The quickest way to get a horse in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is to deliver the Amulet of Kings to Weynon Priory at the start of the main quest, where Prior Maborel gives you his Paint Horse for nothing. If you would rather choose, seven stables outside the major cities each sell one breed at a fixed price, from 500 gold to 5,000. This guide covers both free horses, every stable and its price, the riding and gallop controls on each platform, what stealing does, and the changes the remaster and its patches made to horses, verified against official patch notes.
The free horse at Weynon Priory
Leave the sewers, follow the main quest marker to Weynon Priory south of Chorrol, and hand the Amulet to Jauffre. Ask him about assistance and then speak to Prior Maborel, who offers his horse. It is waiting in the priory’s stable outside, labelled “Prior Maborel’s Paint Horse”, so take that one and not the others; riding Brother Martin’s bay horse there is always theft. If you turn Maborel down, per UESP the offer returns later in the Weynon Priory quest. A Paint Horse is the slowest breed, but it is free and you can have it within fifteen minutes of starting.
Buying from a stable
Bethesda’s tips page confirms the basic rule: horses are sold at stables outside every major city except the Imperial City. Each stable sells one breed, the price is fixed, and Mercantile does not change it (the 2025 version of this guide said prices moved with Mercantile; per UESP’s stable data they do not). You can own one horse from each stable at a time; a second one only goes on sale when your first dies. After buying, the horse is in the corral outside, not with the stablehand. Prices and speed values are from UESP, with the remaster’s speed shown:
- Paint Horse, 500 gold: Wildeye Stables (Bruma) and Five Riders Stables (Leyawiin). Speed 28.
- Bay Horse, 1,000 gold: Bay Roan Stables (Bravil) and Grateful Pass Stables (Skingrad). Speed 31.
- Chestnut Horse, 2,500 gold: North Country Stables (Chorrol). Speed 34.
- White Horse, 4,000 gold: Horse Whisperer Stables (Anvil). Speed 34, but with the most health of any purchasable breed.
- Black Horse, 5,000 gold: Black Waterside Stables (Cheydinhal). Speed 38, the fastest you can buy.
Every breed is 5 speed points faster than in the 2006 game, a change UESP’s remaster notes attribute to the addition of sprinting, so a horse still beats a running character. If gold is the problem, our guide to selling items covers the fastest way to raise 5,000.
Shadowmere, the horse that cannot die
The best horse in the game is a quest reward. Shadowmere is Lucien Lachance’s black horse, given to you after the Dark Brotherhood quest The Purification, and she is essential, meaning she can be knocked unconscious but never killed. She matches the Black Horse for speed, has 500 health and a 20-point attack, and per UESP is the only horse worth letting fight. The road to her starts with joining the Dark Brotherhood, and the Purification comes several contracts in. Deluxe Edition owners also get quests for Akatosh and Mehrunes Dagon horse armor sets, per the Steam page for the Deluxe Upgrade, and the armored horse variants have extra health.
Riding controls on each platform
Bethesda’s control listings put mount and dismount on the same interact button: E on keyboard, A on Xbox, X on PlayStation. The 2025 version of this guide said Jump dismounts; it does not. Gallop shares the sprint binding, Left Shift on keyboard, LS (press the left stick) on Xbox and L3 on PlayStation, and Jump (Space, Y, Triangle) works while mounted, though horses jump poorly and only while moving. You cannot fight or cast from the saddle in any version of Oblivion; dismount first.
Two remaster differences stand out here. First, riding is always third-person now: per UESP the first-person mounted view was removed, so the view toggle does nothing on a horse. Second, you can mount while over-encumbered, which the original forbade, and UESP reports that doing so lets you fast travel despite the weight. Update 1.1 fixed broken player animations when mounting, so the launch-week jank when climbing on is gone on the current build.
Fast travel, wandering and stolen horses
Mount before you open the map and the horse arrives at your destination with you, waiting outside the nearest city gate; the time skip is also calculated at horse speed. Our fast travel guide covers the blockers. Horses do not follow through doors that load a new area. An owned horse left behind eventually walks back to the stable it came from, and if you own several, the one you rode last is the “active” horse that follows you.
Stealing works by mounting a horse you do not own. If nobody, including the horse, sees you climb on, there is no bounty; if anyone does, it is reported as theft and guild horses get you expelled from that guild. A stolen horse becomes your active mount but never follows you when you fast travel, and most breeds start walking home once you dismount, so per UESP they are one-way transport. On Nintendo Switch 2, fast travelling in the open world while mounted could push the player out of the world at launch; the August 2026 Patch 1.0 notes list that as fixed. Every other Oblivion guide we have is on the Elder Scrolls hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get off my horse in Oblivion Remastered? Press the same interact button you used to mount: E on keyboard, A on Xbox, X on PlayStation. Jump does not dismount.
What is the fastest horse in the game? Shadowmere and the Black Horse from Cheydinhal tie for speed. Shadowmere is essential and free after the Dark Brotherhood quest The Purification; the Black Horse costs 5,000 gold.
Can I haggle at the stables? No. Horse prices are fixed and Mercantile has no effect.
My horse disappeared. Where is it? If you fast travelled on foot or left it behind, it is walking back to its home stable. Check there, or fast travel while mounted next time so it comes with you.
Can I own more than one horse? Yes, one from each stable, plus quest horses. Only the last one you rode follows you on fast travel.