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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Horses don’t run in to dense formations of jeering warriors anymore than they would a wall. This is why the British square worked, cavalry could do no more than circle the formation and take pot shots. Before gun powder the best you could do would be to turn at the last minute and gallop along the length of the enemy line thrusting with spear or slicing with blade. The romantic image of a cavalry charge is not what it is often portrayed to be in art work or film- yes they might be committed into an exposed flank or rear as a desperate attempt to route the enemy but more often they would be use to run down broken forces or as a means of area denial. They could of course be used to attack loose formation were there would be space between the combatants to allow free movement. Other than this it was more common for them to be used in a skirmish role, think mongol horse archers who could stay mobile whilst engage with their bows, whittling the enemy down, or later dragoon’s who were used as a sort of mobile rapid response force-redeploying quickly on horse back before dismount and engaging on foot. There were of course heavy cavalry but they were mostly used as I have described. In the medieval times the ‘knights in shinning armour’ were inevitably noblemen who had every intention of going home after the battle. They would usually let the peasantry do the dangerous bit before swooping in to claim the glory once the worst was over. There are of course always exceptions.
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