A Question (Ponies or Horses)

[Demloth of Dol Amroth]

Were the quadrepeds being rode by the hobbits at the end of ROTK ponies or horses?<BR>(I just realized: for clarity, from the movie ROTK.)<P>My slightly horse-obsessive mother and sister are emboiled in a fierce debate over it.<P><BR>[Title edited by moderator for clarity]<P>[ 4:20 AM December 29, 2003: Message edited by: Estelyn Telcontar ]<p>[ 2:56 PM December 29, 2003: Message edited by: Demloth of Dol Amroth ]

[Gorwingel]

I would think ponies because that is what they rode in the books

[Demloth of Dol Amroth]

True, but mum seems to think they are Icelandic horses, which are often mistaken for ponies.

[mark12_30]

Depends on whether you are talking "breeds" or "size"; you must be aware that height is the technical dividing line between "horse" and "pony". As I recall the number is Fourteen Hands. (Do I recall correctly?)<P>Whether the hobbits' mounts have Icelandic blood I don't know.

[Lily Bracegirdle]

I think you're right, Mark12_30. Ponies are fourteen hands (or less) at the withers (the bump in front of the saddle at the level of the shoulder blades) which is 56 inches or about 142 cm. As for the question: do you mean are the *hobbits* riding ponies or are the *actors* riding ponies? The hobbits, because of their size, rode ponies. The actors (being human sized) couldn't ride ponies without looking weird. If you're asking about the breed of horse the actors were riding I don't know. A Google search didn't turn anything up except that Shadowfax was Andalusian. <P>Anyone else with more information?<P>-Lily

[Olorin_TLA]

The Rohirric horses, and so I guess the Gondorian ones (since PJ reused human extras all the time, it'd make sense for horses to be reused) belonged to New Zealands horse-riders, who rode them as extras. Maybe Eomer's and Theoden's etc weren't but the majority were.<P>Shadowfax is special.

[Laitoste]

Good topic...my mother is also a horse person, and she wants to know all about the horses that were used, training, etc. Does anyone know where I can get more info (lordoftherings.net has nothing good.)?

[Birdland]

Demloth - I Googled it, and could find no mention of Icelandic horses being used in the film. <P>For those not up on it; Icelandic horses (they are <I>never</I> called ponies) are small, gaited horses. They are famous for having a gait - the <I>tolt</I> or walk-run - that is so smooth that the rider can carry a full glass of wine and not spill a drop.<P>Icelandic horses only came to New Zealand in 1984 and are still very rare there. I doubt that any would have been bought to use in the production unless P.J. particularly wanted a gaited horse for that scene. They would have been way too expensive to justify the cost, otherwise.

[Pointy-eared elf]

They are indeed Icelandic horses. they are the same size as a pony but in the clase of a horse.<BR>my sister owns 1

[Pointy-eared elf]

Lily poines are actually 14.2 hh or less sorry to be picky

[Birdland]

Pointy - How can you tell, from the few, brief glances we had of the Hobbits' steeds? Did you find an article mentioning it? <P>As for your sister: lucky sister! They look like a fun horse to ride.

[Silmiel of Imladris]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Depends on whether you are talking "breeds" or "size"; you must be aware that height is the technical dividing line between "horse" and "pony". As I recall the number is Fourteen Hands. (Do I recall correctly?) <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Actually it often depends on what breed the horse is to whether it is a horse or a pony. Some smaller breeds ponies are 12 hands and under and larger breeds may be 14 hands and under. It all depends on the horse. My horse was a Appaloosa and she was about 13 hands which for that particular breed is more a horse than a pony because Appaloosa's are "normally" are only about 15 hands. But if you want to get really compilcated you must understand that the really really small horse called mini horses are not considered ponies but horses. Why this is I really don't know but that is the catagory they are considered in. I think that the horses Merry and Pippen rode were ponies because they seemed like desendents from a larger breed like angloarabs. Ok I just rambled off 8 years of knowledge so I will stop.

[Finwe]

Don't stop, we all love horses. <P>Perhaps if we watched RotK again, and paid more attention to the gait and any other clues during those last scenes, we might be able to figure something out about the mounts that were used.

[Silmiel of Imladris]

The horses of the Elves and Nazgul were andalusians (I don't think I spelled that right) which is the same breed that was in the movie Zorro. I am not sure about the horses Rohan and Gondor used, they could have been anything. I think Shadowfax was an andalusian maybe with some arabian blood.

[The Great Shadowfax]

hmmm...i dont think that the hobbits' horses were icelandic but thats just my opinion. as for Shadowfax (all hail the lord of all horses) i do believe he was andalusian and as for all of the extra horses used for rohan and such, i think they were a mixed bunch of breeds; i only think that because werent they just any horse and rider in the area they were filming available to ride as extras for the movies? but i dont know. like i said, thats just my oppinion. <P>-=all hail Lord Shadowfax=-<BR>~Luindringiel~<BR>~Pennsarnien~