There's no downside to riding a horse, only an advantage. I don't care if you say that they have high upkeep, most people can afford it anyway, and it's very unfriendly towards newer players. They can knock you down, swarm you and knock you down some more, and then you're just target practice. With good maneuvering their spears are unstoppable no matter what your speed. For an entire game my whole team stood on a hill, and hid around a building just to avoid cavalry. They have way too much influence. Some cavalry even jumped onto the roof of the building, and also killed players on steep hills, which is extremely unrealistic. Cavalry uphill speed & jumps should be heavily nerfed if possible. Currently, not even most strategies can save you (even worse, the cavalry clans are all in vent so they're more difficult, but that's beside the point).
If a mostly-infantry team is against a heavy-cavalry team, then they're always going to die, unless the team gets equal amount of cavalry. Even then, if the opposite team has somewhat better cavalry, then it's still a loss. This is how my games almost always go, and I'm very tired of it. They're imbalanced and they're forcing me to re-spec my character or go to a low-population server. It's a game-breaker for a lot of us. People can't just become cavalry since it's very expensive, and it isn't a preferred playstyle for some.
So many players complain about cavalry for a reason. Fix them?