ABANDONED. Fantasy; horses did not exist so instead the people rode a creature that was like a horse-ish giant panther. One of these animals was on the cover of the paperback, along with a woman.

[Renee]

All I can remember is in the book horses did not exist so instead the people rode a creature that was like a horse-ish giant panther. One of these animals was on the cover of the paperback, along with a woman. I purchased it from Dollar General around 2001-2002. Any help remembering the title or author would be appreciated.

[Tab]

Hmmm...do you remember anything about the main character(s). Was it set in a mythological world, parallel world, etc?

Also, you may want to add more details to the post's title. Like "Fantasy with horse/panther creatures" or something like that. That way it may catch someone's eye.

[Renee]

I can't remember anything about the characters. :(

[Andy]

In Julian May's "Saga of the Pliocene Exile, horses haven't evolved yet, so folks ride chalicotheres http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalicot...

[laurenpie]

"The Scorpio Races," by Maggie Stiefvater has huge vicious horses that come up out of the sea. The islanders catch and race them, at peril of death from their tearing jaws and hooves. Not feline-hybrids, though.

Edit: Nevermind--too new.

[M—]

Sheri Tepper's Grass takes place on an alien planet where 'horses' and 'hounds' are huge carnivorous spiny sentient beings of dubious friendliness.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Renee, are you still looking for this?

[Renee]

Yes.

[Michele]

Renee, was it Grass, as M--- suggested? It is a very close match to your description.

[Renee]

No. These "horses" were catlike and people rode them.

[M—]

(Note that they do ride the "horses" in Grass.)

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Still looking?

[Michael]

Could this have been one of Lawrence Watt-Evan's The Lords of Dus series? Garth the Overman rode a "Warbeast" named Koros throughout the series. The Warbeast was a magically-created hybrid of panther and ass, but looked purely pantherish, and the cover of one the paperback editions of at least one of the books resembled what you describe. The books in the series are The Lure of the Basilisk, The Seven Altars of Dûsarra, The Sword of Bheleu, and The Book of Silence

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Lobstergirl wrote: "Still looking?"

No response. Moving to Abandoned.