In Dungeonscape there is also a variant paladin who gets a nifty-lookin' Divine Spirit (instead of a mount) that gives him all kinds of healing, to-hit and damage bonuses, on top of smiting. I can't wait to try it!
Is there an alternative to gaining the paladin's special mount ability? Also is the complete champion book useful for creating a paladin?
The Complete Champion gives you one alternative to the special mount ability that dedicates you to fighting Underdark eveil, with a suite of abilities gained at different levels. There's a few neat feats, including Battle blessing (cast paladin spells faster). A new spell or two for fun. You might find it interesting but it's hardly essential.
An elf paladin from Races of the Wild can get a unicorn mount instead of a normal warhorse, albeit at a penalty to their effective level.
A Lion Legionnaire from Champions of Valor can grow wings instead of having a mount.
A paladin using the Charging Smite option from the Player's Handbook II can do just that.
Those are the options I can find real quick without stripping the shelves looking for rulebooks with substitution levels. You can always dream up something and then ask your DM if you don't like any of these options. Each book I've mentioned has some other options as well. When it comes to substitution levels, paladins often lose their ability to turn undead or to remove disease, occasionally their smiting. The special mount feature isn't lost as often. Hope this is helpful!
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If I had my Dragons on hand, I would find the alternate class feature article on paladins and barbarians for you. It had a very nice alternative in which your paladin receives a holy weapon forged by celestials, and is able to summon it much like a mount. I thought it would work well with the monk/paladin I had in mind, since he'd be faster than a horse anyway, and could be the focus of a quest.
You could substitute the Celestial Companion ability from the Holy Liberator in Complete Divine. If the paladin is more nature-oriented (worships Ehlonna?), Animal Companion (same as a ranger) might make sense, too.