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I think we're all familiar with this story: the one where the PC buys a mount at the beginning of the campaign, then, completely ignoring said mount, goes through several epic adventures and, 5 levels later, when the entire plot revolves around the heroes not being able to get to the BBEGs lair or the burning village fast enough, the mount reappears, saves the world with its speed, and crushes the plotline in the process.

My question: how do you stop this from happening? How do you keep the mount present in everyone's mind? Any advice?

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Duct tape is like the Force; it has two sides and binds the galaxy together.

i haven't ran pathfinder yet...but my solution back when i ran 3.5 was that i would include the mounts in all combat situations as targets that didn't fight back. (unless it was a trained warhorse that had someone giving it commands). try this a few times...set a random flying mob with the strength to carry off a horse (yeah i know those options are slim) or can feed quickly attack the party and carry off a horse and the gear on it. my players had a habit of loading up a horse to the gills. that was the case until the dragon flying overhead saw a meal and an easy way to increase it's horde. imagine the pc's surprise when a dragon roars from the sky grabbing the horse they are riding on, shaking of the mounted pc and just flying away. no combat no breath weapon just killing a horse.

now i know i know that is a dick gm move but it puts the horse in the forefront of the pc's minds. "that dragon just took off with our loot" it can also be done to a lesser extent by just attacking them when a random MOB (monster or beast) attacks a random target. if they don't start keeping there horses in mind then...let them load up on massive amounts of loot and then just kill the "pack animals" and watch there confused and sad faces when they realize that they now have to make choices on what they are actually carrying back...cause they should instantly know that a pile of treasure lying out in the wilderness won't be there when they come back. things like "is that object on you or in your horse's saddle bags". keeping strict account of weight quickly brings the mount to the forefront cause they will usualy (at least in my experince) start throwing the non essential stuff on the horse. oh and don't forget that the horse has a limit on what it can carry as well. and that blinding speed isn't as much if it's carrying a 300lb rider and 500lbs of loot.

my main advice here is if you as a gm keep bringing up the horse in even small ways. your players will also take notice as well.

First as a GM assume that the mount is always doing the last thing the player said and as such is fair game for messing with. So make the mount make checks not to get spooked and run off in certain situations if it with the group. If the party is attacked by goblins then the horse should be the primary target. If they're going to climb a wall then ask what the player is doing with the mount, if he leaves it tied up to a tree and never says he's going back for it then the next time he says he mounts it you simply say sadly you finally remember you tied it to a tree three months ago and no doubt its well and truely dead by now

If the player leaves it in a village to be cared for while they do a particular adventure then its there until that player goes back to get it or asks someone to go fetch it.

Its a tiny amount of bookeeping on your part, just make it clear that unles advised otherwise the mount is left doing the last thing the player said, you are never going to assume it comes along. if the player can't be assed making it part of his character then your within your GM right to say though neglect you no longer have it. If the player makes the effort to keep it round then he deserves the benefit

Thanks for the advice, all. I do like the dragon idea (although I'd probably have it attack a bit more people than just ol' Tony the Pony so the point doesn't seem too...mean?) and the idea to make it make saves or flee--that way there's dice a rollin' and that's a good reminder.

Thanks again

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Duct tape is like the Force; it has two sides and binds the galaxy together.