Help With a Dragon Rider Build?

[Voidstar01]

So I'm talking about the PrC from the dragonlance campaign setting specifically.

The Requirements are:
Base Attack Bonus: +10
Skills: Handle Animal 8 ranks Ride 8 ranks
Feats: Leadership , Mounted Combat , Resist Dragonfear

My original plan had been to level fighter with the Drow fighter AcF to at least 4 and take perks like this:
1st level: heavy armor proficiency, mounted combat
2nd level: ride by attack
3rd level: resist dragonfear
4th level: spirited charge
6th level: leadership
9th level: Dragon cohort
Then i panned to take a level of barbarian substituding fast movement for the lion totem to get pounce.

This leaves me with 5 unplanned level befor i hit BaB +10 I've also recently learned that fighter is bad.

So to sum up what i'm asking: What classes/ PrC can i play and what feats can i take to strengthen my build before i can take Drogon Rider? and what dragons have a large size at ECL 14 or if Dragon cohort stacks the way i think it does ECL 17. assume alignment is a non-issue and feel free to alter any of the preplanned levels as you see fit.

[RaiKirah]

How about some Dragonrider to go with your Dragon Rider? The Draconomicon class gives some bonuses to riding dragons, and the prereqs and bonus feat options fit your build nicely. It's not an amazing class, but decent and thematic. Another great option is the Windrider from Masters of the Wild, though it is 3.0 content.

For base classes in place of Fighter levels, Barbarian is always nice, and if you pick up Mounted Fury you can share your rage bonuses with your mount. Just don't take Bear Warrior levels, as you and your ex-dragon-now-very-surprised-bear will plummet out of the sky :)

[Particle_Man]

Assuming your dragon is going to get in on the action and not merely carry you around and breathe, some white raven maneuvers (and hence some Warblade or Crusader levels) could be useful. If you are going dragonrider vs. dragonrider, there is also a Swordsage maneuver that makes you resistant (and later immune) to fire, which helps with some dragon breath.