Worldbuilding

Horses are boring. What critters do you use as mounts?

This is a question I haven't entertained much for my conworld, as it focuses on a time when the yinrih have achieved Kardashev II status and no longer rely on beasts of burden (except perhaps on the surface of Sweetwater where various primitivist communities can be found).

At first I thought yinrih would simply not use large riding animals, but I may change that. Yinrih are not cursorial like humans, and thus would benefit from domesticating a species that is.

One critter I've had in the back of my head for years but have yet to introduce into this setting is the Iridopter, a parrot-like animal used as a mount. I've pictured them as more dinosaur-like in the past, but I may make them more avian. Iridopters are excellent distance runners and may be able to glide for short periods thanks to Yih's lower gravity. They're also a fair bit smaller than a horse. Yinrih max out at about 80 pounds (relative to Earth gravity, even less on Yih, so they can manage with smaller mounts.

Of course this wouldn't be complete without some xenoergonomics. Yinrih have two resting postures that allow the use of their paws and tail, namely lying on the back or on the belly. My current idea is that they lie on the belly across the Iridopter's back, with the rider's tail cradled in the iridopter's own long stiff tail feathers.