About those boulders ….

NancyL

Member
Hooray! I've gotten into the 100's at last. And I have two short and one long comment/thought/question:

Short #1: Boulders … don't you think that the horses would be more frightened by the rumbling/grinding/vibration of boulders than the appearance (but no aroma) of other horses? Would that fear add to the madness-making? (Asking for Glorfindel.)

Short #2: I always thought Gandalf's "double take" on Frodo was because Frodo had just tweaked him over the fact he'd repeated how safe he was about three times by now? It always struck me as a "did that hobbit just give me crap over repeating myself?". Not that the observation about the ring wasn't perfectly valid and very interesting, but Frodo's "But now we are safe" sounded a bit dry-humor-ish to me. YMMV.

Long #1: About those horses … First I wondered why the forces of Sauron cared what color their horses were … why black? It's not like Gandalf turns off Shadowfax with, "Sorry old fellow. I know you're the lord of horses and all, but with that whole White Rider thing and all I need a white horse y'know." Why wouldn't a grey or bay do just as well? Not like the riders could see their color or anything (except as contrast and then wouldn't white do as well?). Then I started thinking about getting nine horses from Minas Morgul to Hobbiton. That is a LONG ride. How/where did they eat? Who groomed/cleaned them? What if they threw a shoe? Can wraiths use hoof picks to get rid of the occasional rock? Were the horses actually possessed ala were-wolves so they could more easily take care of themselves? The more I thought about it, the more equine questions I had. Horse people please help!

And now back to binge-watching. TTFN!
 
Long #1: About those horses … First I wondered why the forces of Sauron cared what color their horses were … why black? It's not like Gandalf turns off Shadowfax with, "Sorry old fellow. I know you're the lord of horses and all, but with that whole White Rider thing and all I need a white horse y'know." Why wouldn't a grey or bay do just as well? Not like the riders could see their color or anything (except as contrast and then wouldn't white do as well?).

Just because Gandalf doesn't care about how he looks doesn't mean Sauron's forces should be equally sloppy! Mordor has standards, dagnabit! A wraith in black robes simply looks more impressive on a black horse than he would if he were on, say, a dapple chestnut.

Not to mention, black is especially preferred for longer journeys as it won't show dirt and stains as much as lighter colors.
 
There is most definitely and definitively such a thing as a white horse!: I have personally seen three of them, in Uffington, Greenwich Village, and Oxford, and have spent probably more time than was good for me at the latter two.

white horse uffington.jpg
white horse tavern.jpg
white horse oxford trinity.png

And congrats on getting into the 100s. I'm still at 76, in the Aragorn-makes-bad-decisions zone.
 
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There is most definitely and definitively such a thing as a white horse!: I have personally seen three of them, in Uffington,
I recently read the Tiffany Aching stories by Terry Pratchett, and when I read about the horse (which plays an important role) I just had to look up the one that's in our world. Thanks for the reminder of this awesome work of ancient art.

 
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