Honestly I'm astounded that nobody has taken that name yet.

Do you dislike the look of vanilla Skyrim horses? Are you tired of riding some kind of Clydesdale/Belgian/Cob thing around fantasy Scandinavia for no clear reason? Do you want your beloved and loyal horse to stand out from the crowd as much as you do? Well great news, this mod covers all of those things.

Basically I made some significant edits to the horse model including a fuller, longer mane and tail, redone feathering, somewhat more realistic conformation, and entirely redone ears because at a certain point it was just easier to make new ones. None of the changes affect how the horse fits the vanilla rig so it still bends and moves without distorting weirdly. The textures are entirely painted from scratch and have new normals to go with them that are meant to give the horses a somewhat softer, more natural look that still fits with Skyrim's general vibe. I used references of primarily North Swedish and Dole horses, but also borrowed from the wider range of colors and patterns in Icelandics because I couldn't give up the pintos.

Features:

• Asymmetrical coats/markings, because I fully redid the UV while I was messing with the mesh (mostly because mirrored pinto horses in video games are the bane of my existence)
• Distinct meshes for mares and stallions, the mare model is closer to the vanilla horse's conformation, while the stallion model has a slightly bulkier build and thicker neck, and an unobtrusive low poly dong.
• Five generic solid-coated textures that appear on most NPC horses in the world.
• Unique texture for each purchasable player horse
• Unique texture and model for Frost (he's now a mealy chestnut as his papers claim)
• Unique Shadowmere
• Unique Karinda (this mod does NOT add Karinda into the game, but her texture should show up if you have CRF or another mod that does add her, as long as it doesn't alter her texture or base model)
• Unique Hearthfire stable horses (purchasable through the steward)
• Unique unsaddled stable horse in Markarth because uh, I just felt like it
• Unique coats for a growing number of modded horses (see below for the list)
  

Extended module:
Adds new hostlers selling unique purchasable horses into the world. Some of these horses can be bought immediately while others may be locked behind quests, and prices may vary based on context (quest locked horses will typically cost less, but of course the hostler on Solstheim is going to upcharge outsiders).

WIP; ALL DIALOGUE IS CURRENTLY UNVOICED, THIS IS NOT A BUG.

Horses added by this module:


Future plans:

• More custom follower support (currently on the list for unique mounts are Gore and Remiel)
• More unique textures in general for specific horses
• An overhaul of saddles and harnesses
• More hostler locations and unique horses for the extended module, as well as custom voiced dialogue for all added hostlers. I may add some conversational dialogue to flesh out some horse lore or even add a small quest at some point; this module is basically an avenue for me to have fun without worrying about feature creep in the base mod.
  

Compatibility:

This mod should be compatible with most things, though for best results it should be loaded after any mod that affects vanilla horse records (this isn't always obvious; SkyTEST has no visible affect on vanilla horses, but if you load it after this mod the unique player horses will have generic coats). Most mods that add new horses use the existing vanilla records, so unless a modded horse has a unique model (and assuming it doesn't have a unique coat addon) it should be replaced automatically with the edited model and one of the generic coats. That isn't always the case, sometimes another mod gets weird with it and there's nothing I can do about that, but in those cases a patch will likely be needed.

This mod will NOT be compatible with any other mod that changes the appearance of the vanilla horses or replaces their models/textures.

I'm always working on more patches to add unique coats to modded horses, but I will not personally be making compatibility patches because there's no way I could possibly keep up with that and I'd rather spend the time and energy on the mod itself, however I encourage anyone else who wants to to make whatever patches are needed. Please message me if you do, so I can link them here for people to find.

Currently supported mods/custom followers with unique horse patches:

• Wild Horses (Creation Club/AE Upgrade)
• Beyond Skyrim - Bruma
• Khajiit Will Follow
• Lucien
• Kaidan 2
• Kaidan Revoiced
• Taliesin
• Val Serano
• Vilja
  

If you have a modded follower or modded mount you want a unique coat for, you're welcome to suggest it (but please check to see if anyone else already has). I can't guarantee that I'll make one but it will at least get the mod on my radar for the future. You can also suggest a color but I may or may not follow the suggestion, as I do have personal guidelines I'm following when I choose colors and patterns.

Patches by other authors:
I cannot provide tech support for these, but I'm putting them here for easy access.

• USSEP Patch by CryptidJez
• Animated Carriages patch by WillOhtheWisp
• Phantom Horse patch by WillOhtheWisp
• Phantom Horse - New Phantom Mounts by WillOhtheWisp
  

Recommended Mods:
These aren't requirements, just mods that will overall enhance your horse experience and play nicely with this mod.

• Convenient Horses (it's popular for a reason, just overall a great mod)
• Name Your Horse SE (does exactly what it says on the tin, a very simple mod that adds a lot to the horse-owning experience)
• Simple Claim Horse (handy if you like the non-purchasable horse coats better, also lets you name horses you found instead of bought if you have NYH. or you can use it to cheat with wild abandon, I'm not gonna tell you how to live your life and with this mod neither is the city guard)
  

Sporadic progress updates and WIPs can be found over on eachuisge-cc.tumblr.com, though unfortunately I also talk to myself a lot.
Huge thanks to SassiestAssassin, who has been an incredible help in navigating the learning curve of editing nifs, and also has a lot of fantastic mods you should check out.