A Paladin's War Horse in My OD&D Campaigns

Over on Dragonsfoot in the Workshop a while back I came across a thread titled [1E] Paladin's War Horse Quest and the discussion was for 1st Ed AD&D, but I joined in it anyway because I like the topic. We kicked some ideas around and as a result in my new paladin thread, noted in an earlier post today on this blog, I posted a revised writeup for OD&D concerning the Paladin's War Horse.

The original text regarding a Paladins War Horse in the first printing of OD&D:

The paladin may at any time he chooses obtain a horse which is likewise gifted, but he may never obtain a second within ten years of the first, so if one is killed it is not automatically replaced. The paladin's horse is a Heavy, with Armor Class 5, Moves 18", has 5+1 Hit Dice, and high intelligence.

New writeup regarding a Paladins War Horse (specifications and example Quest):

The paladin may at any time he chooses obtain a horse which is likewise gifted(not subject to disease, has a 10% higher saving throw against all forms of attack [excluding melee] and detects all evil at a range of 6")by going on a special Quest, but he may never obtain a second within ten years of the first, so if one is killed it is not automatically replaced. The paladin's horse is a Heavy Warhorse, with Armor Class 2, Moves 24", has 8+1 Hit Dice, and high intelligence and wisdom. When the paladin decides the time has come to obtain his Warhorse, he will go on a Quest into the wilderness alone and guided by visions from above, after a difficult time of it he will find a horse in a trap battling for its life and the paladin can only effect a rescue at great risk to his own life. If they both survive, the horse will speak telepathically to the paladin and take him back to his homeland to meet the Horse King (Lawful). He will learn that the Horse King, like the paladin, serves LAW i.e the real deal, not some immortal that poses as a god (law, neutral, chaos) that the majority worship, but the real thing that only a few ever find.

The Horse King informs the man that, when a human saves a horse a blood-bond is formed. If the man wishes, he can join the elite group of humans known as the Horse Brothers; these folk have special-links to their mounts and can freely communicate with all equine. In addition, since he is a Paladin serving LAW, as all Paladins must and do, there are some special things that will also happen, the Horse King grants for paladins that their horse companion will stay vigorous and capable for its entire life span and that it will be extended past the normal bounds to match the paladins life span and the paladin will also remain vigorous and capable for his entire life span. No form of magic or attack will be able to age either the Paladin or his Mount.

Very powerful, yes it is; however you have not seen the new paladin writeup yet. :)