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I, personally, did not care for that scene. I felt as though it was rather forced, especially as it went against the laws of physics. Elves were lithe, strong, and quick, but they were not completely superhumans, though they were immortal. This shot, in my opinion, made it look as though Elves could fly or something equally as impossible to their kind.
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This opinion surprises me.
In Maine, back in 1979, I knew a lithe, extremely talented cowgirl (named Karen) who had a barrel-racing palomino named Buck. While the horse was standing still, she could swing up onto his saddle one-handed. The motion was similar. (I have pictures of her trail-riding her horse, back in my archives somewhere, but unfortunately have no pictures of this stunt, so my memory will have to suffice: )
To mount, she would stand at Buck's left shoulder facing his haunches, take a step back, holding the horn of the western saddle with one hand, swing her right leg up over the horse's haunches, push off with her standing leg, use her hand to sharply pull her hips onto the saddle, and then the momentum of the kick would bring her upright in the saddle. Then (and only then) she would casually put her feet into the stirrups.
She weighed perhaps ninety pounds. Her horse "Buck" stood at least fifteen hands. It was an impressive-- nay, spectacular sight to see this little slip of a girl go from the ground to the saddle in one smooth motion.
I tried it a few times and succeeded only in seriuosly embarassing myself (and kicking the poor bay mare I was riding.) However, I believe that with practice, improved strength, and timing, I would have eventually been able to do it.
When I saw the Legolas/ Arod stunt, there are three added factors. One, it was "performed" at the canter. Two, he grasped the breastplate, not the saddlehorn. Three, Gimli was a challenging obstacle. Hence, my chief thoughts were that "for the real elf", it would be tricky to catch the breastplate just right at the canter, but that it was plausible; and it would be hard not to kick Gimli right off of the horse.
So while the lovely arc made by his cloak was clearly CGI, other than that, I was easily able to attribute the spectacular timing to Legolas' elvish nature. If Karen could do it at the halt, I suppose an elf could do it at the gallop, even with Gimli there to increase the difficulty.