1) You go in the item mall, at the armor tab (I think) at the last page, you see those saddles. Well, now you see, it only works for BEAST [animal] pets. People train them becouse they add SPD, ATK and M. ATK (and DEF HP M. DEF etc got my point..) and they want their pets to have high stats (so they need a high level pet, too).
2) My opinion would be asking somebody for help to get into Sasha's death quest place, then go and collect bluestones (And you can make fuel if you got the tools, but I don't think so). In Aries people buy furniture, (and even low-level equipment) so try to get into compounding/mancufurating. If you got the manual blender and the other things you need for making syrups (google if you don't know what i'm talkingabout) go at chickens, get seeds and make syrups to sell (especially mango/grape, those sell the best).
3) You should NOT use your free training tickets (Well maybe in Aries, you can buy more becouse at the levels you will need them you will have the money). My opinion would be outside chicken farm (where 1-2 chickens spawn). Make sure your team combos, you can get rice and seeds from there.
4) IF you wanna be dependant, then fine, but have no fear when asking for help! They won't kick you for that or anything. If they do, that means they are mean, and you don't wanna stay with mean people right? They could just stay stop or no (through it seems pointless to me, you will find somebody). If not you could ask on world. But oh well, back to the point!
Well there aren't really any more pets you can get with your team. Try to ask for help with GS and burst (google if you don't know what that is, sorry I can't give links, my network sucks >_<). I think when you get a little higher you can do Sasha. Then once you get a fire (a wit preferably) and a little spd/def you can attemp Qlaya (she's pretty easy, you just need to be fast on the last round), those are in Mayan, and once you are level 20 you can try Elin, and when it's CP time you could try louis (but you'll need to relog alot). You could do them (struggling) at level 40-60, and I think after a 2x weekend at the most you can get there by bursting. Also Clive is nice (50/50 on a good natural build lol) and easy to get (again at 40-ish). For Elin, YOU must be level 30 for the gun. I stated earlier you need 20 to get herself, and for her chip, YOU AND ELIN need to be level 40. Soo good luck! :3