Posted: May 12, 2000 at 06:08:55: by Foradan
: : : How come it took, according to the Tale of Years, over three days for Shadowfax to take Gandalf and Pippin to Minas Tirith from the campsite? The distance was: "Thrice as far as the dwellings of King Theoden,and they are more than a hundred miles east from here, as the messengers of Mordor fly. Shadowfax must run a longer road." So, let's say 400 miles, or about 650km. A cyclist could almost go that fast, what took Shadowfax so long? Probably Tolkien just didn't think of it that much, but perhaps someone can come up with something else in the poor beast's defence.: : If you have ever ridden a horse at more than a canter for any period of time, you would understand that the physical demands upon the rider are as great as those upon the mount. Even if Shadowfax could have maintain a constant speed of 10 mph for 72 hours without rest, Gandalf and Pippin could not have stood the pace. Therefore, Shadowfax was probably forced to move at the quickest pace his riders could stand, which may have been considerably slower than his maximum speed. : I agree with that, and it's not just at anything faster than the canter, an extended trot (with the rider posting English style) can be quite exhausting. I had one lesson that was on the trails instead of the riding ring, where we didn't canter at all and I came out more tired than in a regular lesson. : Then add the fact that they are riding bareback into the mix. I regularly cross my stirrups for most of the lesson (about 45 min out of an hour) and that is HARD. I can see ohe stiff hobbit for the next few days. Gandalf too probably. Well, the strain of riding didn't seem to be very great. Pippin makes a note of how smooth the going is and how light Shadowfax's footfalls are. And the going wasn't rough enough to keep a hobbit from getting sleep while on horseback. So the pace didn't seem to be that much of a problem for the riders.
-Foradan
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