I don’t understand why Horses wouldn’t be afraid to charge into a wall of humans with weapons. And if they would do it, wouldn’t the first row tumble and all the other incoming horses would trip over them resulting in a domino effect?
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Other answers here cover the mechanics of a cavalry charge pretty well, so I’m going to go somewhere else. What most amateurs underestimate is the importance of the cavalry charge as a psychological weapon.
A cavalry charge is essentially the world’s largest game of chicken. The cavalry is displaying a threat, consisting of tons of muscle and steel and murderous intent coming at you very fast. They want whatever they’re charging to go “Bugger this for a game of soldiers!” and try to leg it. This will probably end badly for whoever is running, since they are limited in their means to fight back, disorganized and showing their backs.
The chargees, as it were, want to stand still and present a threat of their own, usually in the form of pointy sticks (with or without bang, depending on the time period). However, this only works enough people actually present a threat. If the horses see a hole in the wall of pointy sticks they will head for it, because horses are, as OP rightly observed, much smarter than their riders and not keen on dying.
The chargers, can, of course, head back and start again if it looks like the chargees ain’t moving, but at the same time, they want to get as close as possible to present the most credible threat. And so, the great game of chicken goes….
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