[VanatheEverYoung]

[Gypsum]

<i>Anyone who has ridden a horse before, knows the difficulty of manuevering a creature of that size even with reins and stirrups. I know we're talking about Elves and Elvish horses here in a fantasy world, but to ride into battle or at exceptioanlly high speeds, I would think even the Elves would need a little more control over/on their horses and a saddle provides that. </i>

A good rider with a well-trained horse should have very little trouble maneuvering it. Horses can turn or stop with the slightest shift in the rider's weight and go with the lightest of leg pressure. While my horse is not so well-trained that she can go with nothing on her head (and I am not that precise a rider), she goes just as well bareback in a halter as she does with a saddle and bridle.

Now, for long distances, it's more comfortable to be in a saddle, but that might only be because we are used to it. If we grew up riding bareback and never ever rode in any saddle, we might not be so reliant on saddles.

[Rous]

Having ridden bareback, first let me tell you that it is very... stimulating. The Dude has often made jokes about it. I can only imagine how it is for a guy. To me, riding bareback would work for short or leisurely rides around the homeplace, but for battle and long-distance courier type riding, I think that a saddle would be preferrable. It would be more stable in battle; it would be harder to lose your balance when engaged with a spear or such. And for long hard rides, let me tell you, that ridge of backbone loses it tendencies for erotica and becomes extremely irritating after a while. It seemed most of the woods elves eschewed riding much anyway. And depending on which story you like, Legolas supposedly had not been much out of Mirkwood before going to Imladris. So, I can understand his desire for riding bare.

[ellisk]

[Shanalir]

This is really interesting for me. I don't know a whole lot, but it always seemed to me that it would probably be a matter of neccessity and personal preference, not just one or the other. On another note, Robin McKinley wrote a pair of great books ( The Blue Sword is the one I remember right now) in which the people used a modified saddle, no reins or bridle or headgear of any type, and controlled the horse with their legs. lean to the direction you want to turn in, dig your butt in to slow down or stop, and various other commands. Strictly for the horsemanship, these books are awesome. I highly reccomend them (or for that matter, anything bu Robin McKinley ).

[griffon]

Well, I own two horses, both extremely well-trained dressage horses, one a Hannoverian and the other a Thrakener (that's classic European breeds). While I'd ride for hours at end bareback on the one (nothwithstanding all the horsehair and sweat on my clothes) and can do exactly the same on him with or without a saddle, I'd not be able to manage ten minutes on the other, without being sore to the blood. If you want to ride a horse bareback it has to have a very comfortable back. So let's simply assume that Glorfindel's Asfaloth, just like my dear Ivanhoe, had a bit of a pointy back and therefore needed a saddle, else Glorfindel's 'family treasures' would have gone to harm (ask any riding male and they'll confirm that it hurts more in their case then for us females)

Enough of the joke: Somewhere in the Sil or in the Unfinished Tales -I do not remember exactly where- Tolkien mentiones the Marchwardens of Eregion and what great riders they were. Considering the known armament of elves -bows, swords, lances, axes (yep!), knifes...- we can exclude fighting from horseback -saddle or not- already for the bow. It is impossible to shoot a bow the length of the rider's body from the back of a horse. Longbows elven-style are only shot on foot (like the English longbow of the 100-Years War.) From horseback you can only shoot recurves (like Native American Indians, Hungarians or Mongols used them), which are much shorter in length and have a very different draw. So our elf rides bareback to battle, dismounts, sends the horse of and shoots on foot.

Sabre/sword: It is impossible, even for a gifted rider on a well-trained horse to fight with a sabre/sword bareback. It is just too slippy and you'd be down before you'd knocked the head off your orc....so I'd say elves needed saddles to fight sword/sabre on horseback.

Lance : No way to use lances bareback. Already with a saddle, when you thrust and touch your target t'is not easy to stay in a normal saddle. This is the reason why lancers' saddles, from the middle ages till the battle of Waterloo had high backs (like today's Spanish/Portugese saddles used for dressage/corrida/show)

Axe : See sword/sabre

Spear (à la Native Indian): Just one throw, only useful for hunting or a hit-and-run fighting style. Elves seemed to have engaged rather in classic types of battle à la Crécy/Agincourt etc. with two sides engaging one another on a fixed space and in order of battle.
A spear is no good here.

Knife: Does not make sense on horseback -bare or saddled, since you have no reach at all and are too close, risking your skin and that of your mount.

Conclusion: I believe the descriptive of Glorfindel's Asfaloth is the truth about elven riding...if only for needs of security/stability while fighting. This has nothing to do with how good/badly trained your mount is or if you were or not in communion with your steed.