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Straight From the Horses' Mouth by Chigger	8 Review(s)
mearasrider	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 11/23/2006
good job!! Brego is actually in the books, but he is only mentioned once or twice.indeed, i was surprised that pj thought to put him in TT!

Pasha	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 1/30/2005
wonderful... gives a bit of insight to why brego returned to save aragorn... bills was cute, I laughed about him kicking fenny, but I have known horses to hold grudges... all well written, and I hope for more... Hasufel for one? Author Reply: Sorry it's taken me so long to answer. I wish I could excuse my delay by saying that I've been working on this story, but unfortunately, that's not true. RL has been hammering down lately. But thanks for the review, the complements and the wish for more. Here's hoping I can wake up the plot bunny and finish at least the first installment of Arod. Hasufel might come in the far and distant future, but he features big in the Arod chapter. :)

coonzalas	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 10/4/2004
I suppose I should be ashamed using the review system to poke someone, but I don't know your email! A long time ago, I read a Silm story of yours that I really liked. It was set in the modern world, and I adored it. Now I come out of lurkdom after a long while and find that it has disappeared! Pray tell where is it? Could I please have a copy? Also, the Straight From the Horses' Mouth series is hilarious! Please continue. Coon Author Reply: I've been thinking about picking up this story again, but Arod had grown so big and out of proportion that I lost all energy. But I think I'll look into him just as soon as I can get schoolwork off my back. :) As for the other story, I told Coriel not to delete it!! That particular story was actually on her page, since she wrote it and I just beta-ed and sorta-kinna co-authored it; but she deleted it!! So I'll forward your review to her (she's off at college now) and tell her to e-mail it to you. And if you want to bug her yourself, you can click on her name on her story page and send her a note yourself. Thanks for the review!

Lily Frost	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 5/2/2004
I really like your horse's eye perspective - they probably realize things that their rider's don't. I couldn't find any errors, but perhaps you could liven it up with a few sarcastic remarks from the horses? I like Arod's complains of Gimli. The way you change mannerisms between Bill and Aslfoth is good too - they would speak differently considering their masters. I have a dying group dedicated to the furred, finned, feathered and scaled creatures of Middle Earth, and was wondering if you could help me wake it up by posting this or at least letting me post a link to it? It's here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rhosgobel/ Thanks. By the way... what about a Nazgul horse? That could be interesting... they don't necessarily have to be evil. Author Reply: I like to think that horses know more about certain things than their riders do. Things such as how tiring and hot being ridden is. :) In Arod (which has reduced my poor plot bunny to a wilted little creature off in the corner) I really explore that. So once the school year's over, maybe we can get back to him. :) Arod is also pretty sarcastic in certain places in his own chapter. :) Those two were easy, but Gondorian horses and Rohirric horses don't sound very different. :) So I'm relying more on cultural backgrounds for them. Arod and his companions speak of the old tales and ballads, since that's how the Rohirrim remember their history. Feel free! Knock yourself out! All the more power to you! I'll come check it out; but in the meantime, go ahead had post a link. Believe me or not, I've actually written one of the Black Horses; but my beta says that there might be a canon error. Yet like any big sister, she didn't feel like helping me, and frankly I can't get my energy up. :) I can e-mail it to you if you really want to see it. Just drop me a line through my page here at SOA, and I'll get it to you. :) Thanks so much for the wonderful review!

Kitt of Lindon	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/4/2004
It is interesting how Brego compared Theodred to Aragorn by the riverbank. And I really liked Arod and Brego's horse-talk. (Got to love horse-talk.) I can't wait for Arod for he's one of my favorites. Are you going to do Shadowfax? I always thought it would be fun to write Shadowfax for many a reason, yet his life is so full of deeds that you could expand that into its own series. I didn't see any mistakes as I read through it (but from me that probably doesn't mean anything.) Great chapter! Author Reply: AAA!! There it is!! >_< I was afraid someone was going to ask me to do Shadowfax. :) Actually, he's the one I had in mind when (in the prologue) I said that I was scared to death of certain horses. He seems the sort that is WAY too far above my limited knowledge. However, he is in the back of my mind and my muse is considering him. :) I was hoping people would like the comparison; and I'm glad you mentioned it. :) That makes me feel a whole lot better. As I told Esamen, I will try my best to use more horse-talk in future. I didn't know this would be so popular. :) Thanks for the wonderful review to lighten my evening before going back to work on Arod. I actually think he's going to need three chapters, he getting so long. But he is my favorite horse in Middle-earth, and I simply MUST do him as much justice as possible. :) Thanks again!

Grey Wonderer	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/3/2004
I enjoyed this one for many reasons and one is because in the version of the movie that was shown in the theater, I didn't like this addition to the film. It wasn't until I saw the extended version and the scene between Brego and Aragorn that I came to like this part of the film. I love seeing it from Brego's POV. As I read, I could feel his saddness at the loss of Theodred in such lines as: Grief consumed me, for there are few relationships so intimate as that between horse and rider after their first battle together. The fall of one at first brings grieving untold to the other until death would seem a mercy; but I knew that my pain would soon diminish if never wholly leave me. and Had my actions there condemned my master to death? If I had only allowed him access to his saddle and born him home once more, would he have lived? Was I now leaving Aragorn to meet the same fate as my master? or was he already dead? I love it! You have done a wonderful job. Also enjoy the part about trying to keep Gimli from digging his heels into the horse! Author Reply: I was shocked, to say the least, when Aragorn went over the cliff for the first time. :) But I thought he had one darn cool horse with him. Which was another interesting part of writing this. I had to figure out the whys of everything. Such as why he still had his halter on; because the Rohirrim wouldn't just turn a horse loose without taking that off. Also, why he felt that he needed to save Aragorn. It was only while writing it that I discovered the amount of guilt he felt at leaving Theodred to die. But it made for an interesting bit. :) And Gimli just isn't a rider. :) Not only does he dig his heels into Arod, but he bounces like an old sack of potatoes and his axe handle probably causes trouble too. :)

esamen	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/3/2004
Nice blending of verse and imagination. I like the conversation between Brego and Arod. In fact, I loved all the horse-to-horse conversations. Please include lots of horse talk! I think it's the most fun part of the read. I'm a grammar teacher . . . here's your grammar catch of the day: and a dwarf, stunted of growth, who’s (use 'whose') beard far outmatched that of any Rider I had known. Sorry . . . I can't help myself. Great job! Looking forward to Arod! Author Reply: Having Arod standing there just seemed more interesting than having Brego all by himself. Let's give a little life to the end here! :) I will try my best to include more horse-talk for you. ;) AAAAA!!!! A grammar teacher! Everybody run! :D Thank you. I would much rather you point things like that out as opposed to leaving them unmentioned. And Grammar is not my strong point; nor is spelling. I'm a Math person, myself. :) Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, and I will post the first half of Arod as soon as possible. (So far he's going to have at least two chapters.)

EomerofEastfold	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/3/2004
Carrying Legolas and Gimli is nothing. Book-verse Firefoot carried Eomer and Gimli together, which must have really been backbreaking. I mean, if Legolas can walk on top of snow, then he can't weigh that much. It's hard to believe, though, that Eomer is your favorite character, seeing as how you praise Legolas so often. Elves and the Rohirrim are almost complete opposites, by my reckoning. Or, is he just one of your favorite characters? Honestly, I would have liked to have seen book-verse Brego, but I know that didn't give you much to work with. Anyway, this was well done, and I don't think you could have done much better with the ending. Fleeing in terror at the Paths of the Dead isn't exactly a good ending for a noble horse, is it? Author Reply: But maybe Firefoot is a heavier horse than Arod. That was the only thing Coriel didn't like about Arod's description, that fact that he was light. She goes more for the really tall, really muscular, really BIG horses; and I'm afraid that I'm right there with her. ;) But I did like movie Arod. And Legolas doesn't weigh much, no. :) Please bear in mind that I have Coriel watching my descriptions of Legolas. :D Yes, Eomer is my favorite canon character, but Legolas is just below him. What is more, these horses have been around Men like Eomer their entire lives, Legolas is new to them. :) Yes, Elves and Rohirrim are complete opposites in everything but their love of horses. But both are darn cool, too. ;) What is there about Brego in the books? As far as I know Theodred's horse wasn't mentioned, and there wasn't a whole heck of a lot about Theodred in there either, to my knowledge. As for the ending, I had originally planned to go all the way through Helm's Deep, passed the Paths of the Dead mess and end the story while he's traveling to Gondor with the Rohirrim, because Arod has to get to Gondor somehow, and Brego would probably go with him. But it got rather boreing sitting down in a stable while everything was happening. :)

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