One of the new shouts in the DLC pack also gives you the ability to ride dragons, but this feature isn't implemented especially well. You're only given minimal control over a dragon, so you can't use it like a traditional mount, and combat while mounted isn't fun at all, as dragons still take their time circling and sweeping when attacking a target, and so battles take forever. That being said, you can use spells and shouts while mounted on a dragon (but not bows for some reason), and so dragon riding might be a better fit for spellcasters rather than the melee specialist I was playing.
Sort of oddly, Dragonborn is mostly aimed at mid-level players. I started the DLC using an old save from my first character, and then I took him from level 30 to 38 while exploring Solstheim. Some of the battles were tough for him (mostly because his magic resistance was minimal), and he had to keep his weapon charged, but he died almost not at all, and the final battle against Miraak was a yawner. If you have a character who can defeat a dragon priest, then you should be able to play the DLC without any problem.
