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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jd Smith1" data-source="post: 8561742" data-attributes="member: 6998052">It depends upon the period. In the feudal period, armored horsemen were the dominant factor on the battlefield. In the medieval period you saw the evolution of infantry formations that, so long as they held their ground, were immune to cavalry. As the decades roll on, horsemen devolve further and further in power and utility.The thing is, a horse is not a 'murder machine'. It is a beast prone to many ailments, expensive to raise and maintain, and inclined to self-preservation. Horses generally will not, unless intensely trained, trample or even step on a person.The reason cavalry was useful was because they rode stirrup -to-stirrup, en masse, bearing armored men able to strike from a height. And if the foot lost formation, it would be a slaughter as the horsemen rode them down.But a horseman by himself is not a particularly advantaged foe. He cannot protect his mount's vulnerable legs, he is fully exposed, and he cannot turn quickly. A horse-hook can drag him from his mount, a nimble foe with a knife can hamstring his horse, and a torch to the face will turn a war horse into a panicked beast. He is at a disadvantage in urban areas or in trees and heavy brush.So PCs very seldom fight mounted in my fantasy campaigns, or at seldom do it twice.</blockquote>