Rohan: Land of Horses!

For certain, one of my favorite things about Rohan was the horses! 
Sure, I liked the Warsteed. I liked playing with the warsteed, optimizing the warsteed and writing the Warsteed traiting guide (rohan-warsteed-traiting-part-5), and surprisingly for me, I really enjoyed playing with the cosmetic options of the Warsteed (rohan-warsteed-cosmetic-looks).  

However, Rohan was not all about the warsteed. Other than stable-masters and Bill the Pony in Eregion, I don’t recall really seeing much as far as horse NPCs across Middle Earth. Rohan captured my attention by dotting the land with wild horses, some of which we interacted.

I had so many horse pictures to post in this article that I am splitting it in two parts so it doesn’t gag the system.

Sadly, I am no expert on lore. I read that Rohan means "Land of horses" at the very informative link... The Military Structure of Rohan. How amazingly appropriate for a name. I had no previous Beta-type knowledge of what to expect as far as interaction with Rohan horses. So, the first day I stepped foot in Rohan and met a random horse out on the landscape, I was drawn to it and had to take its picture. It was raining on us and he was a simple grey horse but I was fascinated. :D

Before long, another horse came up to me. I was going to have to get used to seeing random horses on the landscape as the norm.

By the time I got to Harwick, I had seen many horses but the only Warsteed I had seen was Buttercup, who belonged to Thane Utred of Langhold.

In Harwick, things were getting serious (in a pro-horse way). There were many warsteeds and a trainer to teach me how to ride them. I was not drawn into buying all the warsteed clothes I came across but I was excited to photograph them.

An outfitted Warsteed… (I think I got that set or something like it while questing)

And another… (turns out I had that outfit set, he is the Steed of the Guardian, seen at All-the-steeds/store-steeds)

And another… (that one is the Steed of the Hunter at All-the-steeds/store-steeds)

The Warsteeds also came in a variety of hide colors and I was excited to see all the variations.

I had mentioned in the previous "Scenic Rohan" articles that I met Burnoth, Leofdag, Hutha, and Ulf in Harwick. In fact, I met their horses first. I am on the Steed of Minas Ithil here chatting with horses as Burnoth walked up.

For “Did you know” horse trivia,

• Flyting = light brown hide, light brown mane, belongs to Leofdag, son of Winedag
• Brynmod = light brown hide, black mane, belongs to Burnoth, son of Baldeg
• Hafoc = white hide, white mane, belongs to Hutha, son of Hengest
• Gesith = charcoal hide, black mane, belongs to Ulf the Reaver

Of course, like me, they have more than one main horse. You can see them riding with me here.

• Leofdag is riding a Green-clad Horse of the Gap that has dark Brown hide (the standard green-clad horse of the gap is a blonde sorrel).
• Hutha is riding the Prized Galadhrim Horse of the Lorien elves.
• Burnoth and Ulf are both riding Prized Ashen Horses given by the Council of the North out of Angmar.

Horse, Horse on the Range… Back out on the trail, I saw more pretty horses. Here was a unique looking red mane horse.

I stopped for dinner out under a tree and the horses came up to meet me. Here are two who shared my pack of apples.

I got to rescue a Stolen Horse… (no I didn’t steal him, though the thought crossed my mind to “give him the choice to follow me home”…)

I found a Lost Horse… someone must be missing him, he is a Prized Theodred’s Riders Horse out of Dunland.

I even worked with an Unruly horse… who was also a Prized Theodred’s Riders Horse.

My horse trough overfloweth, so stay tuned for more exciting pictures of horses and cameos by some famous horses in the next post!