A Guide to Mounts in Lord of the Rings Online

 There comes a point in every character's life when the player grows weary of simply running from place to place, ferrying messages between lovelorn Hobbits or traveling in search of those rich ore nodes. That's when it's time to start traveling in style – astride your very own mount. Up until the Mines of Moria expansion, with its lantern-bearing mine goats, the only options were horses and ponies. This article guides you through the process of acquiring your first horse, as well as an overview of the different kinds available.

The process to obtaining your mount officially begins at level 35, though it's certainly a good idea to begin saving up beforehand! If you choose to purchase one of the initial mounts from Hengstacer Farm, that four legged bundle of speed is going to cost 4 gold, 220 silver. (The only option for a cheaper mount requires the completion of the Volume I Epic quest line, which isn't doable until a much higher level.)

Regardless of whether or not you choose to purchase a horse initially, you're going to need to acquire the passive trait 'Riding'. This is obtained by completing a series of four quests from Éogar, Son of Hadorgar, the horse master at Hengstacer Farms. The horse farms are located in Bree Land, north of the Festival Grounds.

The first three quests involve delivering mounts to different stable-masters in Eriador. The horses for these quests are located in the stable behind Éogar, and are mounted by right clicking on the horse. Make certain to pick the proper mount for your race – men and elves ride horses, while dwarves and hobbits use ponies. Each of the quests is timed, as indicated by the blue “mounted” bar at the bottom of the screen – if the bar runs out of time, you'll be dismounted and fail the quest. As well as finishing in a timely fashion, one must also make certain to avoid riding through any pools of water deep enough to swim in, as those will also dismount you from the steed. Clicking the mounted bar gives you the option of dismounting, but again, will also cancel the quest.

Quest 1: A Fresh Steed for Bree

Éogar asks you to take one of his Blonde Sorrel horses to the stable master in West Bree. This leg is fairly straightforward – simply ride down the hill west out of the stables, and then south down the road to Bree. Once you reach the stablemaster, the quest will automatically update, and send you back up to Éogar to turn in.

We'll continue with the quest line on the next page.