Pony

Ponies are mentioned 73 times in our book.  Thorin & Co. lost their original ponies in the goblin cave, had the loan of ponies for some of Chapter 7 from Beorn, they received ponies in Laketown only to have most of them eaten by Smaug.  Finally, Bilbo has a pony on which to ride home and which will carry his treasure.  Being by definition only of a certain height or less, I shall declare them “low”.

Richard Blackwelder wrote an essay on the horses of The Lord of the Rings, including a mini chapter on the ponies of The Hobbit.

“Pony” has the food tag because both goblins and Smaug like to eat them!

  • 02.022 They were on ponies,
  • 02.022 and each pony was slung about
  • 02.022 There was a very small pony,
  • 02.026 on laden ponies;
  • 02.029 the pony was tired
  • 02.035 Then one of the ponies took fright at nothing
  • 02.039 leading their ponies
  • 02.047 or even pony,
  • 02.117 Then they brought up their ponies,
  • 03.001 leading their ponies,
  • 03.008 but a pony that walked there
  • 03.010 Bilbo’s pony began to stumble over roots
  • 03.012 or bumped his nose on the pony’s neck.
  • 03.014 Your ponies need shoeing!
  • 03.017 Your ponies are straying!
  • 03.019 “Just look! Bilbo the hobbit on a pony,
  • 03.026 leading their ponies,
  • 03.026 as narrow as a pony could well walk on;
  • 03.026 each leading his pony by the bridle.
  • 03.034 the ponies as well,
  • 04.005 and their ponies were standing with their heads down
  • 04.009 and ponies
  • 04.012 and their ponies along.
  • 04.012 There was just room to get the ponies through with a squeeze,
  • 04.013 At one end there was room for the ponies;
  • 04.013 and that was the last time that they used the ponies,
  • 04.015 in time to see the last of the ponies’ tails disappearing into it.
  • 04.023 The ponies were already there huddled
  • 04.024 of those excellent little ponies,
  • 04.024 and ponies
  • 04.042 No ponies,
  • 06.001 cloak, food, pony, his buttons
  • 06.036 and ask the goblins nicely to let you have your pony back
  • 07.012 and no ponies to ride;
  • 07.067 and our troop of ponies –
  • 07.068 Troop of ponies?
  • 07.069 there were more than six ponies,
  • 07.092 in trotted four beautiful white ponies
  • 07.093 The other ponies came
  • 07.093 Beside them a pony pushed two low-seated benches
  • 07.126 He would provide ponies for each of them,
  • 07.127 and my ponies.
  • 07.130 if they had still had their ponies,
  • 07.131 and Wargs run swifter than ponies.
  • 07.135 Now you must send back these excellent ponies
  • 07.136 but to keep an eye on the ponies too.
  • 07.143 and unpack the ponies.
  • 07.145 Then at last they said good-bye to their ponies
  • 09.060 a round-bellied pony that was always thinking of rolling on the grass.
  • 10.045 and ponies had been sent round by circuitous paths
  • 11.001 and the ponies for their own use that had been sent to meet them.
  • 11.001 They packed what they could on the ponies
  • 11.003 each leading another pony heavily laden beside him;
  • 11.013 and there was some grass for their ponies.
  • 11.016 to guard the ponies
  • 11.028 some were exercising the ponies down below,
  • 12.025 and all our ponies too,
  • 12.029 The ponies screamed with terror,
  • 12.032 He guessed from the ponies,
  • 12.032 from the valley where the ponies had been standing;
  • 12.033 Their ponies were lost or killed,
  • 12.060 Let me tell you I ate six ponies last night
  • 12.060 Maybe Barrel was your pony’s name;
  • 12.062 that I can eat a dwarf-ridden pony
  • 12.078 Ponies take some catching,
  • 12.087 and the ponies.
  • 15.027 they heard that three of their ponies had escaped
  • 15.027 to find the ponies
  • 15.028 The ponies they had brought
  • 18.037 such as one strong pony could carry.
  • 19.001 their ponies were tired,
  • 19.024 where the pony had fallen
  • 19.027 and slung them on the ponies,

Blackwelder, Richard E. The Horses of Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Personal correspondence.  July 8, 1980.  Photocopy.

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