Now that you said that, thats what I started doing anyways when I mentioned that the horse turns to the mouse direction rather than to the a/d command. When my fingers wheren't faster than my mind that is since the automatic from other games that I played for over a decade likes to kick in.

In galopp on paths it worked sometimes if I turned into the direction I wanted to go way before I reached a crossing (not using a/d). It felt weird though having to change the view so early before a crossing. Not rarely Roach still ran straight ahead instead of left/right :P

Roach likes to stop with short a/d pushes too so not holding the button for too long doesnt make much of a difference in most cases.