Barbarian / Fighter.

[Snig]

If you were to create a mounted build using only barbarian / fighter how would you do it? I'll be taking a small character and riding a medium mount.

Some feats I am considering

Wild Cohort
Mounted Fury
Mounted Combat

Would I be spreading it too think if I wanted to be an efficient mounted archer aswell as melee / charge, even with the fighter feats?

Also any ideas for PrCs? I was thinking Bowman Charge, Wild Plains Outrider....dunno what else.

[Toliudar]

Mounted combat and Wild Cohort might work well for you. Picking up Martial Study for some Iron Heart stuff opens up Bloodstorm Blade as a prestige class. With the mobility of a mount, you're even more likely to be able to get full attacks.

Aglarondan Griffonrider would be a great class open to fighter/barbarians. Otherwise, consider using some variation on Leadership to get a more durable mount than you might get using Wild Cohort.

[Ruethgar]

Take a look at Dragon 310 for the Horsman and Knight Fighters(I would suggest the horseman), there is also DM 347 focused animal druid with the beast master and Natural Bond alongside the halfling druid substitution to have a decent animal companion mount. Barbarian Horselords from DM 337 may also be of note and have the added bonus of their animal companions being able to also benefit from Wild Cohort as only the druid and ranger versions are called out as getting the cohort separate from their companions.

Horselord 4/ Focused Animal Halfling Druid 1/ Beast Master 1/ Horseman 4

This delays your mount til level 4, but you should be ok limping along til then. If 3rd party is allowed, be a beastmaster fighter to continue your companion progression for those Horseman levels. The rage is more partial to finesse/ranged from the Horselord just be warned of that. Most of the rest of your levels should be Horselord to advance animal companion and rage. There is a juicy Halfling only PrC that deals with mounted combat, can't recall where though. It is used for ubermount builds.

[Garagos]

If your DM will allow it, take the Mounted Prowess feat (d20 Ultimate Feats book) in place of Mounted Combat. It acts as Mounted Combat for qualifying for other feats, and is more useful.

[Snig]

any links to the sourch? I can't seem to find it.

[mabriss lethe]

If you're thinking about a small race, I've had a lot of fun with goblin chargers. Their racial ride modifiers are a nice bonus, though strongheart halfling is probably the most versatile.

[Flickerdart]

A dip in Silverwood Outrider lets you command your mount as a free action, which is very handy.

[Ruethgar]

Ultimate Feats is by Alejandro Melchor, Mongoose publishing if that is what you are seeking the source(sourch?) of. Beast master fighter is also Mongoose in the Quintessential Fighter. I think it was the Complete Warrior halfling outrider I was thinking of.

[Snig]

A dip in Silverwood Outrider lets you command your mount as a free action, which is very handy.

Could you elaborate how this is a benefit to me? I'm not as well versed in the mount rules as I should be.

[Flickerdart]

Could you elaborate how this is a benefit to me? I'm not as well versed in the mount rules as I should be.
It's a move action to Control Mount in Battle (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/ride.htm#controlMountinBattle). Riding a war-trained horse means you don't have to roll, but it still consumes the action. When you handle it as a free action, you're free to use a full round action (normally, that's no good anyway because moving over 5 feet on a mount means you can't full attack no matter what, but you can full attack with a ranged weapon and then move, for instance).

[HalfQuart]

If you haven't seen it yet, you might want to peruse The Mount Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=7414).