When I am riding my horse to a specific location to kill a dragon as part of a minor quest... I get a reasonable distance away and dismount, so as to keep the horse from getting involved in the action. I run for what seems like a very long distance to get to the dragon and begin the battle. About half the time, the dragon will rise up, fly off in a big circle, see my horse, and the next thing I know the dragon is pimp-slapping my horse from afar because I can hear it screaming. So I have to hoof it back to the horse, double-time of course, drinking stamina potions like mad, and try to protect my horse *and* kill the dragon.