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Originally Posted by davem
Its not clear whether Elves used saddles & stirrups generally - Asfaloth did, as you say, have one but it appears from other statements they did not:
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True- but Legolas was a Sinda, kin to Teleri "arrow-elves". And indeed he was first and foremost an archer.
Oropher's (and likely later Thranduil's) troops were generally not too well armed, thus suffered great losses in the Last Alliance. Maybe riding bare-back was another drawback preventing them to use lances and fight as mounted knights. I always thought of them as foot-soldiers.
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"I did not know you rode bare-back, Gandalf," he said. 'You haven't a saddle or a bridle!" "I do not ride elf-fashion, except on Shadowfax," said Gandalf. "But Shadowfax will have no harness. 'The Palantir' TT
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Even the remaining Noldor have adapted Sindarin language instead of Quenia: maybe they also adapted Sindarin customs as to riding (at least not in battle). Anyway Sindar and Silvan Elves far outnumbered the High Elves by the end of the TA, thus riding bareback may have been known as "Elf-fashion".
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Originally Posted by davem
btw, we know Tolkien did a bit of re-thinking re the harness of Asfaloth - in the 1st edition text he wears a bit & bridle, whereas in the 2nd ed. its changed to a headstall.
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Yes, I remember that (didn't he rewrite because a reader send him a letter questioning Asfaloth's bridle?").
Glorfindel may have had some Vanyar blood -wasn't he golden-haired like Vanyar?
But it is evident that Glorfindel meant to fight the nazgul on horseback as mounted knight, not on foot (Gandalf: "On foot even Glorfindel and Aragorn together could not withstand all the Nine at once."-LOTR, Many meetings). So Glorfindel set out from Rivendell prepared for battle: that may explain the use of the saddle etc. Curious though: we are not told what weapons Glorfindel carried: was there a sword or a lance maybe? Or - knowing that there was no surer way to destroy a weapon than sticking it into a nazgul, he went unarmed, relying only on his Power in the Unseen?