"Hard to obey the rules when one is standing around a pretty girl," Ash said, handing out the compliment to Lyra, "Some guys want to impress the girl and I don't think a hippogriff would understand that." He was mostly joking and if he really wanted to ride the hippogriff, he might make the effort to putting that together. But he didn't share that love for magical beasts as Lyra did and he'd probably go along just to hang out with her a bit.