I hit 35 this past weekend and picked out a Bloodbay horse as my mount.

I've noticed players in Middle-Earth don't tend to crowd around on their mounts. There's probably less motivation to stand and model when most of the choices are similar: horses and ponies.

I was never big on the whole collecting weird mounts thing. In WoW I appreciated the basic non-armoured horses (well, maybe flaming horses too) more than odd-looking emasculated dragons and steampunk gryocopters. Mind you, there is one other choice (via rep?) in LOTRO and it's a bizarro looking ram. I'll stick with my horse, maybe upgrading to a different breed later on. I'm not a big horse nut, but there's something about the blend of fantasy and reality involved here that I appreciate.

On the topic of reaching 35: Yes I'm still taking my time, even avoiding quests (more on that soon). I still end up outleveling most of my kinship-mates, although Nelgdorf and Nazrin have both managed to catch up to me. We're a triad to be reckoned with (as long as you're a <40 mob).