Things get a little foggy in the rules, but in general, you dont necessarily need to 'retrain' an animal companion to be able to be mounted.
'Training for a general purpose' doesnt represent something seperate from teaching an animal tricks, it just saves you time and effort by grouping tricks together.
Basically training an animal for a purpose teaches them a whole bunch of tricks at once. If they have the capacity you can also train them for additional tricks.
Your tiger starts with an int 2, and 1 bonus trick. That means at 1st level he can know up to 7 tricks. You can and should 'combat train' your tiger immediately, so he is comfortable in a fight. Combat training is DC 20 and grants the following tricks:
attack, come, defend, down, guard, and heel
That is six tricks. Since he has a bonus trick to work with, you can later teach him another trick of your choosing. At 7th level he will have 2 more tricks to learn since he has 3 bonus tricks at that point. But remember he is already combat trained which means he is "An animal trained to bear a rider into combat". You dont need to retrain anything at 7th level. Just have him properly combat trained at 1st level. Honestly, your dm should allow you to do so at character creation, and it shouldnt require in game time to get those initial 7 tricks. Either way, this should be done asap.
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The way I understand it, as long as it has all 6 of the required tricks it is Combat Trained and can be ridden as a mount if it is of a suitable type and size.
Another thing you may wish to look at is the Undersized Mount feat that could let you ride your Tiger before level 7.
I created a Human Hunter with a Giant Wasp that she is able to ride at level 1.
How?
First, I have the Human Alternate Racial Trait "Eye for Talent" which replaces the human bonus feat with a +2 sense motive and most importantly +2 to the stat of my choice on my Animal Companion. I chose Intelligence, making it a 2 Int Giant Wasp and able to learn 6 tricks + 1 bonus trick.
Next, I designate Vermin Focus (I'm a Verminous Hunter) Ant for the Wasp at all times for a +2 Strength (a normal hunter can select Bull as the Animal Focus for Strength.) I can change it, but not while I'm riding it.
I also have the Undersized Mount feat allowing me to ride Medium Sized creatures.
At this point the saddle, my gear and my character weight count as a Heavy Load and I can fly on the Wasp at a 40' move speed.
I can also cast Ant Haul on the Wasp making it a Light Load to carry me and I can fly at the full 60' move speed.
To make things more fun, I trained the Wasp with the Chameleon Step Skirmisher trick as the seventh trick effectively doubling it's speed.
What book do I find Undersized Mount?
Advanced Class Guide.
Sorry to resurrect an old three but it skirts around the answer I'm looking for without quite nailing it.
If I want to ride my animal companion and control it in combat as a free action (wiout requiring a Ride check) it seems to require the Combat Training general purpose. The general purposes seem to simply be groups of tricks that could be obtained separately. However, none of the tricks under Combat Training provide the benefit of controlling your mount easily in combat situations (i.e. without having to take a move action to attempt a DC 20 Ride check). Is this an extra? What if I want this benefit but don't want all six of those tricks?
Sorry to resurrect an old three but it skirts around the answer I'm looking for without quite nailing it.
If I want to ride my animal companion and control it in combat as a free action (wiout requiring a Ride check) it seems to require the Combat Training general purpose
Yes. Full stop. Combat Training is more than the sum of it's parts.
That's what I've heard elsewhere. Thanks for the clarification!