Its jst to look cool, and so they wont be lonely! Well, like you said, it gives them about the same as SoW.
I was actually very happy when I found out about the Paladin spell for the horse, as when I saw one for the first time, about a week and a half after release, I was thinking "Oh my God! People have already gotten over 2pp O.o!! And I have about 25sp ='("