Making dragon riding a little more realistic

[Dangerious P. Cats]

What would be realistic features of a rideable dragon and realistic ways to ride them (ignoring the questions of how a creature that size flies and how it breaths fire!).

How would the animal need to behave?

How would you steer it?

What kind of riding equipment would you need?

Etc?

[Cantankerous]

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

What would be realistic features of a rideable dragon and realistic ways to ride them (ignoring the questions of how a creature that size flies and how it breaths fire!).

How would the animal need to behave?

How would you steer it?

What kind of riding equipment would you need?

Etc?

Just a quick idea...check out the Dragon Riders of Pern series. It's worth the read on it's own and if I remember correctly they do talk a fair bit about it, especially in the later books.


Isshia

[Lord Fitz]

Another idea if the dragons are just dumb beasts and hard to train would be spikes under the scales as per worm riding in Dune.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

How would the animal need to behave?

A wide range of behaviors would be possible, but I imagine they'd all involve not eating the rider. Much depends, as well, on how smart dragons are.

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

How would you steer it?

Like an elephant, perhaps, though you'd need something more complex. Mahouts sit on the elephant's shoulders just behind the head and use their feet and a sturdy stick to tap on the elephant, indicating whether to start, stop, or turn. I imagine that a dragon-rider would sit as far forward as possible (not nearly so close to the head as a mahout, given the long-necked configuration of most dragons) and use similar if more complex taps to indicate left, right, up, down, and speed.

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

What kind of riding equipment would you need?

In the Elric stories, Melnibonean dragon saddles have, essentially, seat belts (actually a series of leather thongs to keep the rider secure in the saddle), which are probably a very good idea. If dragon riders use the same kinds of sticks that mahouts do, they'd probably have thongs as well to wrap around the user's wrist; if you drop something while on dragon-back, you can't really hop off, pick it up, and hop back on. Depending on the speed and altitude the dragon can attain, you might see something like early aviator's outfits: warm clothing, scarfs, and goggles.

[Chunk]

Once again, I've got to plug the "Dragon Master" trilogy by Chris Bunch. He goes into a lot of detail about how the dragons are training and what the saddles and reins are like.

[tanniynim]

One interesting idea I just had, would be to mount the riders *underneath* the dragon like a blimp bridge or a hang-glider. This would definitely depend on the type of dragon we're talking about (legs and no additional arms outside of the wings would work best). In this case, I would steer the dragon using leashes attached to wings, neck and tail and the rider would shift their weight appropriately to move it up/down/left/right.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

What would be realistic features of a rideable dragon and realistic ways to ride them

Realistic? Non-flying and non-firebreathing. Other than that, it probably needs more efficient leg designs than are present on lizards or alligators, though the leg designs found on dinosaurs would be adequate. It's unlikely that any were smart enough to be ridden, but plenty of quadruped dinosaurs have a build that would be adequate

If you want a flying dragon, a lot of the answers depend on just how it's flying.

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

How would the animal need to behave?

It needs to follow commands and not eat the rider.

Originally Posted by QUOTE=Dangerious P. Cats

How would you steer it?

For a sentient dragon, you probably tell it where you want it to go. For a non-sentient dragon, likely something resembling reins.

Originally Posted by QUOTE=Dangerious P. Cats

What kind of riding equipment would you need?

Depends on the details of how it flies. Anything that uses aerodynamic flight will require an extremely low drag saddle, so it's quite possible the rider will be prone, either on top of the dragon or under its belly (like a hang glider). If it flies using levitation or the like, drag is typically less of an issue, and a standard saddle may work.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

What would be realistic features of a rideable dragon and realistic ways to ride them (ignoring the questions of how a creature that size flies and how it breaths fire!).

How would the animal need to behave?

How would you steer it?

What kind of riding equipment would you need?

Etc?

Given that it breathes fire I'd suggest steering using chains attached to lip piercings at both ends of the mouth. Additionally since it is going have a body much broader than that of a horse, the saddle should probably be designed to allow the rider to sit with his legs strapped into a kind of kneeling position. This will also avoid the legs interfering with the wing strokes and avoid the jockey falling off during a dive. With horses strapping the rider in is dangerous because it's often the case that it is safer to fall off than it is to be tied in but that's never the case with a flying mount in the air.