Ok i'll need some help for animation

[Danny Boy]

Ok since no one is going to make the animation for the horseman. i am going to give it a try :/

i have maya 2012 but i don't know if enything more is needed... because wend i open the grunt its looks very weird :/

also i have no idea of what its the scale i have to use... because i realy don't want my monster to be 3 times
taller (or more) then a grunt.

also even if i rig the mymonster well. i have no idea on how i should save the animations or were to put them so i need some help in that too.

if you know eny good tutorials to help me do thise i would be very thankfull!

oh and also: how to i aply a texture to a model? i realy need that also!