anniversary edition also includes the Dwarven Horse, the Daedric Horse, and the Unicorn.
Unicorn
The Unicorn is arguably the best horse in Skyrim Anniversary Edition. You should go to the College of Winterhold to get this exclusive mount. You will find Soran’s Journal as you go upstairs in the Arcanaeum. This begins the “Creature of Legend” quest, after which you need to go east of Riften and reach the Lost Prospect Mine. This unique horse is near the pond, just west of the Prospect Mine. Simply go near it, jump a couple of times, and eventually, you will tame it.
The Unicorn has got some special properties that set it apart from normal Wild Horses. It’s got four times the amount of health and three times the stamina as compared to its counterparts. It’s also essential for the game once tamed, meaning it can’t be killed by any means. The Unicorn also takes the lead when we talk about the overall horse list in Skyrim, where we see that it has the same health (1637) and three times more stamina (698) than even the mighty Shadowmere. So, it is definitely a worthy horse to get hold of, owing to its much better abilities than normal mounts.
Dwarven Horse
The Dwarven Horse is one of the major things you can find in Skyrim Anniversary Edition’s Forgotten Season dungeon adventure. It is a mechanical mount that you can build piece-by-piece in a quest. To get the horse, you will need to activate the first part of the horse by going to the entrance of the Runoff Caverns. This will start “The Dwarven Horse” quest. After that, you can keep collecting the remaining pieces of the horse until it’s fully assembled for you.
Dwarven Horse is quite literally unkillable, no matter the means you use to do so. Even console commands fail to do some harm to this crazy mount. Stats-wise, Dwarven horse has the same stats as Shadow mere, i.e. 1637 health and 198 stamina.
Daedric Horse
The Daedric Horse is part of the Anniversary Edition content, though it can be bought separately in the Creation club if you only have the Special Edition of Skyrim. To conjure it in the Anniversary Edition, you need to pursue the “The Cause” questline. You will find the spell to summon this unique horse during the said questline. For the first time, you will find it surrounded by some Daedric enemies and can ride it once those enemies are eliminated.
The Daedric Horse is easily recognizable from its breathtaking appearance, which reminds you of the Oblivion portals. The orange aura coming out of its body is enough to scare off squishy enemies, while the large health pool of the horse will be handy in your tough fights in Skyrim. It usually stays with you for 60 seconds after being summoned, though the time period may increase a bit if you are lucky enough.
This horse also shares the same stats as Shadowmere with 1637 health and 198 stamina
