Horses played an important and visible role in The Lord of the Rings (the book). They were not treated as mere vehicles; many had names and stories. The films built on the stories, modified some, and invented new ones. We’ll try to be clear about where we’re referring to the books, the movies, or both.
See also:
Brego
Shadowfax
Horses of Rohan
Still to come: Asfaloth, Éomer’s horse Firefoot, Gandalf’s cart horse, Roheryn, the horses of the Ringwraiths, behind the scenes, and more photos of all.
Bill the Pony
Bill was played by two horses: Shane, a palomino Quarter Horse, to make the hobbits seem small, and Rastus, a Shetland pony, to match the size of the size doubles. The blizzard scenes in the mountains were too challenging for the equines, so two people in a horse suit played Bill’s role.
Related Video Clips
More Resources
- The Encyclopedia of Arda: Horses
- The One Wiki to Rule Them All: Horses, Image gallery of horses
- Tolkien Gateway: Horses
- The Thain’s Book: Horses (formerly at tuckborough.net)
- Wikipedia: List of Middle-earth animals
- Fascinating Animals: Horses in the Lord of the Rings
- NewsWire: Lights, Camera, Action… – NZ Horse and Pony