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).
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)
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!
