The speed listed of a riding-horse is 60ft. I'm trying to find the distance traveled, after 8 hours of just walking. It seems I'm getting conflicting information between the PHB and DMG.
Based on the information I've read, I'm assuming a riding horse can walk up to 42 miles a day (that's traveling 6mph for 8 hours).
Is this correct?
Follow-up Question: If I'm not galloping, but only walking, do I need a fresh horse every 8-10 miles?
According to the DMG, you are correct. 48 miles in 8 hours.
I believe 8 hours is roughly the maximum a creature can travel in a day at normal speed, without the need to make CON check for exhaustion. As far as I know there is no specific rule about this check, it is up to the DM.
According to the DMG, you are correct. 42 miles in 8 hours.
I believe 8 hours is roughly the maximum a creature can travel in a day at normal speed, without the need to make CON check for exhaustion. As far as I know there is no specific rule about this check, it is up to the DM.
The rules for how far you can travel on a horse are in the player's handbook, not the dungeon master's guide. The rules in the DMG are only for flying speed or a traveling method that is magic, an engine, or a natural force. The text specifies this, but for some reason does so only in the last sentence before the bullet-list of speed calculations, not at the beginning of the section so it is less easily overlooked.
So when riding a single horse, you choose your pace just as if you were walking on your own and that is the distance that can be traveled - because while a horse is faster over short distances, they don't have the endurance to sustain great enough speed for long enough periods of time to out-pace a human over the 8-hour traveling day. You do not, however, need a fresh horse every 8-10 miles at this pace because it is the movement rate that it is because time spent resting between periods of walking is already factored in.
Sure, but the hourly method proposed in the DMG respects what it is said in the PHB. With a horse, you can cover twice what you cover by foot, which is 6 miles in an hour.
@Filcat: Say you may have found some giant ravens...and you may be able to fly said ravens if all goes well, what would their max travel be per day? lol
:P
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"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
According to the DMG, you are correct. 42 miles in 8 hours.
I believe 8 hours is roughly the maximum a creature can travel in a day at normal speed, without the need to make CON check for exhaustion. As far as I know there is no specific rule about this check, it is up to the DM.
The rules for how far you can travel on a horse are in the player's handbook, not the dungeon master's guide. The rules in the DMG are only for flying speed or a traveling method that is magic, an engine, or a natural force. The text specifies this, but for some reason does so only in the last sentence before the bullet-list of speed calculations, not at the beginning of the section so it is less easily overlooked.
So when riding a single horse, you choose your pace just as if you were walking on your own and that is the distance that can be traveled - because while a horse is faster over short distances, they don't have the endurance to sustain great enough speed for long enough periods of time to out-pace a human over the 8-hour traveling day. You do not, however, need a fresh horse every 8-10 miles at this pace because it is the movement rate that it is because time spent resting between periods of walking is already factored in.
Maybe that is the source of my confusion: The speed of a riding-horse is 60ft. It doesn't specify walking or running. I believe flying and swimming speeds are called out, on appropriate monsters, and what not.
If you go strictly by the PHB:
Every character and monster has a speed, which is the distance in feet that the character or monster can walk in 1 round. This number assumes short bursts of energetic movement in the midst of a life threatening situation.
Admittedly the 2d sentence isn't applicable to every situation.
So, taking 60ft and expanding it to miles per hour, I get ~7mph. But, taking into account the rule for Special Travel, 60ft = 6mph, and for a typical 8-hour day, that's 48 miles (my original calculation is wrong).
In my mind, in the absence of "riding a horse at a normal, walking pace, covers X distance" using the Special Travel rules is an easy short-cut.
In my mind, in the absence of "riding a horse at a normal, walking pace, covers X distance" using the Special Travel rules is an easy short-cut.
The text of the rules in the PHB found in a paragraph which starts with "Mounts and Vehicles." calling out specific exceptions to the general travel pace rules is functionally the same as the text saying "riding a horse at a normal, walking pace, covers X distance."
In all cases with 5th edition, the rules text is phrased to tell us what can be done, not what can't.
@Filcat: Say you may have found some giant ravens...and you may be able to fly said ravens if all goes well, what would their max travel be per day? lol
:P
LOL the flying speed is 60, so it is 6 miles per hour. Well I can see flying for 8 hours...(with a break, for food)...if the weather is nice. I feel bad for the giant raven that must travel with a certain Goliath...
I also read it in the PHB as the horse travels at the same speed as your walking speed when going long distance according to the wording. Mounts were mostly for comfort and not exactly speed, except in short bursts. But if you do just go by its base speed it is indeed double that of your normal walking. Really up to how the DM wants to rule this one I think.
Mounts and Vehicles. For short spans of time (up to an hour), many animals move much faster than humanoids. A mounted character can ride at a gallop for about an hour, covering twice the usual distance for a fast pace. If fresh mounts are available every 8 to 10 miles, characters can cover larger distances at this pace, but this is very rare except in densely populated areas.
I would read this as the riding horse (as stated by Kalafax and Aaron) would generally walk at the same pace as a walking adventurer over 8 hours (mount is for comfort, not increased pace). The exception is if you gallop for about an hour, you cover double the fast walking pace, then I would assume your horse would resume to the normal walking pace of an adventurer. If you were able to stop (say at a farm/city) and someone willingly swapped a fresh horse with you, you can then continue for another hour at that faster pace.
The thing that isn't really covered is what needs to be done to make the mount "fresh" again. This I assume would be up to the DM -- does it require a short rest, a long rest, an hour of normal travel, something else? I think I would rule that you can gallop for an hour, walk at normal pace (not fast) for 2 hours, then gallop for another hour which would result in a max of 39 miles traveled in 8 hours using the RAW for travel pace and my interpretation of what is required to make a mount "fresh."
Reading over this rule it does seem a bit odd to me that if you are on a horse you can only travel as fast as someone walking. My opinion and the way I would rules is likely do something like double the distance a horse can travel vs a walking creature. If the horse was galloping, as stated directly in the rules, you can do so for an hour. I would equate that speed to a 1/3 increase of the horse's normal walking pace (guideline in the DMG under Special Travel Pace, and reference to the "Travel Pace" table in the Adventuring chapter under Travel Pace).
So my ruling would be as follows (bold parts are my rule/interpretation, non-bold is RAW):
Adventurer walking at normal pace travels 24 miles/8 hours (3 miles/1 hour); Adventurer walking at "fast" pace travels 4 miles/1 hour with a -5 penalty to Passive Perception, adventurer on mount with 60ft speed travels 48 miles/8 hours (6 miles/1 hour), adventurer on mount with 60ft speed while galloping travels 8 miles/1 hour with a -5 penalty to Passive Perception. A galloping mount can only travel at that pace for 1 hour before needing to become "fresh" again. To become "fresh" a travel pace of normal walking speed must be maintained for 2 hours. Alternatively you can choose to take a short rest with no travel to become "fresh" again. Note that you can only benefit from the mounted speed if you are either traveling alone (leaving the rest of your group behind, if you are in a group) or if your entire group has a mount of the same or higher speed -- You can only go as fast as the slowest creature/vehicle in your caravan. A horse pulling a wagon or something similar can only travel at the normal adventurer walking pace of 24 miles/8 hours (or travel at the fast pace following the same rules).
Mounts and Vehicles. For short spans of time (up to an hour), many animals move much faster than humanoids. A mounted character can ride at a gallop for about an hour, covering twice the usual distance for a fast pace. If fresh mounts are available every 8 to 10 miles, characters can cover larger distances at this pace, but this is very rare except in densely populated areas.
I would read this as the riding horse (as stated by Kalafax and Aaron) would generally walk at the same pace as a walking adventurer over 8 hours (mount is for comfort, not increased pace). The exception is if you gallop for about an hour, you cover double the fast walking pace, then I would assume your horse would resume to the normal walking pace of an adventurer. If you were able to stop (say at a farm/city) and someone willingly swapped a fresh horse with you, you can then continue for another hour at that faster pace.
The thing that isn't really covered is what needs to be done to make the mount "fresh" again. This I assume would be up to the DM -- does it require a short rest, a long rest, an hour of normal travel, something else? I think I would rule that you can gallop for an hour, walk at normal pace (not fast) for 2 hours, then gallop for another hour which would result in a max of 39 miles traveled in 8 hours using the RAW for travel pace and my interpretation of what is required to make a mount "fresh."
Reading over this rule it does seem a bit odd to me that if you are on a horse you can only travel as fast as someone walking. My opinion and the way I would rules is likely do something like double the distance a horse can travel vs a walking creature. If the horse was galloping, as stated directly in the rules, you can do so for an hour. I would equate that speed to a 1/3 increase of the horse's normal walking pace (guideline in the DMG under Special Travel Pace, and reference to the "Travel Pace" table in the Adventuring chapter under Travel Pace).
So my ruling would be as follows (bold parts are my rule/interpretation, non-bold is RAW):
Adventurer walking at normal pace travels 24 miles/8 hours (3 miles/1 hour); Adventurer walking at "fast" pace travels 4 miles/1 hour with a -5 penalty to Passive Perception, adventurer on mount with 60ft speed travels 48 miles/8 hours (6 miles/1 hour), adventurer on mount with 60ft speed while galloping travels 8 miles/1 hour with a -5 penalty to Passive Perception. A galloping mount can only travel at that pace for 1 hour before needing to become "fresh" again. To become "fresh" a travel pace of normal walking speed must be maintained for 2 hours. Alternatively you can choose to take a short rest with no travel to become "fresh" again. Note that you can only benefit from the mounted speed if you are either traveling alone (leaving the rest of your group behind, if you are in a group) or if your entire group has a mount of the same or higher speed -- You can only go as fast as the slowest creature/vehicle in your caravan. A horse pulling a wagon or something similar can only travel at the normal adventurer walking pace of 24 miles/8 hours (or travel at the fast pace following the same rules).
@Mehetmet Thank you for your "ruling" :D I'm going to capture it in my set of Homebrew Rules. +1
I too was confused by the statement that a horse, when walking, would travel at the same speed as a person. I know this is a game, but I _think_ in real-life a horse can walk farther than a person in the same amount of time. IDK.
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and contributions on my question. :D
I'm super late to this thread (by several years?), but I wanted to point out that the base speed of any creature assumes it is unencumbered. So even though a horse's speed is 60 feet, when carrying a rider and all the gear that rider is carrying, plus saddle, saddle bags, etc., it's not going to be moving at 60 feet except in short bursts.
There are rules for "forced" march, which allows for pushing you or your mount harder. If you determine the average mph of the mode of travel, divide by 8, you get how much further you can go in an hour. https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/adventuring#Speed
It requires a con-save each hour beyond eight. Each failed save racks up a level of exhaustion. And the save gets cumulatively harder for each hour beyond eight.
If you push too hard and fail a lot of con checks, you could potentially kill yourself or your mount. As for recovering, "Finishing a long rest reduces a creature's exhaustion level by 1, provided that the creature has also ingested some food and drink." https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/phb/appendix-a-conditions#Exhaustion
So basically, if you decided to push for more than eight hours, you can afford to keep going until you fail that first con check. At which point you will be at level 1 exhaustion, and you are better off stopping and taking a long rest to remove it.
-----------
My homebrew adjustments:
Essentially, whatever is the base speed of the person/creature is how many miles it can travel in a day, assuming they are unencumbered. A halfling could travel 25 miles, a human 30 miles, a horse 60 miles, etc. For traveling by foot, if lightly encumbered (anywhere from 10% to 50% of maximum encumbrance) reduce by 5 miles. If heavily encumbered (>50%), reduce by 10 miles. If not using encumbrance rules, assume they are lightly encumbered. For mounts carrying riders or packs/supplies, reduce by 50%. So, assuming folks are lightly encumbered, a halfling would travel 20 miles, a human 25 miles, and a horse with rider 30 miles.
If they are traveling at a "Slow" pace, multiply by .8. If they are traveling at a "Fast" pace, multiply by 1.2.
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Si periculum aut dubio, curre in circulo, clamor et quirito.
In Horde of the Dragon Queen players are given horses and told they can travel 200miles in 6 days, with no mention being made of any type of special exertion. this breaks down to about 34 miles per 8 hours. From my googling that seems pretty reasonable. I'd set that as a base line and say 42ish miles for fast and 26ish miles for slow.
re-reading your questions none of this is helpful to you or answers your questions, but i've put too much time into this to just delete it and walk away
In Horde of the Dragon Queen players are given horses and told they can travel 200miles in 6 days, with no mention being made of any type of special exertion. this breaks down to about 34 miles per 8 hours. From my googling that seems pretty reasonable. I'd set that as a base line and say 42ish miles for fast and 26ish miles for slow.
re-reading your questions none of this is helpful to you or answers your questions, but i've put too much time into this to just delete it and walk away
Hoard of the Dragon Queen also has an issue with map size and scaling. It's true that Waterdeep and Daggerford are about 120 miles apart. But the caravan can't cover that distance in 5 days traveling only 15 miles per day. The 60 days with the caravan from Baldur's Gate to Waterdeep only works if you travel 15 miles per day, not the 24 miles you should be moving at. Parties shouldn't be on the road for more than a month and a half.
This is not...uncommon. Storm King's Thunder is the first one to be properly sized. Unfortunately, the maps of the Neverwinter-Phandalin region from LMoP and DoIP are still using the compressed 3e/4e scale.
Sure, but the hourly method proposed in the DMG respects what it is said in the PHB. With a horse, you can cover twice what you cover by foot, which is 6 miles in an hour.
And in real life it is roughly 25-35 miles per day.......in other words, closer to what the DMG states. And, it cannot keep this up for too many consecutive days unless specifically trained to do so. Even then, a day's break or more is required. Some horses have been trained to cover 50-100 miles in one day. They would need rested after that day.
I have been using 45 miles per day for a riding horse and my players have used it to their advantage with consecutive day usage. I will be changing that rule in our game as I have now researched it more thoroughly and find it unreasonable to use the 6 MPH * 8 Hours = 48 miles. Think about some place near you that is 50 miles away. Would you anticipate making that destination in one day on a horse? Perhaps, but every day for many consecutive days? Likely not without killing the horse.
Which is basically moving at a fast pace, plus a forced march for 1 hour. If they're exhausted, they can recover by the next morning.
I think a lot of people are also forgetting that you're not traveling sunrise to sunset. It's just 8 hours. If you're breaking camp at 6 AM you'll arrive at your next stop for the night by 3 PM if you include a short rest. You have hours of daylight left, and your horse can just graze and relax during that time. I mean, have someone keep an eye out for danger. You don't want three mountain trolls absconding with any of your mounts. ;)
In Chapter 8 of the the PHB it states under speed, "Every character and monster has a speed, which is the distance in feet that the character or monster can walk in 1 round. This number assumes short bursts of energetic movement in the midst of a life-threatening situation. The following rules determine how far a character or monster can move in a minute, an hour, or a day."
So a riding horse's speed is 60ft, but that's per round (6 seconds) for a short burst of energy when it's life is threatened. Running at that speed for an entire day would certainly kill a horse from exhaustion. For regular travel, it is at is says in the PHB. Per day, fast riding is 30 miles, normal is 24 miles, and slow is 18 miles.
Also as it was stated earlier in this thread, the PHB states that a mounted character can ride at a gallop for about an hour, covering twice the usual distance for a fast pace. So that fast pace can only be used for 1 hour of travel per day. Afterwards, the fastest you can move is normal - 24 miles per day. Assuming you don't stop every hour to get a new horse.
According to the DMG, you are correct. 42 miles in 8 hours.
I believe 8 hours is roughly the maximum a creature can travel in a day at normal speed, without the need to make CON check for exhaustion. As far as I know there is no specific rule about this check, it is up to the DM.
The rules for how far you can travel on a horse are in the player's handbook, not the dungeon master's guide. The rules in the DMG are only for flying speed or a traveling method that is magic, an engine, or a natural force. The text specifies this, but for some reason does so only in the last sentence before the bullet-list of speed calculations, not at the beginning of the section so it is less easily overlooked.
So when riding a single horse, you choose your pace just as if you were walking on your own and that is the distance that can be traveled - because while a horse is faster over short distances, they don't have the endurance to sustain great enough speed for long enough periods of time to out-pace a human over the 8-hour traveling day. You do not, however, need a fresh horse every 8-10 miles at this pace because it is the movement rate that it is because time spent resting between periods of walking is already factored in.
A horse will always be faster then a person over a day even at normal speed. It has a longer tread so divers greater distance
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Greetings and Salutations! *waves*
The speed listed of a riding-horse is 60ft. I'm trying to find the distance traveled, after 8 hours of just walking. It seems I'm getting conflicting information between the PHB and DMG.
Based on the information I've read, I'm assuming a riding horse can walk up to 42 miles a day (that's traveling 6mph for 8 hours).
Is this correct?
Follow-up Question: If I'm not galloping, but only walking, do I need a fresh horse every 8-10 miles?
Thanks!
I wear pants, short pants.
I also ask a lot of questions; insatiably curious
According to the DMG, you are correct. 48 miles in 8 hours.
I believe 8 hours is roughly the maximum a creature can travel in a day at normal speed, without the need to make CON check for exhaustion. As far as I know there is no specific rule about this check, it is up to the DM.
Sure, but the hourly method proposed in the DMG respects what it is said in the PHB. With a horse, you can cover twice what you cover by foot, which is 6 miles in an hour.
@Filcat: Say you may have found some giant ravens...and you may be able to fly said ravens if all goes well, what would their max travel be per day? lol
:P
"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
Admittedly the 2d sentence isn't applicable to every situation.
So, taking 60ft and expanding it to miles per hour, I get ~7mph. But, taking into account the rule for Special Travel, 60ft = 6mph, and for a typical 8-hour day, that's 48 miles (my original calculation is wrong).
In my mind, in the absence of "riding a horse at a normal, walking pace, covers X distance" using the Special Travel rules is an easy short-cut.
I wear pants, short pants.
I also ask a lot of questions; insatiably curious
The text of the rules in the PHB found in a paragraph which starts with "Mounts and Vehicles." calling out specific exceptions to the general travel pace rules is functionally the same as the text saying "riding a horse at a normal, walking pace, covers X distance."
In all cases with 5th edition, the rules text is phrased to tell us what can be done, not what can't.
I also read it in the PHB as the horse travels at the same speed as your walking speed when going long distance according to the wording. Mounts were mostly for comfort and not exactly speed, except in short bursts. But if you do just go by its base speed it is indeed double that of your normal walking. Really up to how the DM wants to rule this one I think.
I would read this as the riding horse (as stated by Kalafax and Aaron) would generally walk at the same pace as a walking adventurer over 8 hours (mount is for comfort, not increased pace). The exception is if you gallop for about an hour, you cover double the fast walking pace, then I would assume your horse would resume to the normal walking pace of an adventurer. If you were able to stop (say at a farm/city) and someone willingly swapped a fresh horse with you, you can then continue for another hour at that faster pace.
The thing that isn't really covered is what needs to be done to make the mount "fresh" again. This I assume would be up to the DM -- does it require a short rest, a long rest, an hour of normal travel, something else? I think I would rule that you can gallop for an hour, walk at normal pace (not fast) for 2 hours, then gallop for another hour which would result in a max of 39 miles traveled in 8 hours using the RAW for travel pace and my interpretation of what is required to make a mount "fresh."
Reading over this rule it does seem a bit odd to me that if you are on a horse you can only travel as fast as someone walking. My opinion and the way I would rules is likely do something like double the distance a horse can travel vs a walking creature. If the horse was galloping, as stated directly in the rules, you can do so for an hour. I would equate that speed to a 1/3 increase of the horse's normal walking pace (guideline in the DMG under Special Travel Pace, and reference to the "Travel Pace" table in the Adventuring chapter under Travel Pace).
So my ruling would be as follows (bold parts are my rule/interpretation, non-bold is RAW):
Adventurer walking at normal pace travels 24 miles/8 hours (3 miles/1 hour); Adventurer walking at "fast" pace travels 4 miles/1 hour with a -5 penalty to Passive Perception, adventurer on mount with 60ft speed travels 48 miles/8 hours (6 miles/1 hour), adventurer on mount with 60ft speed while galloping travels 8 miles/1 hour with a -5 penalty to Passive Perception. A galloping mount can only travel at that pace for 1 hour before needing to become "fresh" again. To become "fresh" a travel pace of normal walking speed must be maintained for 2 hours. Alternatively you can choose to take a short rest with no travel to become "fresh" again. Note that you can only benefit from the mounted speed if you are either traveling alone (leaving the rest of your group behind, if you are in a group) or if your entire group has a mount of the same or higher speed -- You can only go as fast as the slowest creature/vehicle in your caravan. A horse pulling a wagon or something similar can only travel at the normal adventurer walking pace of 24 miles/8 hours (or travel at the fast pace following the same rules).
How do you get a one-armed goblin out of a tree?
Wave!
I wear pants, short pants.
I also ask a lot of questions; insatiably curious
I'm super late to this thread (by several years?), but I wanted to point out that the base speed of any creature assumes it is unencumbered. So even though a horse's speed is 60 feet, when carrying a rider and all the gear that rider is carrying, plus saddle, saddle bags, etc., it's not going to be moving at 60 feet except in short bursts.
There are rules for "forced" march, which allows for pushing you or your mount harder. If you determine the average mph of the mode of travel, divide by 8, you get how much further you can go in an hour. https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/adventuring#Speed
It requires a con-save each hour beyond eight. Each failed save racks up a level of exhaustion. And the save gets cumulatively harder for each hour beyond eight.
If you push too hard and fail a lot of con checks, you could potentially kill yourself or your mount. As for recovering, "Finishing a long rest reduces a creature's exhaustion level by 1, provided that the creature has also ingested some food and drink." https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/phb/appendix-a-conditions#Exhaustion
So basically, if you decided to push for more than eight hours, you can afford to keep going until you fail that first con check. At which point you will be at level 1 exhaustion, and you are better off stopping and taking a long rest to remove it.
-----------
My homebrew adjustments:
Essentially, whatever is the base speed of the person/creature is how many miles it can travel in a day, assuming they are unencumbered. A halfling could travel 25 miles, a human 30 miles, a horse 60 miles, etc. For traveling by foot, if lightly encumbered (anywhere from 10% to 50% of maximum encumbrance) reduce by 5 miles. If heavily encumbered (>50%), reduce by 10 miles. If not using encumbrance rules, assume they are lightly encumbered. For mounts carrying riders or packs/supplies, reduce by 50%. So, assuming folks are lightly encumbered, a halfling would travel 20 miles, a human 25 miles, and a horse with rider 30 miles.
If they are traveling at a "Slow" pace, multiply by .8. If they are traveling at a "Fast" pace, multiply by 1.2.
Si periculum aut dubio, curre in circulo, clamor et quirito.
Nope. Over a long day on non-flat terrain, on horseback you cover about the same number of kilometers than if you were walking.
The extra speed of a horse doesn't help over many hours of travel.
Also, sometimes you travel through terrain which the horse has to go around, but a person on foot can press through.
The advantage of the horse is you end up less tired and you can carry more gear with you.
In Horde of the Dragon Queen players are given horses and told they can travel 200miles in 6 days, with no mention being made of any type of special exertion. this breaks down to about 34 miles per 8 hours. From my googling that seems pretty reasonable. I'd set that as a base line and say 42ish miles for fast and 26ish miles for slow.
re-reading your questions none of this is helpful to you or answers your questions, but i've put too much time into this to just delete it and walk away
Hoard of the Dragon Queen also has an issue with map size and scaling. It's true that Waterdeep and Daggerford are about 120 miles apart. But the caravan can't cover that distance in 5 days traveling only 15 miles per day. The 60 days with the caravan from Baldur's Gate to Waterdeep only works if you travel 15 miles per day, not the 24 miles you should be moving at. Parties shouldn't be on the road for more than a month and a half.
This is not...uncommon. Storm King's Thunder is the first one to be properly sized. Unfortunately, the maps of the Neverwinter-Phandalin region from LMoP and DoIP are still using the compressed 3e/4e scale.
And in real life it is roughly 25-35 miles per day.......in other words, closer to what the DMG states. And, it cannot keep this up for too many consecutive days unless specifically trained to do so. Even then, a day's break or more is required. Some horses have been trained to cover 50-100 miles in one day. They would need rested after that day.
I have been using 45 miles per day for a riding horse and my players have used it to their advantage with consecutive day usage. I will be changing that rule in our game as I have now researched it more thoroughly and find it unreasonable to use the 6 MPH * 8 Hours = 48 miles. Think about some place near you that is 50 miles away. Would you anticipate making that destination in one day on a horse? Perhaps, but every day for many consecutive days? Likely not without killing the horse.
My view.
Gray Mouser
Which is basically moving at a fast pace, plus a forced march for 1 hour. If they're exhausted, they can recover by the next morning.
I think a lot of people are also forgetting that you're not traveling sunrise to sunset. It's just 8 hours. If you're breaking camp at 6 AM you'll arrive at your next stop for the night by 3 PM if you include a short rest. You have hours of daylight left, and your horse can just graze and relax during that time. I mean, have someone keep an eye out for danger. You don't want three mountain trolls absconding with any of your mounts. ;)
In Chapter 8 of the the PHB it states under speed, "Every character and monster has a speed, which is the distance in feet that the character or monster can walk in 1 round. This number assumes short bursts of energetic movement in the midst of a life-threatening situation. The following rules determine how far a character or monster can move in a minute, an hour, or a day."
So a riding horse's speed is 60ft, but that's per round (6 seconds) for a short burst of energy when it's life is threatened. Running at that speed for an entire day would certainly kill a horse from exhaustion. For regular travel, it is at is says in the PHB. Per day, fast riding is 30 miles, normal is 24 miles, and slow is 18 miles.
Also as it was stated earlier in this thread, the PHB states that a mounted character can ride at a gallop for about an hour, covering twice the usual distance for a fast pace. So that fast pace can only be used for 1 hour of travel per day. Afterwards, the fastest you can move is normal - 24 miles per day. Assuming you don't stop every hour to get a new horse.
A horse will always be faster then a person over a day even at normal speed. It has a longer tread so divers greater distance