I do all right by foot!
seriously, Is the horse useful?
here's the drawback:
* I can't fight well on horseback, I had to dismount
* I keep running into the tree leaves hanging from its limbs
* it doesn't talk back

Well, let's see there are numerous reason's the horse is useful:

* When attacked by Amozoni Mantraps, the horse is always a quick escape.
* When travelling through Ishad Na and you encounter the dragon, the horse is useful to escape from it as well.
* When you desperately need to make it back to town, the horse is a faster means of transportation.

You may have to dismount from the horse to battle, but hey your putting 6 people on one horse. Don't you think it would be hard to battle with that many people? Really the horse is just a faster means of escaping and transportation. It isn't really necessary, but it does come in handy quite a few times. Just like the raft. It's easier when you don't have to battle those pesky Piranha.

Other than going slightly faster at full gallop i dont think it makes any differnce

Rather disturbed at the idea of seeing what would happen upon taking the horse into battle!! A supressed sadistic nature hidden away there somewhere?? Will the horse die if we are all attacked by say one of those Amazoni thingos?

No, you only get knocked off the horse. The horse can die (why else would they give it a health bar), but it would take some pretty good accuracy.

Do the people that claim horseriding is faster then running have actually timed it, or is it just an estimation? I could never see much difference while looking at the map: I found the normal view harder to judge because you sit higher on a horse.

Yes, it's delicious.

The amazing fact is there are no stables in the city, or the invisible guards prevent you from taking your 4-legged friend with you into the town (this can propablly cause some serious problems, the horse is a member of the party after all, imagine new class!horse-barbarian )

Erad

you have to clean up after the horse if the town let it in.....