Post Sections ⇅
- Unlock Your First Free Mount
- How to Reach Mossward
- How to get the Little Extra Steed
- Why You Will Need a Replacement
- LOTRO is Full of Free Earnable Mounts!
- Earning Store Mounts
In past years, getting your first LOTRO mount used to be either harder, or it took you longer. It wasn’t all that long ago really that you first had to purchase the riding trait either through paying for LOTRO Points, or by earning them.
But over time, acquiring that initial steed has been gradually becoming easier. Let’s look at how you go about this and where you can obtain even more.
Unlock Your First Free Mount
Where you receive the starter horse depends on which race you chose for your character. Original classes did not just have a starter quest or shorter instance, but a whole intro zone. And they still do:
During the Tutorial/Intro
- Dwarves (not Stout-Axes)*.
- Elves (not High Elves)*.
- Hobbits (not River Hobbits)*.
- Race of Man/Humans.
* If you have a choice of intro, you can still choose the “Shadows of Angmar” one instead of the race specific one. I will double-check that for High Elves.
All Races
Regardless of whether your race is listed above or not, you can acquire your first steed in Mossward. And I’ll go into how you do that now.
What Do I Mean By “First”?
When I am talking about your first LOTRO mount, I am not referring to a purchase in the LOTRO store, nor buying an expansion or a supporter pack. Here I am talking about earning it in-game, without a real money purchase.
The Key NPCs
The quests that lead to the free horsey are called A Little Extra Never Hurts and come in (Part 1) and (Part 2). Here are the locations where you’ll find these quests.
Jon Brackenbrook
Races:
- Beorning
- Hobbit
- Race of Man
Before the attack on Archet, Jon Brackenbrook has these quests. He is in the Hunting Lodge, which can be safely reached at Level 1.
Dwalín
Races:
- Dwarf
- Elf
Dwalin can be found at Frérin’s Court in the intro among a group of other Dwarves. It too can be safely reached at Level 1.
Skardí Bendblade
Races: All
Skardí runs the blacksmith’s shop in Mossward, in the region of Swanfleet. This makes it really easy if you begin your adventures there!
If you are in the starter zones for the first two NPCs, then you can go straight into unlocking “A Little Extra Never Hurts (Part 2)”.
If that is not the case, or you missed it, then it may be better for you to jump to How to Reach Mossward.
Unlocking A Little Extra Never Hurts (Part 2)
It’s at this point that some players get confused. And, having just loaded my pure F2P account, so did I!
Have You Done Part 1?
Pick up Part 1 from the relevant NPC and complete it.
You will receive 10×Free 
LOTRO Points. If you’re completely new to LOTRO and/or cannot spend real money on it, then keep hold of those 10LP for step 2!
If you can see Part 2 (and it’s locked) but cannot see Part 1, then you have probably completed Part 1 already.
This matters because Part 1 can only be done once per server and grants 10× LOTRO Points.
Part 2 can be done once per character, but you only need to unlock Part 2 once for your entire account.
Unlock Part 2
Using the free 10× LOTRO Points you were given for Part 1, either:
- Hit the “Unlock Button” with your NPC, or
- Open the LOTRO Store and search for “riding”
Why I Got Confused
I could not see Part 1 at any NPC. I eventually checked my character’s completed quest log and saw it in there.
You do not have to spend your free LOTRO Points on (Part 2), which I clearly had not done at the time.
How to Reach Mossward
If your character does not have an NPC in the intro that grants your first LOTRO mount, or you ignored it as a “side-quest”, then you need to reach Mossward. After you’ve completed the introduction/tutorial instance.
For Those Who Have It Easy
Most people will not have an issue travelling to Mossward. Unlike most Swift-Travel routes, those between starter zones are free even for Free-to-Play accounts. This includes Swanfleet, where Mossward is found.
If you own a copy of Before the Shadow and elected to do the BtS introduction, you will start in Mossward by default.
For Brand-New Players
I was determined to make claiming your initial LOTRO steed free but I hit on a roadblock on my F2P account: reaching Mossward. This was because I did not have enough coins to pay for the taxi.
By F2P, I mean an account that has never been VIP and is also not Premium.
The option to buy 
Mithril Coins and pay 1×MC to travel is always there. But we don’t want to do that!
Well, you can, so long as you have the coin, anyway!
Paying or Waiving the Fee
- Earn the Coins:
If you are not massively impatient, then do some quests, sell some junk at an NPC vendor and get your balance over
5×Silver. - Avoid the Fee:
- In your bags, open up the
Gift Pack item, if you have not done so already. - Inside that is a Gift for a Starting Adventurer
. If you’re at or above Level 6, you can just open it. - Inside that is a
Writ of Special Passage.
- In your bags, open up the
Use that writ, then the way to Mossward will be both open and free! As will a lot of other routes, so it may be worth your while visiting lots of stable-masters to unlock them in that hour.
While you have travelling for free, head to Mossward. You can find this under “Swanfleet” or by searching for “Moss”. In the search box I mean, not digging in the soil with your hands.
Ask the Community
You may find another player is happy to help you if you ask nicely. I mean that in two senses: a player may be able to summon you to Mossward, or they may lend or give you 5 Silver. If you’re a new player, be ready to pay it forward later on in your gaming life in LOTRO!
Note: once you have more than one character, this is the sort of thing you use an alt for – sending over “starter funds” if you like.
How to get the Little Extra Steed
The horsey given to you as part of this sequence is the Little Extra Steed. Here are the steps:
Complete Part 1
If you haven’t done so on your current server, complete Part 1 at whichever NPC you’re at.
Assuming you went to Mossward, you can now Unlock A Little Extra Never Hurts (Part 2) with Skardí Bendblade.
Complete Part 2
Once you accept and complete Part 2, the Riding Trait item is automatically applied to that character. The mount goes into your bags/inventory.
If your bags are already full, then you will/should find it in Pending Loot.
A Little Extra Steed
Open up the Mounts tab of the ability panel and you’ll find your Little Extra Steed. It’ll be a horse or a pony, depending on whether you’re a Big Person or not.
Congratulations, you’ve finally got that first free mount in LOTRO.
Why You Will Need a Replacement
The Little Extra Steed is great when getting started. To be honest, around the Shire, Ered Luin and Swanfleet you don’t really need a mount. Okay, there are some long runs back and forth at one point in Swanfleet, but generally, walking or running is fine!
But after that you will want to consider a replacement, why?
Mount Speed
The main reason is very practical – like the temporary Horse Whistle you received in your bags, this first real mount in LOTRO is slow. It runs at +32% faster than you do. Assuming you didn’t put all your Hunter trait points into Find the Path!
Mounts from almost anywhere else are quicker by default. Reputation Mounts start at +62%. If you complete the Deeds of Cardolan, you can unlock the Steed of Cardolan’s Dawn, at +68% speed.
Store Riding Traits
For future reference, you can purchase items from the LOTRO Store that increase the base speed of all of your mounts. The first one, Apprentice Riding, which means all of your steeds (the Little Extra one included) are at least 68%.
But these traits are not cheap, though they are occasionally on discount. The price per character is ×995LOTRO Points, or ×1,995 to unlock it for your whole account.
Other Reasons
The rest are built around your preferences, tastes and how you play the game. Some reasons may be:
- This one is too plain.
- Your character only looks great riding a goat.
- You have RP-reasons, such as wanting the reputation one from The Shire so it’s more “Hobbity”.
- You want one with more adornment, or cosmetic baggage – or one that just fits with your character’s outfit!
LOTRO is Full of Free Earnable Mounts!
When I first started playing, I was kind of shocked how many mounts you can earn simply by playing the game.
This is what I mean by “Free Mounts” – ones you don’t have to pay real money for LOTRO points in order to acquire, nor are they in expansions or supporter packs.
Here are the main ones.
Reputation Mounts
Each zone has one or more reputation factions. While it’s not always the case, very often you are eligible to trade for the reputation mounts once you hit Kindred standing.
You may need to exchange 
gold, or it may be a local barter currency. But it won’t be “real money”. And these mount appearances are not available anywhere else, including the LOTRO Store.
The primary cost is time. But in a game where there’s no need to rush…why rush?
Quests
Now that Moria is free, I can say that you get a free Goat mount earlyish on in the Moria epic.
You receive a Tame Redhorn Goat when you complete the quest To the Dolven-view.ref.
It starts at +32% speed, if you have not bought any of the speed boosters in the Store. Though, around Moria, +32% is probably fine!
Deed Mounts
There are some steeds you can acquire in free zones, by completing deeds. Here are two examples:
- The Steed of Eriador, which you receive once you hit Kindred standing with eleven different factions.
- Elf Ambassador’s Horse (or Pony), granted when you hit Kindred with all the first three Elven factions.
Festivals and Events
But, by far, the easiest way of getting your first, second, one hundredth’s mount is through the many festivals in the LOTRO Events Schedule.
While a new one is not always guaranteed when an event pops up again, it is often the case. And I attempt to compile these into one resource as well as each event’s own guide.
I hope it helps!
Earning Store Mounts
I will just leave a sidenote here. There are mounts in the LOTRO Store and you may or may not like the idea of owning one. Other mounts in-game may only be available for Mithril Coins, for which you need LOTRO Points.
In both cases, you can, in theory, play the game enough to earn those points. Yes, even Store mounts can be acquired by simply playing The Lord of the Rings Online. This is done through completing deeds either as you adventure, or by creating a character that exists only for you to complete deeds with.
For more information, see either my Guide to LOTRO Points, or Browse my LOTRO Deeds Guides.
TL;DR Find Your First LOTRO Mount and Begin Your Collection!
Hopefully, this has given you all you need to get started with mounting up in The Lord of the Rings Online. The whole game is rich with many mounts and your first steed is only the starting point.
Now, astride your very first (free, of course) LOTRO mount, you can set forth and adopt more as you aid the peoples of Middle-Earth! Remember to enjoy your questing in-game and do your best to make it enjoyable for others too. Take care.
About the Author
I have been playing MMOs for about ten years and began writing guides to The Lord of the Rings Online in 2017. I've only been creating content about Final Fantasy XIV since 2022, but I am glad for the mix. My current games include LOTRO, FFXIV and the occasional Palia session too.
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