From what I understand the system for mounts is not finished currently, maybe not even under extended development. This is why I would like to present my ideas for the mount system. This partly inspired by things @Henrik Nyström said on Discord and my thoughts over the years of playing the first game.
1.
Strength as an attribute determines how heavy the rider can be, before loosing speed. A Thursar fully clad in steel plate armor will need a horse of awesome strength to carry him. The lighter your character is, the more options you have. Adjusting your equipment (armor, weapon, ammo, loot) and whatever you are transporting should be necessary.
2. The stronger a mount is, the slower it becomes. This might seem counter intuitive, but it makes sense in combination with the first point. If you have the strongest horse that can carry the heaviest character and load it will be slower by default compared to a "light" horse.
3.
Strength also determines how tough a mount is. This can be more hitpoints, more mitigations or magic resistance.
4.
Pet bags should slow down the mount and transporting materials should be done with dedicated mounts, not on the one you a riding on. This is a product of the first two points.
Mounts found in the wild should have variation of those statistic, depending on their type. So a Desert horse would be quite weak, but very fast. A bullhorse would be the opposite. I believe the actual speed difference should not be extreme, maybe up to 10-15%.
There are more attributes I could talk about but this seems to me the crucial ones.
1.
Strength as an attribute determines how heavy the rider can be, before loosing speed. A Thursar fully clad in steel plate armor will need a horse of awesome strength to carry him. The lighter your character is, the more options you have. Adjusting your equipment (armor, weapon, ammo, loot) and whatever you are transporting should be necessary.
2. The stronger a mount is, the slower it becomes. This might seem counter intuitive, but it makes sense in combination with the first point. If you have the strongest horse that can carry the heaviest character and load it will be slower by default compared to a "light" horse.
3.
Strength also determines how tough a mount is. This can be more hitpoints, more mitigations or magic resistance.
4.
Pet bags should slow down the mount and transporting materials should be done with dedicated mounts, not on the one you a riding on. This is a product of the first two points.
Mounts found in the wild should have variation of those statistic, depending on their type. So a Desert horse would be quite weak, but very fast. A bullhorse would be the opposite. I believe the actual speed difference should not be extreme, maybe up to 10-15%.
There are more attributes I could talk about but this seems to me the crucial ones.