[PF] Barghest madness!

[Sheogoroth]

We're running a Kingmaker game and my DM permits essentially everything from 3.5 through Pathfinder. I've had an idea in my head for some time now to build a character that dual-wields pistols and rides a Barghest. Now, ignoring all the "They're evil" jazz and "What will the neighbors think" business, how can I make my dream come true?

[Slipperychicken]

Leadership is the easy option. Make the followers into people at your hometown or just handwave them if you don't want them.

Handle Animal to train it for riding, including penalties for it not being an Animal?

[Sheogoroth]

Is there any way to get it to qualify to be a mount or animal companion so that it improves?

[Slipperychicken]

Is there any way to get it to qualify to be a mount or animal companion so that it improves?

I'm not much of an authority on the subject, but there are ways to do this. Probably a trick related to the Supermount builds, which allow people to have crazy things like dragons.

[NamelessNPC]

You can make a monstrous mount out of your cohort (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/rules-for-monsters/monster-cohorts), so it levels up and can take class levels. That's probably better than being an animal companion.

this (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/arg-feats/beast-rider-orc-half-orc) can work too with a bit of houserule, but depends on your DM

[Souju]

it's funny...given the weird nature of the kingmaker campaign (having a LOT of free time to work with) I've seen a lot of weird things come out of it...
...up to and including a player trying almost the exact same thing you want to do, except with an owlbear.
Leadership would be the best option, though, especially since it seems to be a feat du jour for Kingmaker anyway (to the point that our DM explicitly forbid it because combat would take forever...given we had one campaign where it took longer to get through the cohorts' turns than it did for 24 kobolds combined, he kinda has a point :P)
Handle Animal wouldn't work, though, since the critter has an INT score above "animal"
Lesser Planar ally might work, though, since a barghest is an extraplanar critter and has exactly 6 HD. Kinda expensive, though...