You know, I think someone should use that excuse when they shoot someone in the head in real life. 
 
"I just did it to see if it would happen". 
 
He'd get off with a warning.

I always try not to shoot them unless enemies are riding them. I'm a bad person : (

You have to test theories if you want science to progress!

Yes, me too! But, mostly because it was my horse, and I was also riding it.

I killed one by falling off a cliff while riding it. That was sad too. This game pulls no punches (or horse death animations).

I tried to drag a cow with the lasso and he ended up charging me like a bull. 

I'm still using the horse I tamed with Bonnie.  I even whistle and get off other horses to get back on mine mid-mission.  And yeah, I try to kill as few horses as I can.  Wolves on the other hand? I take out whole packs of them with dead eye, their not getting near my horse.

Once I was whipping a shotgun around, trying to take car of a pack of wolves that had been on the right, and also the left. I fired a little too early, and got my Kentucky right in the back of the head. I felt bad since it was the one you capture early on, and also because I had to spend another $750 on another one.

My horse died when I rode it off a cliff, I survived though. I was so fucking pissed because the bounty was right there, god.

Mine's the first stallion you get, I stuck with it =D
 
I'm pretty sure it's getting more brown aswell.

" I'm pretty sure it's getting more brown aswell. "

" I'm still using the horse I tamed with Bonnie.  I even whistle and get off other horses to get back on mine mid-mission.  And yeah, I try to kill as few horses as I can.  Wolves on the other hand? I take out whole packs of them with dead eye, their not getting near my horse. "

" I'm still using the horse I tamed with Bonnie.  I even whistle and get off other horses to get back on mine mid-mission.  And yeah, I try to kill as few horses as I can.  Wolves on the other hand? I take out whole packs of them with dead eye, their not getting near my horse. "

" @Ineedaname said:

" I'm pretty sure it's getting more brown aswell. "

I know the wild west didn't exactly have good plumbing, but that's just wrong "

I haven't killed any because I know that bullets kill horses so I didn't really feel the need to test that theory... I also try to avoid shooting enemy horses too unless I'm outnumbered or out of dead eye, I just feel real guilty whenever it happens.
 
It's sort of funny how this game manages to make me feel far more attached to the horses than to any of the people you encounter.

Yeah, a good number of these characters are throw-away.  
 
I love the Marshall though. I wish there was more stuff with him in it.

shooting horses is satisfying as hell, i do it as often as i can. I think im addicted to it.
 
I've been attached to three horses i had. I liked the blonde stallion because i got it a bit later than most because i put the mission off, and the horse before it was pants-on-head retarded, but the blonde one would follow me around and it was kind of endearing. I then ditched it for a champagne horse which i quite liked until it got destroyed by a cougar. Then i found the dark brown one which was a pretty good horse. I'm currently using the white stallion (fast) which i found pretty shortly after arriving in mexico, i think i have had it longer than any other horse. I'm yet to find one that followed me around like the first one i had tho.

I don't really get how you could feel bad for killing a virtual horse. I guess I've just played way too many video games. 
 
When my very first horse died, after I fell off a cliff accidentally.. I felt kinda bad, but not for the horse.. but because now I didn't have a mount to ride around on. Once I learned that I could summon a new one a minute later.. that feeling never happened again. I kinda wish that they wouldn't let you just whistle for a new horse right away. That sense of permanence, especially for an open world game like Red Dead Revolver, really lends to the experience and makes the game much more enjoyable when you know that what you're doing really matters. 
 
I hope they add much more content to the multiplayer free roam.. after doing all the gang hideouts a few times.. its incredibly boring and it feels like there needs to be more team based activities to do. Overall though, the multiplayer free roam has been a blast and I really appreciate Rockstar for what they've done with this game.

" shooting horses is satisfying as hell, i do it as often as i can. I think im addicted to it. "

I tried catching a beautiful wild white stallion but it broke free from my lasso just as the train was passing by. The horse instantly exploded into a dark red mist right in front of me as the train plowed into the lovely steed. I nearly gasped and covered my mouth when it happened. I guess that's what you call immersive game play. 
 
R.I.P. to all the dead horses. Although we may tame your wild tendencies we will never tame your wild hearts.

My first horse fell off a cliff when I called him over to me. 'Cliffy' will never be forgotten.

" I tried catching a beautiful wild white stallion but it broke free from my lasso just as the train was passing by. The horse instantly exploded into a dark red mist right in front of me as the train plowed into the lovely steed. I nearly gasped and covered my mouth when it happened. I guess that's what you call immersive game play.   R.I.P. to all the dead horses. Although we may tame your wild tendencies we will never tame your wild hearts. "

" @spacedogg said:

" I tried catching a beautiful wild white stallion but it broke free from my lasso just as the train was passing by. The horse instantly exploded into a dark red mist right in front of me as the train plowed into the lovely steed. I nearly gasped and covered my mouth when it happened. I guess that's what you call immersive game play.   R.I.P. to all the dead horses. Although we may tame your wild tendencies we will never tame your wild hearts. "

even though that would have been somewhat shocking to see, I would have still lold. "

" ^ I guess I felt bad because I'd never seen anything like it. I'm desensitized to watching people die in games, deer, bears, boars, pigs, birds, goblins, crabs but you just never see a horse die from a shot to the face.
  
  Free roam could definitely be less sparse, that's for sure. Thought I did have an epic gunfight with one other dude at MacFarlane's Ranch. It was eeire to be the only ones in town, hunting each other. Till they put some meet on free roam's bones, though, capture the bag will have to suffice.    
 

       
@Rowr said:

" shooting horses is satisfying as hell, i do it as often as i can. I think im addicted to it. "

I was in a gun battle at the mine and there was this horse just standing next to me an it wouldn't shut the hell up so I shot it and went back to my gun battle. It's like just run away, horse, or shut the hell up.   "

my first horse drowned, it accidently walked off the boardwalk in theives landing, i feel bad for taking him so close

War Horse Motherfuckers, 
 
I shot it in the head whilst being chased by wolves, it went down with grace, ended up skinning the horse :)  
Trying to skin the wolves, pack after pack kept coming, I skin one of them and another pack comes along, ended up just using my knife because I ran out of bullets,  
 
55 wolfs pelts, 55 wolf meat, 23 wolf hearts.  
 
2K not bad for 45 minutes work,

Speaking of shocking occurrences, I was watching my friend play free roam the other day and he'd paused it to have a quick browse of the map. Literally as soon as he unpaused the game we heard this loud roar as he was mauled by a cougar.
 
It was just one of those amazing hilarious moments that only sandbox games can deliver. I couldn't stop laughing for about 5 minutes while he was bitching about how unfair it was.

@Rowr said:

" shooting horses is satisfying as hell, i do it as often as i can. I think im addicted to it. "

I was in a gun battle at the mine and there was this horse just standing next to me an it wouldn't shut the hell up so I shot it and went back to my gun battle. It's like just run away, horse, or shut the hell up.    

I had to wipe away a small tear as I tenderly gutted and skinned my horse :(

i've just started shooting the horses of enemies, first i shot just the guys, but now sometimes there are just to many dudes on horses that can keep up with me so i just shoot the horses from underneath them, makes it easier to escape, 
 
and a nice horse steak is always apreciated here :D ( im from Vilvoorde in Belgium :D we like our horsemeat here :) )
 
grtz Allen :p

I'm on my fourth or fifth horse because I keep falling off ledges and cougars hate me.

yeah horse death and the stupid disgusting hunting crap are the main reasons this game can go suck a bag of dicks.

I'm on my fifth horse.
 
One died because I ran it into a train.  One died because of stealth cougars.  Another died because I jumped from a cliff and survived without my horse.

" Speaking of shocking occurrences, I was watching my friend play free roam the other day and he'd paused it to have a quick browse of the map. Literally as soon as he unpaused the game we heard this loud roar as he was mauled by a cougar.  It was just one of those amazing hilarious moments that only sandbox games can deliver. I couldn't stop laughing for about 5 minutes while he was bitching about how unfair it was. "

I hate horses so I couldn't give a crap how many of them I off.

Horsey Rain breaks new ground for emotional engagement in gaming.

I try not to kill horses as well, I'll only do it if things get pretty desperate, such as I'm after a bounty and he's the only guy left, they usually run for a horse and if my horse is to far away for me to catch up to him after I've got on I'll usually but a bullet in the back of the horse to throw him off.

Horses and sometimes stray dogs are the only wild animals that i won't kill. 
On bounty missions however it makes things so much easier to catch the guy.    

Mine was a complete fluke as a bandits seemed to decend from nowhere, only for me to cap his horse...  i laughed at my terrible aim only to realise "well that was kinda cool " .  
 
Im slightly ashamed :P

I once threw a prostitute off a cliff after I hog tied her. It was fun.  
 
She deserved it though, tried to steal my horse!

I haven't really gotten my head around this horse thingy, who I own and what horse is what. But I did feel sad when I ran my horse off a cliff and it couldn't take the landing. Then I just got annyed when I had to wait a while before calling a new one. 
 
Just now my horse got one hit killed buy a cougar. It even got me after three bites as well, I tried to knife it with no success lol.

On some of the missions where your being chased by guys on horseback ive started aiming for the horses so the guys die when they fall off, ive got problems

I finally snapped and shot my horse when it ran past me after I whistled for it.

" I haven't really gotten my head around this horse thingy, who I own and what horse is what. But I did feel sad when I ran my horse off a cliff and it couldn't take the landing. Then I just got annyed when I had to wait a while before calling a new one.  Just now my horse got one hit killed buy a cougar. It even got me after three bites as well, I tried to knife it with no success lol. "

I think  it's kinda funny

The first time I killed my horse I rode it over a hill. I survived, but it didn't. So I made the most of the situation and skinned him. Before selling it down the road in Armadillo. Ever the optimist, am I. :P
 
But in all seriousness, I was surprised at the realism of the deaths. You can almost see the weight hitting the ground with force. I don't mind if I shoot horses. In some situations it's beneficial to do so because the enemies are riding them. I also shot one of those really sickly looking horses because it felt like a mercy killing. Until I decided a shotgun is the best weapon for merciful executions.