He growled. "No, more like the alpha made a bunch of us fight, and then pulled me off a challenger after they attacked me from behind while I was fighting several others. And then claimed the challenger won."<br/><br/>He slipped the fitted saddle on her, and then got on her back, one hand scratching her neck. "Now, most riders need some way of controlling their mounts. But I can just mentally link with you and let you know where we need to be. You get to decide how to get there, though sometimes that means doing something stupid because it comes with the job."<br/><br/>The saddle had two ways of being ridden, one where he lay flat against her back, hands grabbing the forward grips and feet slipped into the rear ones, which would minimize how much he interfered with her running. That way of riding was for traveling.<br/><br/>The combat way of riding would look more 'normal' to a rider, but as he feared, he was now only up to about six feet off the ground, even with Flute boosting Whisper's growth. That put her at normal horse height. Which meant he would have to bend the rules a bit as he expected most of his opponents to have taller mounts. Though that their mounts were likely not predators but prey would hopefully make them skittish about rushing toward a charging predator...<br/><br/>He planned to use his lance like a rapier, thrusting at the last second to get the additional impact he needed, and would try to angle his shield a bit to force the opponent's lance to deflect. It was unorthodox to the extreme, but he thought he could get it right before the first pass of the jousting tomorrow.