Rabican

The rabican is a rare and graceful beast that looks like a horse, only noticeably smaller: slim and sleek, no more than five feet at the shoulder, with a soft white or gray coat that grows longer than ordinary horsehair. Its reputation for speed is well earned. Among riding animals only the winged balaha is faster, and a proverb says that a pursuit of the rabican is always lost, while a chase on one is always won.

Rabicans are few and almost never leave the wild lands of the woodland Sidhe, who have ridden them for ages; every Sidhe band keeps at least a few for hunting, carrying messages and scouting. Nymphs, and now and then elves, use them as mounts in some regions. They have limits, though: few can bear more than about 140 lbs., and they tire quickly under long, hard riding.

Kullervo the Wanderer, one of the very few writers to describe meeting the Sidhe, recalled in The Travels how Sidhe riders overtook his well-mounted party despite its long head start, then kept appearing in a line across whatever new route the travelers tried, although he also noticed that the slender animals flagged under sustained exertion. In play, a rabican kicks with its hooves for 1-6 and can share feelings empathically with other creatures within 20 feet.