most horses are quite fragile. if you dismount or get knocked off your horse (or just sit around a while in town) theres a good chance your horse will be targeted and killed with little time for you to react and little ability to realistically defend the horse. if you dont have mounted combat skills but are a foot fighter that just uses a horse mostly for transportation, you'll be reluctant to dismount near another player for fear they will ignore you but go for your horse instead, leaving you with no mount after dispatching them. if caravans become a thing, I fear it would be all too common for attackers to turn to griefing and just kill the horses leaving your caravan stranded.
i would rather mounts enter a 'disabled' state when they run out of hp, unable to move, unable to attack, unable to be mounted, but can have bags looted by anyone, or gear taken off them. once disabled, they will die in 10 minutes (or whatever time frame is appropriate) unless revived back to minimal health, killed via a coup de grâce, or receiving a huge amount more 'normal' damage. the revival or coup would be a long channeled action (10 seconds? 20 seconds?) that can be interrupted by being hit, taking damage, or moving so if there is a combatant nearby, they can interrupt it fairly easily.
the point is, it should remain fairly easy to disable someone's horse and prevent them from using it to escape. it should not generally be worthwhile to continue attacking the horse till dead after its disabled, as your opponents should pose a much greater threat at that point and require your full attention. getting waylaid while transporting a caravan (or indeed just while on a horse in general) would likely not leave you completely stranded if you win the battle.
another possible consideration is if you have the appropriate taming skills, making the revival of the horse also change ownership, but i'm not sure how the dynamics of letting people 'steal' horses in this fashion will play out... something to consider tho.
-barcode
i would rather mounts enter a 'disabled' state when they run out of hp, unable to move, unable to attack, unable to be mounted, but can have bags looted by anyone, or gear taken off them. once disabled, they will die in 10 minutes (or whatever time frame is appropriate) unless revived back to minimal health, killed via a coup de grâce, or receiving a huge amount more 'normal' damage. the revival or coup would be a long channeled action (10 seconds? 20 seconds?) that can be interrupted by being hit, taking damage, or moving so if there is a combatant nearby, they can interrupt it fairly easily.
the point is, it should remain fairly easy to disable someone's horse and prevent them from using it to escape. it should not generally be worthwhile to continue attacking the horse till dead after its disabled, as your opponents should pose a much greater threat at that point and require your full attention. getting waylaid while transporting a caravan (or indeed just while on a horse in general) would likely not leave you completely stranded if you win the battle.
another possible consideration is if you have the appropriate taming skills, making the revival of the horse also change ownership, but i'm not sure how the dynamics of letting people 'steal' horses in this fashion will play out... something to consider tho.
-barcode