Fans of Skyrim have spent the last ten years scouring the game for all of the secrets and hidden little details they can find. Amongst the hidden weapons, questlines, and Easter eggs to other Elder Scrolls titles, there are some pretty special horses that can be unlocked and used within the game.
Most of these hidden horses are unlocked via faction questlines or DLC missions, and each horse has its own set of abilities, stats, and unique appearance. While most of these horses can be obtained quite easily, due to the massive nature of Skyrim, they can be overlooked.
Frost
Likely the first special horse players will encounter, Frost is obtained by completing the "Promises to Keep" questline, which sees the Dragonborn stealing some lineage papers from the Black-Briar family, and riding the horse back to Louis Letrush. Once back with Louis, the player can convince him to hand over the payment reward, as well as giving the player Frost by threatening him.
Frost has a fairly standard appearance, with a tan brown coat and a white mane. On the ability front, Frost has higher stamina and health than a standard mount, and tends to be more aggressive during combat encounters. This can be helpful to players who tend to prefer straightforward combat, but for those who like to use stealth, Frost's heightened aggression can often give away the player's position.
Shadowmere
Shadowmere is one of the most popular mounts in Skyrim. Shadowmere can be found during "The Cure for Madness" Dark Brotherhood quest, which sees the Dragonborn rushing to Dawnstar Sanctuary in pursuit of Cicero. At the start of the quest, Astrid gives the Dragonborn Shadowmere as a means to catch Cicero as quickly as possible.
Shadowmere emerges dramatically from a dark pool, with dark smoke clouding its entrance. Shadowmere has a striking appearance, with piercing red eyes standing out against its pitch-black coat. Shadowmere has several abilities that make it such a popular mount, including its very high maximum stamina, its very high health pool, and its ability to regenerate health fairly quickly.
Many players use Shadowmere's regenerative health to exploit the game's levelling system, as the horse can withstand quite a few hits from weapons and various magic spells, which in turn levels the respective skill. Though players do need to be careful when attacking Shadowmere as the horse isn't invulnerable, and can be killed if it isn't given time to heal.
Arvak
Perhaps the most unique horse in the game, Arvak is a skeletal horse that can be obtained by finding his skull on an altar in the Soul Cairn. After finding the skull, a spirit will appear and teach the player the "Summon Arvak" spell. From then, the player can summon the spectral mount across Skyrim, besides walled cities like Solitude.
While the spell to summon Arvak is a Conjuration spell, the skill is not levelled up when the spell is cast. However, much like Shadowmere, Arvak can also be used to level up certain damage-related skills like one-handed weapons or Destruction magic. Arvak can be re-summoned upon death, meaning that it can be used to repeatedly sponge damage.
Arvak's ability to be re-summoned is also fairly helpful during combat, as although it doesn't do too much physical damage, it makes for a good distraction for more difficult enemies. Similarly, Arvak can be used to tank damage from various falls or dangerous encounters, taking most of the damage so the player hardly receives any.
Karinda
Technically speaking, Karinda is not actually in the game... at least not officially. Karinda was a cut horse, originally intended to appear during "The Whispering Door" questline, being killed by the Mephala-controlled Frothar. Karinda can only be found in Skyrim by using the game's console commands. Once in the game, Karinda cannot be killed as she is tagged as being invulnerable.
The Anniversary Edition Horses
The latest version of the Skyrim, The Anniversary Edition, added a few new special horses to the game. These horses can be obtained by completing their respective questlines, which were originally part of Skyrim Special Edition's "Creation Club" content, which essentially acted as downloadable mods for the console versions of the game.
One of the more memorable Creation horses is the Dwarven horse, which can be found in the "Forgotten Seasons" Creation, during the quest "The Dwarven Horse." The horse has a very unique design, with a wholly mechanical appearance. Once all parts of the mechanical horse have been found during the quest, the mount is assembled and given to the player. The Dwarven horse takes no damage at all, regardless of the source. Even console commands can't kill this beast.
The "Wild Horses" Creation gives players a few more horses to add to their collection. The pack introduces a taming mechanic, and gives players seven standard mounts to capture, and one special mount: The Unicorn. The Unicorn mount can be found in the "Creature of Legend" quest, and often spawns near the pond just West of the Lost Prospect Mine. Players will need to tame the horse, but it's well worth it, as the Unicorn has much higher stamina than most other horses in the game, and cannot be permanently killed.
The final special horse in the Anniversary Edition is the Daedric horse, which can be found in "The Cause" Creation by following the main questline. The horse can be obtained by battling through Oblivion's Deadlands, and finding the "Summon Daedric Horse" Spell Tome. The Conjuration spell acts just like the "Summon Arvak" spell, and can be used whenever and wherever. The Daedric horse has an armored appearance, with glowing orange highlights being located around its body and face, and has a very large health pool.
Skyrim Anniversary Edition is available on PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
