Captain Picard loved his horse riding, even had his own saddle. Kirk loved his horse riding, had his own stable and horses. Horses by these two captains were a common trait. I haven't seen any horses on any planets. I'm not sure how you'd incorporate this, but I think it would be great to have Captain Picard's saddle. And I think it'd be great to have a horse in-game. A pet that follows you? An option to ride a horse? I'm not sure how it would be setup. But somehow, you have to bring horses into the game.

You want Horse Simulator 2011.

Cryptic resources would be better spent on anything else besides horses.

Well they are canon. And no where is it stated horses were extinct by 2409. Sure why not? :p

Lord of the Rings Online is that way -->

Putting in ground vehicles would be easier to implement and would make even more sense, but I don't see that happening... ever. The time is limited, development team is small, salaries are expensive and there are way too many more important things to implement.

Can i have a owl ?

If not an actual horse, what about Picard's Saddle. I think that would be a neat item to acquire through some mission. Or perhaps even an accolade called "Picard's Saddle" if you help some alien's farm animals on another planet. Maybe the animals need you to bring them some food and aid, or there is a plague and you have to cure it and save the towns livestock and animals, and the accolade you get is called "Picard's Saddle" or, you actually get an item. Just thinking out loud, might be neat. If nothing else, its an accolade idea.

I wouldn't mind mission-specific mounts or ones that can only be used on maps like Vulcan or Andoria. I would not care to see jousting competitions on ESD though

Ah... But Jousting in ESD's Medieval Holodeck program... That might be fun to watch... Or participate in.

Same thing goes for a baseball holodeck program, located on DS9's holosuite