I was going to post this before the patch but I'll post it here now.
I really think any class should have a counter-class for purposes of game balance.
The most obvious one for Cav is pike and pikemen. Their ability to kill your horse and you in one thrust if not stop you and your mount dead in your tracks was crazy dangerous and you had to use skill to defeat them or sneak up on them.
However, the ability to stop your horse dead in its tracks has been extended to any polearm. Should a shortened spear *really* be able to stop you? Let's say for argument sake this is fair because of the relatively few dedicated pikemen and the prevalence of horses.
However, what I was going to complain about before this patch is that fact that just about anything but an archer was able to slaughter our horse by sidestepping and performing a poke attack. Two handed swordsmen could outright stop a charging horse and because of your speed this usually meant your horse died and you got dumped right by a spammer.
It felt like I was relegated to killing unskilled players, archers, or people I managed to sneak up on and of course, other Cav.
Now after the patch my horse (a course) apparently disintegrates if the enemy team looks at it. The buff to archery and throwing, combined with the limitations of the lancing angle means that now anyone can easily kill my mount as I charge them leaving me dumped at their feet.
I really find that I have to sneak up on people and/or engage people already in melee.
On top of this we have to pay for ridiculously expensive mounts and their repairs. This is an additional repair cost no other class (besides HA) has to juggle.
The problem I see with this is as previously mentioned this is a game not a medieval combat simulator. If we are going to make it realistic, make it realistic across the board. While it may be realistic that a peasant with a pike or a longbowman could punch through heavy armor and kill an armored knight on a horse, they usually did so behind set pikes. People (throwers, archers, 2handers, etc.) should not be able to instantly stop a several hundred pound animal dead in its track with a simple poke.
I feel because of changes in patch, this is the ridiculous nature of what Lancing Cav has been reduced to.