What is an effective way to disguise an undead riding horse?

Question

I am playing a level 7 Necropolitan Dread Necromancer and I am thinking of killing and raising my Light Horse. However, I can't come up with good means to disguise him from the commoners and other party-members. What would be an effective way to achieve this?
I am looking for a relatively cheap way to achieve this, preferably not costing more than 5K gp, and I want to be able to achieve this before hitting level 9.

I have already thought of barding him and using some disguise kits, but that doesn't give me enough certainty. There's also a trick using Magic Jar and a Hat of Disguise, but my character doesn't have a high enough level for it.

Answer 1

If appearance is the sole concern, the 2nd-level Sor/Wiz spell disguise undead [illus] (Spell Compendium 66) does almost exactly what you want if you also employ on the creature's behalf a mundane disguise. A wand of disguise undead (2nd-level spell at caster level 3) costs 4,500 gp.

However, you and others may eventually become aware of the smell; a generous DM may allow the occasional gentle repose spell to preserve the undead creature sufficiently to make that less of an issue. It might also be wise to consider a means of concealing the undead creature's alignment as skeletons and zombies are always neutral evil (which, for example, will strike a paladin as strange if he uses his detect evil ability on your otherwise normal-seeming horse).