Advice for an Artificer who has caught the need for speed

[Lord of Sporks]

In the campaign I'm running my players have just reached third level. Everyone is taking another level in the class they started with. We have a fighter, a psion, a rouge, a ranger, and an artificer. However, in the last battle the artificer ended up on horseback while attacking a monster. He rolled a twenty on his ride and was able to get a single attack in before he failed his next check and the horse panicked and ran off. As an artificer he naturally had no ranks in ride, as its not a class skill. This is as it should be. Spending hours in dark workshops tinkering is not conductive to learning horsemanship. However, for some reason this player has decided that he wants to fight on horseback from now on. He's thinking of multiclassing to fighter just so he can put ranks in ride.

Now you should know that we are not an optimization group. We play as we play and nobody is knowledgeable enough to know that their builds are subpar. Thats fine, we like it that way. However even a laid back DM like me knows that an artificer/fighter is not the most ideal build. I've looked through what sourcebooks I have, but I can't seem to find a better option to suggest to this player. So I'm calling upon the expertise of greater nerds then I: what would you suggest to a low level artificer who wants to ride with the cavalry?

[Treblain]

He can craft an item that gives him a bonus for the Ride skill.

Alternately, if he's human, a one-level dip in Human Paragon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/racialParagonClasses.htm#humanParagon) will give him Ride as a class skill for all classes. The second and third levels are good to take, too; they advance your infusions, give a +2 to a stat, and a bonus feat.

[Inferno]

A 1 level Fighter, or barbarian dip can add a fair bit to a Meleeficer build (google up the artificer handbook)

Even if it only means dropping your Morning star and Lt. Crossbow for a Greataxe and a Longbow, its a decent boost. Beyond that, just determine whether Heavy armor or fast movement and raging is more improtant to you.

Also consider dipping Druid, Ride as a class skill, and gives you access to a whole whack of spells you'll never need to make a UMD check for.

Lots of options to make this workable, and an artificer shouldn't lose enough to really fall behind with even an awful dip.

[Mockingbird]

If you're doing Pathfinder, he can take a level of Cavalier for d10 hit die, skills useful for horse-riders (handle animal, ride, etc.), a bonus feat (which you can give to everyone within 30 feet), give yourself a specific bonus every day (aka order), and a Medium mount (camel or horse). All at first level. Also, I think if you're on a mount you get a bonus to charging, so he can take the impaling charge feat and use a lance. :D

[Urpriest]

Most Ride DCs are pretty doable. As an Artificer, he should have a high Int, so he'll have enough skill points to put a few in cross-class. Also, remember that it's easier to control a war-trained mount like a warhorse, being DC 10 rather than DC 20.

[docnessuno]

The artificer solution to EVERY existing problem is:
More magic items!
A military saddle gives +2 circumstance bonus to ride chekcs
Adding a magical competence bonus to it is fairly cheap (Merket value of Bonus*bonus*100 gp, so a +3 bonus would cost only 450gp to craft)
Assuming he enchants a +3 saddle, it would net him a nice +5 on his riding checks.

[Claudius Maximus]

Build a Clockwork Steed from MMIV. You don't need ranks in Ride to handle it (though they do help), and it's a surprisingly capable combatant at lower levels.