Spooked Mare - The Witcher 3 Guide - IGN

Spooked Mare is a unique Side Quest in The Witcher 3 that takes place outside the main city hub of the region, featuring a "woodland spook" and horses. It's relatively quick, and while it may not be the most lucrative Side Quest in the area, there's still a small chunk of Crowns and experience to claim.

To help you make the best choice in Spooked Mare and finish the Side Quest quickly, here's IGN's guide, including which horse offers the best reward.

To start Spooked Mare, you'll need to head east of Oxenfurt and look for a villager standing in front of his home. He'll tell Geralt about a "woodland spook" that kidnapped his gray horse, and ask for help in getting the creature home.

Use your Witcher Senses at the home. You'll discover blood near the front gate and horse tracks.

Following the horse tracks, you'll end up at a Scoia'tael, up the way to the south east, where the mare can be found. Speaking to the Scoia'tael at the camp, you'll learn that there was an urgent need for horses to transport the people's wounded.

You have multiple ways of dealing with the situation here. Firstly, you can leave the horse here, but you'll forego any chance of a reward, failing the Side Quest.

You can also demand the horse back, with your options being:

Fighting the Scoia'tael in a relatively straightforward fight, utilizing Igni and Aard for extra damage

Bribing the Scoia'tael with 100 x Crowns

If you have the Crowns, the second option here is the best. If not, use Axii -- and if yours is too low-level, opt for the violent approach.

From here, you'll need to pick out the horse to take back to the villager. You can pick out the villager's gray mare, or you can bring back a different horse -- it's stronger and more lively, so you'll get a better reward.

When you've returned a horse to the villager, the Side Quest will wrap up.

If you returned the correct mare to the villager, you will get 20 x Crowns and 25 x experience. If you returned a younger horse, you will get 50 x Crowns and 25 x experience.