So I’ve been playing Skyrim for a fair while now and like any game its got a fair few bugs that lead to some interesting moments, most of which are hilarious, like animals swimming upside down through lakes and bandits dying in strange positions half stuck in the ground but the other day I experienced a heart breaking bug.

One of the first things I done when I had enough gold was to buy a horse. I had a quick look on the wiki and decided I liked the dapple grey from Riften so headed off on foot in that direction. This was also before I realised that the guys with the carts outside the cities will take you to certain places without the need to walk. I broke the first rule of RPG’s, talk to EVERYONE.

So after a long arse journey and several dead wolves later I arrive in Riften, challenge the stable owner to a brawl, beat him and get 200 gold reward so technically I get my horse for 800 instead, bargain!

I decide to name her Patches (because I’m obviously incredibly original) and we set off to have many adventures together. She helps me take down a dragon or two and only dies once from me walking her off a cliff (accidentally I might add). I immediately reload so Patches avoids her horrible fate and our adventures continue.

It all starts to go wrong when I’m almost finished with the Staff of Magnus quest in Winterhold. Whilst protecting the town from the magic anomalies I can hear Patches neighing but can’t find her anywhere. We are dealing with the anomalies so I don’t think shes in danger. Once the quest is done I try fast travelling to a couple of cities but when she still doesn’t appear I assume she died in Winterhold. I reload but after a few more tries to find her I conclude the game has bugged as every time I can hear her but not find her. I am now horseless…

I eventually move on and do the quest to get Frost from the guy in Riften and settle in to using him instead. Time passes and then the game gets weird again. After fast travelling back to Riften to hand in a quest Frost is at the Stable and there are two other horses in the stable as usual, except the saddled one is the same colour as Frost and when I hoover over it it doesn’t say steal so I own it. I’ve not purchased any other horses…it’s  like the game has replaced Patches with a Frost clone. I cautiously take the clone for a ride just to see if I end up with a bounty for stealing. Nope nothing. Then as I ride away from Riften down a road who do I see standing in the road…Patches.

Somehow I’ve acquired three horses and Patches has returned from the dead. So I leave the clone in the middle of the road and jump on Patches and ride off into the sunset. All is well until I have to loot a corpse and get off the horse. As soon as my feet touch the ground Patches turns and heads in the direction where we’ve just come from. This game of chasing after the horse continues every time I get off so eventually I decide that maybe Patches has had enough adventuring and is hinting that she wants to retire. I fast travel whilst mounted, one more time back to Riften and put her near the stables. The clone has also returned to the stable so at least she won’t be lonely.

Guess I’ll have to use Frost instead

Happy retirement Patches.