Laura's range is limited by her reach, give about a foot (hah hah), and further limited by her trying to avoid hacking the hell out of her mount's wings, and further complicated by the fact that her seat is terrible because she's never really ridden a horse (or cognate thereof) before. Still, she goes into battle with the confidence of someone who does this all the time, because that is the only way to go into battle.

She might take this way too seriously.

Benevenuta gets her first shot off and Laura watches as the thing claws at its eye -- so, there's a weak point, should she not be able to cut its flesh.

She's sure she can. There are very few substances adamantium can't cut through.

Instead of staying mounted -- which makes sense for Benevenuta, who has range and will stay down for at least a few minutes if "killed" -- Laura uses the leverage provided by her flying to leap from the thestral's back and land behind the deathclaw, her claws sinking into its thick hide where it can't reach her to pull her off. The thestral retreats, out of range of the deathclaws' (aptly named) deadly claws, but remains close enough to swoop back in should she need a quick escape.

It's almost like they've done this before.