Just me and my two Dremora Lords.

I use my companions as pack mules until they eventually die by standing in the middle of a trap or something. The horse was too expensive at the beginning of the game, and by the time I remembered there were horses I had enough locations discovered to never need one.

Does your horse fast travel with you? Cause if it doesn't, wouldn't you have to remember where you left it? heh

Neither. The companions are useless in my experience, plus fights are way cooler by yourself. Horses take the fun out of exploring.

I never used either. I didn't like the idea of companions getting in my way and if I wanted/needed to run to some place I would just pop into wolf form and sprint to it. That was almost always faster then the horse.

Shadowmere has disappeared somewhere. Probably for the best; I don't pull aggro from every single bandit within two miles now.

I like using the companion so far. I have the woman from the tavern at Whiterun. I call her Brienne the Beauty of Tarth though. I mainly use her to carry junk around. I think I'll be switching her up soon though.

Me and my conjured companions are doing just fine without stupid Lydia. 

Lydia is still waiting on the mountain path where I got tired of her and told her to wait, my horse fell down a cliff, so now I'm going solo.

Occasionally use a companion when I am bored... used them more often early for a pack mule, but that became unnecessary later with an abundance of str potions.

This man is all I need.

I use a companion mostly as a pack mule (or Guar), and I used a horse up until the point Frost went and disappeared on me (haven't checked the stables in awhile though). Horses are kind of pointless without the ability to cast spells and talk to people while riding them though.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

This man is all I need.

Where do you get him? He looks badass!

Nope. I use The Steed Stone. +100 carry weight and stamina that lasts FOR-EH-VER when I'm sprinting.

My possible orc love interest (yes, I'm a male orc), though I have no idea how it works in this game.

No, they just get in the way of my awesome fire spells.

I sometimes use a horse just cause you get one from the Dark Brotherhood. No companions though I'm to stealthy for that shit.

I use no companions too much hassle, no horses either, they don't have the same flexibility of movement going up mountains and I find them cumbersome to use, also they don't really run that fast, I just keep with the steed perk and have this dragon mask that does +20 for weight carrying.

I'm a jack of all trades with a shitload of perks in reserve (aka I'm spread too thin to be very effective against many tougher enemies) so I keep a companion with me in case I need backup. I bought a horse and a dog, but both went missing. I have a tendency of telling my companion to wait somewhere while I do stuff, and I forget about her. They need a spell to break the wait command, which makes your companion start following you again all the way across the map or inside a dungeon.
 
I just switched from Lydia to Eola since she's more of a battlemage and can conjure flame atronachs. Haven't been to the mages college yet though; is there a companion who can summon dremora?
 
Also haven't finished the Dark Brotherhood yet, so I might end up using a horse again by the time that's done.

No companion. Why would I need one when my horse kicks dragons, giants, and mammoths to death... all at the same time.

I use Lydia as a companion, mainly as a pack horse and also as a good way to distract enemies. The biggest pain in the backside is when she inevitably goes down (oooh yeah....though not actually in that way), she dies as I am either flailing at the enemy near her, shooting at them etc, and she cops one hit, one arrow and death. I don't want to leave all my Dragon Bones and Scales and shit she carries there so I reload the save and go again. She is also particularly retarded when it comes to traps. Nothing worse then noticing a trap, safely navigating it, then hearing *click* and copping a spiky metal door to the face because Lydia wandered right into it. Then she goes down, gets up, does it again....

I have bought 2 horses and both have died. Stupid horses are stupid.

I accidentally chop off my companion head yesterday. Luckily it was some mage I hired and not lydia

I've needed companions to keep me from dying....Im not too ashamed to say it, lol!

I don't use horses, found one by a dead bandit which I used for a couple of hours, but it disappeared when I fast-traveled so I continued on foot. Lydia died 40 hours in, I went back to Riverwood to get Faendal to follow me instead, but when I reached the town a dragon appeared and killed every remotely useful character there, so I went to Winterhold and got the Dark Elf Conjuration Mage instead, and I've been rolling with her since (got kind of annoying a couple of times when I accidentally killed her and got kicked out of the Mage's College for killing a fellow member, generally I don't like to reload the game just because something didn't go according to plan, but I made an exception for that).

Steed Stone = I am my horse. I have a horse which I never use, just hangs out at random spawn points, then I just ignore it. The AI always gets in the way so I don't use it, got my sanguin rose if I need a little help.

I use them as pack-mules. I can't carry all that solid dwemer metal out by myself.

I think the main reason I don't use mounts is because their implementation flat out sucks. You can't hold a torch or cast magic or shoot a bow while on the back, let alone swing your weapon. Mount and Blade has spoiled me.
 
Can't wait for a dragon mount mod though, even if you can't make it breathe fire/frost.

I actually completed the main quest and never rode a horse or hooked up with a companion. I have that house slave from dragons reach and just told her to hang tight. I never came back for her. Strange, since I went out of my way in Oblivion to get the Shadow Mere. That horse was kick ass.

@Bawlsz said:

I use no companions too much hassle, no horses either, they don't have the same flexibility of movement going up mountains and I find them cumbersome to use, also they don't really run that fast, I just keep with the steed perk and have this dragon mask that does +20 for weight carrying.

I disagree, I find horses are the best way to get up any mountain, very wonky/glitchy horse physics. hell jump enough times and the horse will glide up the mounatin side

I've gone solo through Skyrim for over 100 hours, but after the DB questline I just love riding around on Shadowmere. A great steed to have in the wild when fighting and traversing mountainsides.

@PARKSLang said:

@Bawlsz said:

I use no companions too much hassle, no horses either, they don't have the same flexibility of movement going up mountains and I find them cumbersome to use, also they don't really run that fast, I just keep with the steed perk and have this dragon mask that does +20 for weight carrying.

I disagree, I find horses are the best way to get up any mountain, very wonky/glitchy horse physics. hell jump enough times and the horse will glide up the mounatin side

I personally find them too large and get stuck in crowded areas, and I don't really like getting on and off the horse every time I want to kill an enemy, not really good for combat, also you can jump and glide up mountains without horses, I reckon Skyrim's jumping/climbing physics is wonky/glitchy overall which is cool.

I made that guy give me frost after that one quest and then I killed it by accident. My experience with horses.

Why all the Lydia hate? I upgraded her gear and am now happy to let her tank frost dragons all on her own while I am off harvesting snow berries. She has practically become the protagonist of my game. She kills all the dragons, I pose for the locals and claim all the credit.

Companions and/or horses just get in the way. With 100 archery, hitting your companion in the balls with a fully charged arrow by mistake causes a bit more than a bruise..

Had Lydia as a companion until the start of the Companions quest, haven't bothered to go back to get her since then. Had a horse for a brief time that I found in the wilderness but that didn't last very long either, lost track of it fairly quickly, and it was "stolen" though there were no signs of its owner anywhere.

@onyxghost said:

I have that house slave from dragons reach and just told her to hang tight. I never came back for her.

Don't you mean housecarl?

I do however, prefer house slave :)

I was anti-companion for my first 20 hours, but as soon as I realized how good of a distraction they can be, I always have one now. I may go alone later, but for now it's nice to have someone else to take some damage. If they die I won't go seek one out, I will just use my Flame buddy more often!

All I need is my Flame Atronach.

I have a horse, oh how I wish it wouldn't try to save me from dragons.

I haven't used a steed since Frost died trying to grief a dragon and I'm not big on companions. I hate being watched.

My war dog Vigilance died pretty quickly :( I wish there were more pets. I demand a pack mule!!

Horse only, since I don't fast travel. This game is already bordering on uncomfortably easy, having a companion would just take all the fun out of it.

I like the idea of companions, but they fuck with my play style. I've been stealthing about, and most of the time I've had allies (usually quests) they break stealth and ruin my fun.

I've got a horse (Frost) but dislike using it because of how much ass it kicks. It always ends up attacking things when I take it somewhere, which scares me (I don't want it to die). I've been using werewolf Beast Form as a kind of mount, but when I cure myself, Frost will probably see a lot more use.

I find riding a horse makes it easier to traverse rough terrain and I always bring Lydia with me because she regularly proves quite handy whether it be for drawing aggro or carrying my burdens.

Horses are annoying. They rush into crowds, aggro everyone and end up dying incredibly fast. Companions are fine, but they are too big of magnets for my spells. I just stick to summons

I find Lydia to be a great help in both combat and as a burden carrier. She's a beast with a two-hander. It's a shame her pathfinding is so limited though. She often falls behind when I go off-roading.

Horses, on the other hand... If I could load them up with loot or talk with passers-by or cast a spell while on horseback it would be different. All they offer is speed but since I walk everywhere they are useless to me.

Most battles aren't very challenging so I feel like a companion is just going to steal kills. My first horse died and I figured I'm better off without one.