animal companion armor

[Chainsaw]

I am playing a druid, lvl 8. I have a brown bear animal companion that I want to ride. I want to outfit the bear in full plate at some point. Do I need to take a feat for that? What is the difference between barding and armor feat wise? Will my bear get his own feats, or does my character have to take the feat for the bear to have armor proficiency? My bear is currently trained for combat riding.

[eggynack]

Well, the book says that being trained for war is how animals get armor proficiency, and to all appearances, that does in fact mean combat riding. It's not an absolute thing, but it looks about like how the game works, so the bear should just be able to wear barding, with all that entails. As for your other questions, yes, the animal companion does get feats, at a rate determined by its HD, particularly when they hit 1, 3, 6, 9 and so on, as normal, and no, you are neither can nor must take feats on your animal companion's behalf.